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Healthy Lifestyles
A healthy lifestyle can help you thrive as you move through your life's journey. Making healthy choices isn't always easy – it can be hard to find the time and energy to exercise regularly or prepare healthy meals. However, your efforts will pay off in many ways, and for the rest of your life.
Steps you can take:
- Be physically active for 30 minutes most days of the week. Break this up into three 10-minute sessions when pressed for time. Healthy movement may include walking, sports, dancing, yoga or running.
- Eat a well-balanced, low-fat diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Choose a diet that's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and moderate in sugar, salt and total fat.
- Avoid injury by wearing seatbelts and bike helmets, using smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the home, and using street smarts when walking alone. If you own a gun, recognize the dangers of having a gun in your home. Use safety precautions at all times.
- Don't smoke, and quit if you do. Ask your health care provider for help. UCSF offers a smoking cessation program.
- If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. Never drink before or when driving, or when pregnant.
- Ask someone you trust for help if you think you might be addicted to drugs or alcohol.
- Help prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS by using condoms every time you have sexual contact. Keep in mind, condoms are not 100 percent foolproof, so discuss STI screening with your provider. Birth control methods other than condoms, such as pills and implants, won't protect you from STIs or HIV.
- Brush your teeth after meals with a soft or medium bristled toothbrush. Also brush after drinking, before going to bed. Use dental floss daily.
- Stay out of the sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun's harmful rays are strongest. Don't think you are safe if it is cloudy or if you are in the water, as harmful rays pass through both. Use a broad spectrum sunscreen that guards against both UVA and UVB rays, with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher. Select sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of the sun's rays.
Healthy Outlook
You may feel pulled in different directions and experience stress from dealing with work, family and other matters, leaving little time for yourself. Learning to balance your life with some time for yourself will pay off with big benefits – a healthy outlook and better health.
Steps you can take:
- Stay in touch with family and friends.
- Be involved in your community.
- Maintain a positive attitude and do things that make you happy.
- Keep your curiosity alive. Lifelong learning is beneficial to your health.
- Healthy intimacy takes all forms but is always free of coercion.
- Learn to recognize and manage stress in your life. Signs of stress include trouble sleeping, frequent headaches and stomach problems; being angry a lot; and turning to food, drugs and alcohol to relieve stress.
Good ways to deal with stress include regular exercise, healthy eating habits, and relaxation exercises such as deep breathing or meditation. Talking to trusted family members and friends can help a lot. Some women find that interacting with their faith community is helpful in times of stress. - Get enough sleep and rest – adults need around eight hours of sleep a night.
- Talk to your health care provider if you feel depressed for more than a few days. Depression is a treatable illness. Signs of depression include feeling empty and sad, crying a lot, loss of interest in life, and thoughts of death or suicide. If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide, get help right away. Call 911, a local crisis center or (800) SUICIDE.
- UCSF Health medical specialists have reviewed this information. It is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or other health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any questions or concerns you may have with your provider.
Does a healthy lifestyle make a difference?
As it turns out, healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met criteria for all five habits enjoyed significantly, impressively longer lives than those who had none: 14 years for women and 12 years for men (if they had these habits at age 50). People who had none of these habits were far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Study investigators also calculated life expectancy by how many of these five healthy habits people had. Just one healthy habit (and it didn't matter which one) … just one… extended life expectancy by two years in men and women. Not surprisingly, the more healthy habits people had, the longer their lifespan. This is one of those situations where I wish I could reprint their graphs for you, because they're so cool. (But if you're very curious, the article is available online, and the graphs are on page 7. Check out Graph B, "Estimated life expectancy at age 50 according to the number of low-risk factors.")
So what's our (big) problem?
As the authors of this study point out, in the US we tend to spend outlandishly on developing fancy drugs and other treatments for diseases, rather than on trying to prevent them. This is a big problem.
Experts have suggested that the best way to help people make healthy diet and lifestyle change is at the large-scale, population level, through public health efforts and policy changes. (Kind of like motorcycle helmets and seat belt legislation…) We have made a little progress with tobacco and trans-fat legislation.
There's a lot of pushback from big industry on that, of course. If we have guidelines and laws helping us to live healthier, big companies aren't going to sell as much fast food, chips, and soda. And for companies hell-bent on making money at the cost of human life, well, that makes them very angry.
Starting a healthy lifestyle can involve eating nutritious foods, engaging in regular physical activity, and prioritizing your mental health.
When you’re not at your healthiest, you can probably tell. You may simply feel “off.” You may find that you feel tired, your digestive system isn’t functioning as well as it normally does, and you seem to catch colds. Mentally, you may find you can’t concentrate and feel anxious or depressed.
The good news: a healthy lifestyle can help you feel better. Even better, you don’t have to overhaul your entire life overnight. It’s pretty easy to make a couple of small changes that can steer you in the direction of improved well-being. And once you make one change, that success can motivate you to continue to make more positive shifts.
Ask 50 people to define what a “healthy lifestyle” is, and you’ll likely get 50 different answers. That’s because there’s no one way to be healthy. A healthy lifestyle simply means doing things that make you happy and feel good.
For one person, that may mean walking a mile five times a week, eating fast food once a week, and spending virtual or in-person time with loved ones every other day. For someone else, a healthy lifestyle may be training and running two marathons a year, following a keto diet, and never having a sip of alcohol.
Neither of these is better than the other. Both are perfect for that person. You get to decide what your healthy lifestyle looks like.
Making changes to improve your health can lead to benefits for your body, your mind, your wallet, and even the environment.
1. Prevents disease
Healthy habits can reduce the risk of various diseases, including those that may run in your family.
For example, in a recent study, adults who followed a standard American diet (rich in fruits and vegetables) for 8 weeks had a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
In another2020 study , researchers found that every 66-gram increase in daily fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 25 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.Swapping out some refined grains for whole grains also reduces the risk of disease. In an observational
study of almost 200,000 adults, those who ate the most whole grains had a 29 percent lower rate of type 2 diabetes than those who ate the least.And a
review of 45 studies concluded that eating 90 grams (or three 30-gram servings) of whole grains daily reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 22 percent, coronary heart disease by 19 percent, and cancer by 15 percent.In terms of exercise, as little as 11 minutes a day may add years to your life. In a 2020 study, researchers tracked more than 44,000 adults. Those who got 11 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day had a lower risk of death compared to those who only exercised at that intensity for 2 minutes. This comparison held true even if people sat for 8.5 hours every day.
minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day had a lower risk of death compared to those who only exercised at that intensity for 2 minutes. This comparison held true even if people sat for 8.5 hours every day.
2. Saves money
It’s always smart to see your primary care physician for an annual physical exam. This is especially true seeing how some health conditions, such as high blood pressure, are “silent.” This means they don’t have any symptoms, so unless you are checked, you usually don’t know you have the condition.
However, the healthier you are, the less likely you will have to see a doctor. This could save money by reducing co-pays, the need for prescriptions, and other treatments.3. Lengthens lifespan
Basic healthy habits are connected with living a longer life. If, at age 50, you’ve never smoked, maintain a healthy weight, are regularly active, follow a healthy diet, and keep alcohol to a moderate consumption, you could live
up to 14 years longer. Making even a few of these changes could lengthen your lifespan.4. It can be good for the environment
Ultra-processed foods are those that contain refined grains and additives to change the texture, taste, or color. Some examples of these foods are cheese puffs, packaged dessert cakes, chicken nuggets, and sweetened breakfast cereals. More than 70 percent of foods in U.S. supermarkets are ultra-processed.
The making of ultra-processed foods contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity, decreased biodiversity, plastic waste, and deforestation.
Then, there are animal products. According to a 2013 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (an agency within the U.N. that focuses on reducing hunger and food inequality worldwide), raising livestock for meat and dairy makes up 14.5 percent of human-created greenhouse gases.However, there are easy fixes for this. For example, if every American cut their weekly beef consumption by 1/4 pound, the decrease in global warming gas emissions would be the equivalent of taking four to six million cars off the road, according to the National Resources Defense Council.
But it’s not only about what you eat more or less of. Replacing short car rides with biking can also cut back on the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
In a non-peer reviewed 2010 study, researchers estimated that if 20 percent of citizens in Madison, Wisconsin biked for trips less than 5 miles, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 57,000 tons each year.
And, a 2017 study in Stockholm found that, if drivers who lived within a half-hour bike ride to and from work commuted by bike rather than car, it could save 449 years of life annually in the county due to reduced vehicle emission.These estimates aren’t simply dreams. Barcelona’s bike-share program reduces emissions of carbon dioxide by about
10,000 tons each year .Your journey toward a healthier lifestyle starts with small changes that you feel confident you can achieve. Consider making “SMART” goals. SMART stands for:
- specific
- measurable
- attainable
- relevant
- time-bound (met by a deadline and done in a certain amount of time)
When you focus on SMART goals, you could find more success. And one initial “win” will propel you to set new, bigger goals.
Consider the following tips for beginning to improve your overall health.
1. Eat more vegetables
A
2010 analysis of prospective studies suggests consuming more veggies and fruit is associated with lower risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and premature death.Although eating more vegetables is better, you don’t have to go from zero to nine servings a day. Perhaps your goal is eating one serving of vegetables at dinner. If you already do that, consider eating one vegetable or fruit at every meal.
Keep in mind that less-processed veggies are better. Rather than fries, try roasted potatoes seasoned with herbs or make a stir-fry of several colorful vegetables and drizzle them with a tasty vinaigrette.2. Swap in whole grains
Replacing refined grains with whole grains will benefit your health. In a small
2017 study , 81 men and postmenopausal women were divided into two groups. Half followed a diet that contained whole grains, and the other half followed a diet that was calorically the same but contained refined grains. After 6 weeks, the whole grain group increased their resting metabolic rate (RMR). RMR is how many calories your body burns at rest.Research from
2016 and2020 link consuming more whole grains with reduced risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Start small by replacing one refined grain each day with a whole grain — maybe it’s your breakfast toast or the pilaf you make with dinner. Experiment with different grains and flavorings to see which ones you enjoy most.Whole grains include:
- plain oats
- whole grain bread and pasta
- brown and wild rice
- buckwheat
- bulgur wheat
- millet
- barley
- spelt
- quinoa
- farro
Refined grains include:
- white bread and pasta
- white rice
- most breakfast cereals
- chips
- pretzel
- crackers
3. Be more active
If the words “exercise” or “workout” put you off, think of this step in terms of physical activity or simply moving your body.
You don’t have to run a marathon — or run at all — to be healthy.
You could walk, go for a bike ride, take salsa dancing lessons, practice martial arts, or try a workout class online. The most important thing is to choose an activity you enjoy. Choosing an activity you have an interest in will increase the chances that you’ll stick with it.
Secondly, remember that you don’t have to start with a long workout. Aim for 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. When you feel ready, add another 5 or 10 minutes. Keep doing this until you reach at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week.4. Maintain friendships
Strong relationships and staying in communication with friends and loved ones can support mental health.
For one, the risk of depression is greater in people with low-quality relationships. Those with the poorest quality social relationships have more than double the risk of depression compared to people with the
highest quality connections .Similarly,
research suggests feeling isolated is associated with an increased risk of poor self-rated health and depression. It is also associated with various health problems, like headaches, palpitations, and lower back, neck, or shoulder pain.Even if you cannot get together with friends or family in person, schedule a time to catch up over a phone or video call once a week. Or, simply start chatting with a neighbor when you see them.
5. Control stress
Chronic stress puts your body into fight-or-flight mode all the time. This taxes your immune system and makes you more susceptible to health problems, including:
- heart disease
- diabetes
- digestive problems
- depression
- high blood pressure
- anxiety
- difficulty sleeping
Exercise can help reduce stress by releasing pent-up energy. Physical activity can also boost the release of mood-lifting hormones called endorphins.
For others, mindfulness practices — like meditation, deep breathing, journaling, or spending time in nature — can help to lower stress. Talking to friends can also help.
If you would like more support relieving stress, consider therapy. Working with a trained psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist can help you work through challenges life throws your way, and it can help you learn new skills to manage stress.
There really aren’t any downsides to a healthy lifestyle since each person gets to define what “healthy” looks and feels like for themselves.
This means you don’t have to do anything that doesn’t make you happy. After all, as we already covered, unhappiness can affect your health.
For example, if you don’t like conventional exercise, think of ways you enjoy moving your body. And if you hate kale, you don’t have to eat it.
Living a healthy lifestyle does not mean you have to give up the things that may be considered “bad habits.” It’s perfectly possible to balance healthy living with eating cookies, taking a day off from your workout, or having wine with dinner.
In fact, enjoying a treat once in a while can help you better stick to healthy eating habits. An all-or-nothing mindset where you can only eat “good” foods and never eat “bad” ones often backfires. Having the flexibility to eat your mom’s extra-cheesy lasagna — and savor every bite — is part of being healthy.Rest days are also important for physical and mental health. Doing too much exercise can increase the risk of injuries or cause you to burn out and give up exercise altogether.
Furthermore, moderate drinking (one standard-size drink per day for women and two for men) is linked with various health benefits. A “standard drink” is:
- 12 fluid ounces of beer
- 5 fl oz of wine
- 8–9 fl oz of malt liquor
- 1.5 fl oz of spirit
On the other hand, if you feel as though you can’t control a habit that might bring negative health effects (such as drinking alcohol, using recreational drugs in excess, or smoking), talk to your doctor. They can help you find support.
A healthy lifestyle can not only help you feel better, but it can also reduce the risk of some diseases, lengthen your lifespan, save you money, and benefit the environment.
Your version of a healthy lifestyle is whatever you define it to be. There’s nothing you must or must not do in order to be healthy. Identify what makes you feel good and what brings you the greatest happiness. Then, start small when you make changes. You’re more likely to see success this way, and small successes will snowball into bigger benefits.
Lastly, if you want help with making any lifestyle changes, talk to your doctor. If they can’t directly help you, they may recommend other professionals, like registered dietitians or therapists.
Brittany Risher is a writer, editor, and digital strategist specializing in health and lifestyle content. She’s written for publications including Elemental, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and Yoga Journal.
I and many others are promoting the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, but what does that actually mean?
A healthy lifestyle isn’t just diet and exercise. Today we go over the components of leading a healthy lifestyle and how it’s important to lead a balanced life. In general, most would agree that a healthy person doesn’t smoke, is at a healthy weight, eats a balanced healthy diet, thinks positively, feels relaxed, exercises regularly, has good relationships, and benefits from a good life balance.
Maybe I should start by trying to look at a few definitions for the word – lifestyle. A definition in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says: ‘A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group’.
Definition Of A Healthy Lifestyle
The World Health Organization in 1946 defined health as ‘A complete state of mental, physical and social well-being not merely the absence of disease’.
Wikipedia defines a lifestyle as the way a person lives. This includes patterns of social relations, consumption, entertainment, and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual’s attitudes, values or worldview. A healthy lifestyle is generally characterized as a “balanced life” in which one makes “wise choices”.
A final definition of lifestyle is: The aggregation of decisions by individuals which affect their health, and over which they have control.
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF HEALTHY LIVING?
The World Health Organization (WHO), defines Health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not simply just the absence of disease. The actual definition of Healthy Living is the steps, actions and strategies one puts in place to achieve optimum health. Healthy Living is about taking responsibility for your decisions and making smart health choices for today and for the future. So healthy living would consist of:
PHYSICAL (FOR THE BODY)
- Good Nutrition, Eating Right
- Getting Physically Fit, Beneficial Exercise
- Adequate Rest
- Proper Stress Management
YOU ALSO NEED TO GIVE AND RECEIVE
- Forgiveness
- Love and Compassion
- You Need to Laugh and Experience Happiness.
- You Need Joyful Relationships With Yourself and Others.
EMOTIONAL WELLNESS (FOR THE MIND)
- Self-Supportive Attitudes
- Positive Thoughts and Viewpoints
- Positive Self-Image
SPIRITUAL WELLNESS
- Inner Calmness
- Openness to Your Creativity
- Trust in Your Inner Knowing
And all aspects of one’s self, must work in harmony to achieve wellness, so you need to create a balanced life.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
A healthy lifestyle is a valuable resource for reducing the incidence and impact of health problems, for recovery, for coping with life stressors, and for improving quality of life. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows our lifestyles play a huge part in how healthy we are. From what we eat and drink, to how much exercise we take, and whether we smoke or take drugs, all will affect our health, not only in terms of life expectancy, but how long we can expect to live without experiencing chronic disease.
Conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, joint disease, and mental illness are responsible for a vast number of deaths and disabilities. Currently, we rely almost exclusively on the provision of clinical care by highly trained health professionals as our major strategy to deal with these conditions. Many health problems can be prevented or at least their occurrence postponed by having a healthy lifestyle.
Why don’t you have a healthy lifestyle?
It’s a busy life for most of us. And keeping ourselves healthy is all too rarely near the top of our list of ‘things to do’. Convenience often wins – we are all so busy that convenience is at a premium.
GOOD HEALTH IS ’SIMPLE – BUT IT’S NOT EASY’
It is so important to make ‘keeping healthy’ a part of our day-to-day living habits. Your health depends on what you do throughout the day, every day. A healthy lifestyle is absolutely vital. Here is a real simple solution – slowly improve your lifestyle in a step-by-step way. If you take one new health step every two months, for example, in two to three years you will be among the healthiest ten percent of people in the Western world.
And boy will you see and feel the benefits.
Improvements do not have to be large steps; take one small step for your health today, keep that one going, and add another one every two months. Have a plan – maybe introduce 6 improvements over the course of a year.
CAN YOU ADOPT A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE?
Whatever your age, fitness level or body shape, it’s never too soon or too late to start thinking about living healthily. You can take a step towards healthy living by making one change now to your daily life. That won’t be so hard will it?
ARE YOU LIVING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE?
Do you wake up with enthusiasm for the day ahead? Do you have the high energy you need to do what you want? Do you laugh easily and often, especially at yourself? Do you confidently find solutions for the challenges in your life? Do you feel valued and appreciated? Do you appreciate others and let them know it? Do you have a circle of warm, caring friends? Do the choices you make every day get you what you want?
Stress Management
Emotional stress plays an important role in many illnesses, both directly and indirectly. People are also more likely to smoke, overeat, drink too much, work too hard, argue with others and so on, when they are feeling stressed. Thus, stress management is an important part of your new lifestyle, and meditation and relaxation techniques are truly a key part of living a healthy lifestyle.
Make Friends with Yourself
Loving yourself is a key to a healthy, happy lifestyle. Self-esteem is all about how much people value themselves; the pride they feel in themselves, and how worthwhile they feel. Self-esteem is important because feeling good about yourself can affect how you act.
Powering Up Your Mind and Body
Program your mind for total success. Develop a vision, a compelling future that excites and inspires you, and focus on it daily. Don’t let anything knock you of course, or make you question its possibility. I promise you, by taking control of your thoughts, you will improve your life in a big way.
Life Balance
If you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle you must take steps to ensure you maintain a certain level of balance… spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, mentally and financially. You need to balance work and family, and all the other areas of your life without spreading yourself too thin and having a guilt trip when you do one thing, but think you should be doing another. All of the key areas of our lives overlap and interlink, effecting each other. Unless we create for ourselves satisfaction in each and every part of our life, we can never truly be fulfilled, or live a contented, happy and healthy life.
Being Healthy is so important. Just change one thing in your life today. Have a healthy life beginning now. Living a healthy lifestyle will bring you happiness, health and the life of your dreams. You can fit into your favorite pair of jeans again. You can enjoy all the benefits that perfect health offers you. You can feel your best at all times of the day.
I have spent over ten years working in the area of personal development and in helping others to achieve their potential. It is the belief that everyone should be helped and encouraged to reach their full potential that motivates me in my work as a coach and blogger. I’m passionate about this because I have seen its effects in my own life and the lives of others. I am 100% committed to making the difference, and I pray this is obvious to you through my blog.
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