The everyday new day offers you the opportunity to tweak your lifestyle and reinvest in your wellbeing. When you are over 40, it is important to implement these changes so that you can live a healthier life.
Getting healthier shouldn’t involve you tweaking your entire lifestyle, but adding a few changes can make you healthier and more energetic.
Let’s discuss little health changes that can make a huge difference when you are above 40.
Incorporate Meditation Into Your Daily Schedule
Adding a few minutes of meditation to your day can drastically improve your health for months and even years. Research has shown that those who practice meditation for 10-20 minutes daily have better overall wellbeing than those who don’t. Meditation can help reduce blood pressure, alleviate stress, and improve relaxation.
Switch Up Your Workout
Engaging in a particular type of workout, day after day, month after month, would set your body up for repeated series of the same injuries. It’s advisable to switch your workout routine at least once a week. This would help you engage a new set of muscles while allowing the ones you have previously worked out to rest. Workouts should be fun, so you are expected to minimize injury while training your body.
Improve Your Desk Posture
When you have a good posture, not only would you appear taller and slimmer, it also helps improve your overall health.
Studies have shown that maintaining a good posture can alleviate stress, and in some cases, improve the emotional state of those suffering from mild depression.
Slow Down On The Alcohol
Excessive intake of alcohol doesn’t just add to your calories, but it also increases your risk of developing colon cancer. If indeed you must take a drink, cap it at once a week or you might as well save it for special occasions.
Try Eliminating Red Meat From Your Diet
Taking away a few steaks and sausages from your meals can make a significant impact on your health and longevity. Research has shown that there is a strong link between colon cancer and processed food, as well as excessive consumption of red meat.
Red meat can also drastically increase your level of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) by up to 300%, and this is a chemical linked to heart disease.
Alternatively, you can start your Mondays with veggie-based protein, and this would help reduce your risk of developing heart problems.
Pull The Brakes While Eating
When you are over 40, one of the best ways to live a healthier life is to transform your quick meals into leisurely ones.
Research has shown that eating slowly would help increase satiety while still reducing the calorie intake for individuals with a healthy weight.
Skip The Artificial Sweetener
You might want to ignore that artificial sweetener when you are about to take your next cup of coffee/tea, and you would be healthier faster than you can imagine. Artificial sweeteners increase your risk of adding extra pounds and increase your sugar cravings too.
Give Yourself Some Controlled Sunlight
Sunbathing isn’t precisely what you should be doing, but increasing your vitamin D levels by staying under controlled sunlight for about 15 minutes a day, can bring you great benefits in the long-term. Vitamin D deficiency can be associated with a higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis, so you might want to head out and bask in those sunlight rays for just a few minutes.
Put On Your Sunscreen
With the same energy, you use in grabbing your keys and wallets while heading out the door, grab your sunscreen as well. This should be a habit you practice all the time because the earlier you get used to it, the better.
A study showed that people who used sunscreen from their childhood have a lower risk of developing melanoma compared to those who didn’t.
Put Your Phone Far Away Before Going To Bed
Putting your phone away from your face before going to bed can yield certain health benefits. The blue light that is emitted from your phone lowers the melatonin production in your body, and this would make it harder for you to have a good night’s sleep. So, it’s best you do the needful, as it would help you in the long run.
Wash Your Sheets More Often
This is one of the easiest ways to improve your health quickly. When next you are about getting your laundry done, consider throwing in your pillowcase, because it may be harboring millions of bacteria that will surely make you ill. So as you get older, make sure you are washing it at least twice a week because your immune system isn’t as strong as it should be.
