For many of us, life is a bit of a struggle. We try to do the right thing, but invariably, wind up going off the rails with one thing or another.
There are some people you know, though, who always seem to have it together. Their breezy disposition makes you rethink how you live your life. How do they manage to be so calm and healthy all the time? It doesn’t seem possible.
While some people don’t let anything get them down, a lot of people manage the struggles of life by adopting good habits. They stick with a routine that buffers them against the stresses of the world and gives them the strength that they need to lead a productive life.
Here are some of the habits that you can use to put your life back on track in two weeks or less.
Eating Most Of Your Calories In The Morning
When it comes to being healthy, stuffing your pie-hole late at night is a massive no-no, even if you barely ate for the rest of the day.
The reason for this comes down to how our body clocks work. Research suggests that humans should get the majority of their calories in the morning, soon after waking. If you leave it until later in the day to get your daily energy fix, you risk inducing metabolic problems. Blood glucose spikes after meals are higher in the evening than in the morning, even after eating the same food!
It sounds like a cliche, but eating a big breakfast is a super healthy habit. It prevents you from binging in the afternoon and evening and takes advantage of your natural daily cycle.
Saying No To Stress Stress is a leading reason why people become substance dependent. Thus, a women’s drug rehab program will not only isolate patients but also do whatever it can to help them relax. If you adjust a person’s stress response, you change their brain chemistry.
When it comes to dealing with stress, most of us reach for something – be it food, drink, or something else. And most of the time, our palliative of choice is not healthy.
Successful people, though, just say “no” to stress. They come to realize that it is a choice, not just something that happens to them and that by refusing to let it in, they can improve their lives.
Everyone finds different methods for saying no to stress, but the knock-on effects can be considerable. When you keep yourself purposefully calm, it is much easier to say no to the unhealthy habits that cause your mind and body damage in the long run.
Getting Rid Of Your Need To Please People
A lot of us find it tough to give up the idea that we should please other people all of the time. We think that the only way to make our lives successful is to make sure that everyone is happy with us. That’s not true. It is not even close to the truth. The most successful people focus on their goals, even if that means a few lost relationships on the way.
Everyone seems to be on the lookout for the perfect health supplement. We all want some magic pill that will make us healthier, less stressed, and allow us to enjoy life to the fullest.
What if you found out that this supplement already exists and everyone has free access to it?
You’d be jumping for joy and asking me where you can get it from! Well, all you have to do is lie down, close your eyes, and sleep.
That’s right, the magic supplement is a good night’s sleep every single night! There’s no need for any fancy pill or anything like that, you will see some remarkable health benefits when you start improving your sleep cycle.
Today, I want to discuss some of these benefits, so you see the importance of getting lots of sleep. Not only that, but I’ll end the article with some actionable tips to help you get more sleep
Do you struggle with weight gain all the time? If you’ve been piling on the pounds, then the chances are it could be due to a lack of sleep. The two things seem unconnected, but there’s a strong link that involves the hormone leptin.
Leptin is one of the many hormones that control your hunger levels. It’s meant to suppress your appetite and tell you when you’re full. When you don’t get enough sleep, this hormone isn’t produced as much as it should be. The result is that you feel hungrier. From here, you start stuffing your face to calm your hunger.
If you got more sleep, then you’d produce a normal amount of leptin and suppress these feelings of hunger, maintaining a healthy weight.
Sleep can help you build muscle
That’s right, sleep can play a role in the muscle-building process. Mainly it comes down to what happens to your body after a workout. When you’ve been lifting weights, you break down the fibers in your muscles. This leads to the classic feelings of soreness you get the next day. Muscles need to get broken down in order to be built back up bigger and stronger.
Sleep is vital in all of this. When you’re asleep, your body recovers far quicker than when you’re awake. So, by getting lots of sleep each night, your body can recover from gym sessions and build your muscles back up. A lack of sleep leads to persistent soreness, meaning you can’t train again, or you can, but you risk overtraining and damaging your muscle growth.
Sleep reduces stress
Getting lots of sleep every night is proven to reduce your stress levels. This is because sleep lets your body relax and get ready for the next day. Anyone that’s woken up after a couple of hours of sleep will know what this feels like. You’re grouchy, everything annoys you, and your stress levels go through the roof.
The main problem is that feeling tired makes you feel stressed. When you have other things stressing you out, the last thing you want is to feel like you need some sleep. Then, you stress over your lack of sleep! So, sleeping more each night can help you feel more calm and relaxed.
Sleep prevents heart disease
Yep, sleep can keep your heart healthy and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
How?
It’s mainly to do with your blood pressure. High blood pressure causes heart complications, and your blood pressure will usually be high when you don’t get enough sleep. Therefore, a proper amount of sleep every night will keep your blood pressure at a regular level. Thus, the risk of heart disease decreases!
As you can see, sleep is so beneficial for your health. It impacts so many different elements of your health system:
Mental health
Cardiovascular health
Physical health
Digestive health
Naturally, many of you are reading this feeling a bit worried. You know you don’t get enough sleep every night, so you fear that all the potential health problems could be coming your way. Well, health issues don’t happen overnight, they happen after you consistently get a bad night’s sleep for months and years on end.
What’s more, if you improve your sleep schedule, then you will start to turn the tide and see all the benefits.
With that in mind, here are some ways to help you sleep better every night:
Take a sleep supplement: sleep supplements are useful for people with problems like insomnia that stop them from getting to sleep. Typically, the best supplement is melatonin. This is a hormone we produce to help us sleep, so you’re giving yourself a boost. It’s generally safe, and you shouldn’t have issues using melatonin during pregnancy – if you’re a woman – or if you have any health conditions. If you’re worried, then a simple check with your doctor will suffice. Many have also tried more alternative supplements and had great success. CBD oil has been shown to reduce anxiety, which will encourage restful sleep. There is a guide to find CBD for sleep online. But with alternative therapies, make sure you do your research and start with a low dose.
Stop drinking caffeine before bed: do you enjoy an evening coffee or tea? Stop doing this as caffeine stays in your system for hours after you drink it. Therefore, it will keep you awake for longer than usual. This results in a late bedtime and a lack of sleep.
Stick to a routine: speaking of bedtime, you need to set one for yourself every night. Get into the routine of going to bed at 10 or 11 pm, then waking up at 7 or 8 am. This gives you the 8 hours minimum you need for a nice sleep. By sticking to a routine, your body will adjust and you’ll find it easier to fall asleep at the same time every night.
Stop staring at screens: avoid watching TV or using your phone/computer before bed. The light from these screens can keep you awake, so spare half an hour or so of no screen time before going to sleep. It’ll help you sleep deeper and easier.
In conclusion, there are so many incredible health benefits of sleep. We’ve barely scratched the surface as well. The benefits listed above are some of the best and most significant, but there are loads more. If you struggle to sleep well every night, then follow the advice above to fix this and reap the rewards of a good night’s sleep.
If you are into fitness, you’ll know that the preparation that you do before a workout is just as important as the recovery that you go through after a workout. Your training is important, and that’s why you stretch and warm up before you start to work out. But what do you do after a workout?
The recovery that you do afterwards is just as essential as your warm up, but it’s something that is too often overlooked. You need to know how to jump start the recovery process for your muscles before you start the workout, as this can prevent injury. You may have already looked up the best heat pads for muscle recovery, or tried to figure out what is ibuprofen and how it can help. However, there are some specific things that you should be doing post-workout to make this an easy recovery for you. So, let’s take a look at five things that you should be doing after a workout.
You should always cool down after a workout. It’s the first thing that people forget to do when time is precious, but it’s really a bad idea to leave it out at all. You need to bring your heart rate down slowly, not just shut off the treadmill and walk away. Without the cool down, you’re going to end up with blood pressure bottoming out too quickly and you could feel faint. Take the five minutes to bring your workout to a close and you’ll thank yourself later.
Stretch properly after your cool down. The last thing that you want is for those muscles of yours to seize up and stop working for you. Without those adequate stretches, you’re going to end up with DOMS – delayed onset muscle soreness.
Use a roller if you want to reduce your muscle tension. Foam rollers are a form of massage and they can help your muscles to feel relaxed and adequately looked after a workout. You want to do this if you are in the gym and your muscles have started to feel sore very soon after the workout has completed.
Hydration is so important when you are working out, but you need to remember to rehydrate after a workout, too. Drink water with added electrolytes to boost your hydration levels after your workout and give your muscles that extra chance at recovery.
Nutrition is essential, and after a workout, it’s always a good idea to go for a snack. Most people love to have protein snacks like boiled eggs and fresh meat after a workout, but it’s also important that you go for something like a banana to up your potassium levels.
A workout is supposed to be something that you enjoy and get something out of when it’s done. The best thing that you can do is to ensure that you follow the steps above and you can recover faster post-workout. Your recovery is as important as anything else, so pay attention to it and allow yourself the time to feel great!
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
