Health is something that we often push aside and into the backs of our minds because we’re too occupied dealing with other things. But what are these “other things” that are so much more important than health? We give priority to our jobs, housework, friends and family and even pure procrastinating. Because even if we know there is something wrong with our health, we’re still hesitant to go to the physician and start taking our health seriously. But we should, because as soon as health takes a turn for the worse, it will become our number one priority. So, let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that by taking care of ourselves today.
1. Change your diet
Most of us today are eating sub-par diets, some because of lack of accessibility and most because of convenience and general lack of knowledge about healthy eating. Almost everything you buy when you eat out, whether it’s fast food or a sit-down at a restaurant is loaded with both sugar and sodium to make it taste good – and that’s not a lot to go on. Instead, turn to whole foods. You can try the whole 30 challenge to get back in touch with real, whole foods.
Start cooking and preparing healthy meals at home that you know the ingredients of. Pack them up and take them out and be mindful of the things you’re putting in your body because the food we eat is one of the main factors when it comes to our health.
2. Go to your doctor
Going to the doctor’s office is scary. You can feel intimidated and ashamed, and the longer you postpone the worse the feelings get. The main point about going to the doctor is picking the right one. If you’ve been at some point assigned a doctor that you just don’t feel comfortable with, you are allowed to look for a new one. You’ll always want to go through testimonials, so look for doctors like Timothy Steel who have patients’ testimonials in full view for everyone to see.
You want to ask for recommendations and really focus on the things that are important to you, like whether the doctor is good with kids, whether they have a weight bias or anything else that will make you feel comfortable confiding in that doctor. Once you pick the right one, schedule an appointment and go tell them everything that’s bothering you. And keep up with it! The more regularly you attend your appointments, the more comfortable you’ll be with telling your doctor when you have a problem.
3. Control your stress
Sometimes, stressful situations are unavoidable. Things happen in life that we don’t expect, and our body’s natural response is stress. But, there are things you can do to lower the stress in your life, because too much stress will lead to a spike in your blood pressure, which can be deadly for your heart.
Sometimes, the main causes of stress in our life are things that we can’t change or “get rid of”, like our job or our family, but that’s why it’s so important to remain mindful and find techniques to calm yourself down. If you stay present, you might notice that you are probably also a factor in escalating the fights and if you stepped away more often and allowed the time and space for everyone to cool down, there would be less stress.
4. Make your space comfortable
If you’re living in a rental space, or if you’ve simply neglected the space you live in, it might be causing you harm on two separate levels. Firstly, if you’re not keeping the space clean and up-to-date, you might be damaging your health by breathing in dust and mold. But perhaps more importantly, you are damaging your mental health.
Living in a space that feels like it’s not your own and where you feel uncomfortable means you’ll never get any proper rest and relaxation. So, invest a little bit to make yourself feel comfortable and safe in the space you live in.
5. Put your mental health first
Mental health is just as important as physical health, and we should all be doing our part to take care of it. Visiting a therapist to talk about how you’re feeling doesn’t mean you’re crazy nor weak, it only means that you want to work on yourself and improve your mental health, which is something to be praised. Don’t keep emotions bottled up – talk about them, express them and feel them.
It’s time we all start taking some responsibility and some steps towards a healthier society and a healthier world. We can do our part to make ourselves healthier, but we also need to keep in mind that the younger generations are looking up to us and we need to give them a good, healthy example to look up to.
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