Who doesn’t want to be happy? We all do. However, getting there may be challenging for many who are unwittingly sabotaging their health and happiness intentions.
Knowing what to do is vital in every area that we want to improve. The actions we take, no matter how small, can have a powerful impact on our happiness meter.
Take a look at these 7 Health and Happiness Tips to get you there… with a smile on your face.
Eat a Nutrient-Rich Diet
The types of foods you eat have a direct impact not only on your overall health but your mental well-being. Eating a diet that promotes the right neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine can be a game-changer when it comes to loving your life. Foods that increase wellness and happiness include healthy fats and proteins.
The types of foods you eat can provoke a poor attitude, stress, or anxiety. These foods include refined, processed foods like sugar, white flour, all refined grains, etc. Eliminate from your diet sodas, crackers, chips, cookies, cakes, candy, pretzels, bagels, cereals, juice, and many more of these processed foods.
These types of ‘foods’ provoke havoc with our health. In order to get energy to the brain, the body releases adrenaline. Adrenaline can make you anxious and stress-prone. Additionally, cortisol, our stress hormone is released in response, which drives weight gain, belly fat, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and much more when chronically high.
Drink Alkaline Hydrogen Water
Water is a key component not just in keeping us alive, but is required for every process in the human body. When we are even marginally, chronically mildly dehydrated which is only 2-3%, symptoms such as brain fog, joint pain, sugar cravings, hunger, headaches, weight gain, back pain and more occur, leading to a poor quality of life. The solution? Drink more water.
Ensure you are drinking water that is healthy for you. Ideally, drinking alkaline water that has natural hydrogen will help to reduce inflammation and optimize health. Molecular hydrogen is the smallest molecule known and can, therefore, pass through the cell membrane to enhance cellular health. Drinking water full of chlorine and other toxins is effectively poisoning the body.
Sleep 7-9 Hours Each Night
Getting quality sleep for 7-9 hours a night will help enhance health in every area. Ensuring you have a sleep schedule that you stick to will automatically help you do this. Quality sleep protects you from:
- Inflammation
- Poor Immunity
- Stress
- Foggy Thinking
- Poor Memory
- Cognitive Impairment
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Weight Gain
- Hunger and Cravings
- Low Energy
Create a nighttime routine to get your mind and body relaxed, maybe try meditating, deep breathing or reading. Turn off your phone, computer, TV and pad 90 minutes before sleeping as the blue light from these devices interferes with melatonin production. Sleep in a very dark cool room to promote a restful night’s sleep.
Move Your Body
One of the most underutilized prescriptions for mental health is exercise. Research shows that any body movement will have not only a protective effect on brain health but will also promote mental well-being.
We are sitting now more than ever. Sitting effectively promotes inflammation in the body and sets us up for poor health, poor posture, and chronic pain.
Stay Away From Negativity
Always negative? Negativity can promote chronic stress that triggers the hormone cortisol. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol promote anxiety, weight gain, belly fat, poor immunity, increased blood pressure, moodiness, headaches, and more. Negativity rewires your brain, making it easier to see the bad and more challenging to see the good.
Surround yourself with people, places and things that make you happy which will also make you healthy.
Have Compassion for Others
When we feel compassion, love and caring for others, we feel that love and kindness in return. Compassion gives us the ability to understand someone else’s situation. Being in a state of ‘other-focused’ versus the mindset most are in which is ‘self-focused,’ enhances one’s quality of life.
Think about the practice of ‘paying it forward’ or helping out at a homeless shelter, opening a door for someone, or letting someone have your seat on a bus. These are kind gestures that people appreciate and help you create more happiness in your life as well.
When we can look back on our lives and be proud of our actions, we then feel a sense of fulfillment and purpose which leads to a better quality of life.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude has consistently shown to be associated with a happier and healthier life. When you express kindness or feel gratitude, this floods your brain with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that promotes positive feelings.
When one is grateful, it helps to lower stress, improve sleep, resilience strengthens, immune health increases and life satisfaction overall improves. Simply appreciating even the smallest of things such as being grateful that you have heat or air conditioning, that your heart beats without you thinking about it, the sunshine, your pets, and even the big things…all boosts quality of life.
One of the first things to do when you awaken in the morning is to think about three things you are grateful for…no matter how small.
Here’s to a happy and healthy life!
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