Why You Must Start Prioritizing Healthy Living Today
You see, many people struggle to live a healthy lifestyle because they haven’t realized how much better their lives would be if they practiced it. Some believe they’re doing just fine. They eat whatever they want and find no reason to subject themselves to strenuous physical exercises because they’re precisely that — strenuous!
Why deny yourself of that mouth-watering delicacy, and why waste 30 minutes carrying
weights that make you pant! Right? Wrong!
Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean doing the things you don’t love or avoiding those you do. It’s the other way around. A healthy lifestyle involves doing the things that make you feel good and happy. It’s about understanding what’s best for your overall health, physically and mentally, and observing them.
Notably, a healthy lifestyle lowers your chances of falling seriously sick or dying early. And the truth is, when you practice healthy habits consistently, they become a way of life, an addiction, and the best addiction anyone could ever have. Because there’s so much, you stand to gain.
Five ways a healthy lifestyle benefits you in the long run
1. Prevention of chronic disease
Chronic diseases like cancer, lung disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and several other heart diseases develop over time from certain habits. But unfortunately, they don’t show symptoms the day you start eating 50 grams of added sugar daily. So even when you think you’re currently healthy, you don’t know what’s developing on the inside.
Excessive alcohol, smoking, and sugar consumption are some of the things that increase your risk of developing heart problems and a host of other chronic diseases.
If you can limit such unhealthy habits and practice healthy ones, you would significantly lower your risks of falling seriously sick.
For example, one study found that daily fruit and vegetable intake contributed to a 25% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
2.Lower risk of death
Many deaths result from conditions such as cancer and diabetes, among others. By lowering your risks of such chronic diseases, a healthy lifestyle can increase your chances of living longer.
According to a 2020 study, people who engaged in 11 minutes of daily physical exercise had a lower risk of death than those who did the same routine for only 2 minutes.
Another research shows that you could live up to 14 years longer if, at age 50, you’ve never smoked. And have always kept alcohol use moderate, maintained a healthy weight, and engaged in physical activity.
3.Significant cash savings
From less money spent on soda and alcohol to hospital bills, you save a lot of cash by living healthily. It’s simple; the healthier you are, the less likely you will see a doctor.
You’d spend less on prescriptions, surgeries, and many other treatments.
Of course, you should go for checkups periodically, knowing how dormant some conditions like high blood pressure can be. But the cost of checkups and lab tests is far lower than that of long-term treatments when you get diagnosed .
4.You feel happier
Physical exercises make a huge chunk of the healthy living concept. Notably, you have an increased amount of happy hormones (serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine, and endorphin) after every workout session.
Whether it’s as light as a 30-minute walk or as strenuous as weight lifting, you feel happier when you exercise.
Healthy living is not only good for your physical health but a mental one as well.
5.You get more productive.
Try imagining how many productive hours are lost when you fall seriously ill.
That aside, you tend to be more productive in whatever you do when you are happier. A good mood leads to improvement in both work quality and quantity. And a healthy lifestyle involving exercise and eating right fosters a better spirit.
What you can do
Don’t be discouraged; a healthy lifestyle doesn’t revolve around weight training. You may not have to lift heavy weights if you’re not interested in building muscle mass.
Ten minutes of either moderate or vigorous-intensity activity daily was associated with a 38% reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease. At the same time, there is more reduction of about 77% with 30 minutes daily of similar exercises.
A moderate cardiovascular activity like walking and jogging can incredibly benefit your mental and heart health. These are exercises you can enjoy. The goal is to reduce your sitting time. Get moving today.
Eat right. Healthy foods are not tasteless foods. Substitute added sugar for non-calorie sweeteners.
Reduce your alcohol intake with conviction and replace soda with water. Limit the processed foods and try cooking at home, and create your path to a healthier, happier, longer, and more productive life.
