Taking care of your health should always be your number one priority. However, even when you are trying your best, it can still feel super-overwhelming balancing it all. Often we are told to run as a well-oiled machine, making sure we sleep 8 hours each night, eat healthy food, keep up our social life, work 9-to-5 and still make time for exercise.
This mindset can plonk us straight into mental and physical slumps in life. Instead, the best approach is to slowly implement healthy changes into our routines in manageable chunks. Want to feel more energetic, focused, healthy and happy? Then follow on for Small Health Changes to Implement into Your Daily Routine!
1. Wake Up Early as Part of Your Daily Routine
Waking up early is probably the last thing anyone wants to do because our beds provide us with unlimited warmth and comfort. When we wake up and begin our day early, we allow our body to swim in a sea of benefits. These benefits include:
- Quiet and peaceful time for ourselves
- Time to exercise and get it out the way
- Avoid traffic (avoid stress and frustration)
- Reduce dark circles around the eyes
- Increased productivity
- Increased organisation
After reading just a handful of the benefits of waking up early, you may be super-motivated to adjust your morning routine. Going all in straight away almost always leads to a crash by the third day. A better way is to include waking up early in your daily routine by slowly moving your alarm back 15 minutes. This gradual change will make the process easier on your body and allow you sufficient time to adjust.
On winter mornings, it can be difficult to listen to your alarm and get out of bed. Try rewarding yourself with a sweet treat or coffee from your favourite place as an incentive to get yourself out of bed. Use your mornings to indulge in the blissful silence, take your time stretching and eating your breakfast don’t rush. You’ll find a huge change in your mood and ability to focus throughout the day.
With the extra time saved you can even walk to work during spring and summer to enjoy the blooming flowers and singing birds. Adding the morning walk to work can also count as your daily exercise, meaning you can skip the gym session in the evening if you want.
2. Invest Time in Active Hobbies as a Daily Routine
Another small health change you can make within your daily routine is dedicating some time to your hobbies. Active hobbies are a great way to stimulate your mind while also providing an array of benefits for your overall health.
These active hobbies do not have to take up a strict allotment of time or require perfection from you, instead they should be fun and easy to slip into your daily routine. Some examples of active hobbies include:
Sports such as football, tennis and badminton are usually played within a group atmosphere. This makes it much easier to add into your routine because it doesn’t feel like exercising, it just feels like hanging out, and having fun. It’s super-valuable to spend a chunk of time outdoors each day. To take in the beauty of nature, and reward your body with crisp, fresh air.
Hobbies like open water swimming can serve as a form of mindfulness, helping you de-stress while taking in beautiful views. Open water swimming is a fun activity that strengthens your muscles while also benefiting your mental health. If you choose to go down this route, ensure you are a confident swimmer, that you have brought a wet suit, and chosen a suitable tow float.
3. Cook a Nutritious Dinner
One of the most well-known changes people make to their daily routine when trying to be healthier is to eat better. Rather than switching out all your usual grocery shops for healthy alternatives, you should try to set a goal of having one healthy meal a day. Buying healthy groceries is a great idea in theory, but in reality it doesn’t mean we will eat the food and resist snacking and ordering takeouts! Setting the goal of one healthy meal a day is much more attainable.
This means you can eat what you want for breakfast and lunch, but when you have time in the evening, you should aim to cook a homemade nutritious meal. Finding ideas for meals can come from magazines, online blogs, or from friends and family. Play around with different items and flavors as this will provide you with a more relaxed and enjoyable experience.
Alongside eating one healthy meal a day, it would also benefit you to increase your water intake. Fitting this into your daily routine is really simple. All you need to do is buy a reusable water bottle and keep it on hand.
What daily, small or “ATOMIC” habits do you believe make the biggest difference to your health? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!
