Keeping Healthy this World Health Day

If it were up to us, every day would be a health day. Unfortunately, our stressful routines make it tough to remember to take good care of ourselves, so this World Health Day brings a perfect opportunity to start doing so. Now it’s time to make healthy choices and invest in wellness to keep your body in top condition. Are you searching for tips to become healthier? Here are some steps you can try and are easy to take.

1. Eat a Well-Balanced Diet

You might have heard this famous phrase thousands of times – you are what you eat, yet you keep eating an unhealthy diet which sets the stage for various nutrition-related diseases. Poor nutrition can lead to countless unwanted health consequences, so unsurprisingly, the first step you can take to keep yourself healthy on this World Health Day 2022 is fine-tuning your diet and making it more nutritious.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a healthy diet for adults should include fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g., lentils and beans), nuts, and whole grains. It should consist of at least 400 g (0.88 pounds) of fruit and vegetables, except potatoes, cassava, and other starchy roots.

According to the agency, for an adult consuming 2000 calories per day, sugar intake should not exceed 10% (about 12 teaspoons). Moreover, you should opt for unsaturated fats from natural sources like avocado, nuts, sunflower, soybean, or similar sources and avoid saturated fats and trans-fat.

WHO suggests limiting the intake of saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans fats to less than 1% of total energy intake.

Finally, it recommends reducing salt intake to less than a teaspoon per day and choosing iodized salt. 

Keeping a well-balanced diet when you work from the office and have a packed schedule can get challenging, so when possible, always prepare food at home and bring home-cooked lunch at work to help you control what you are eating. 

2. Exercise

It’s no secret that physical activity significantly improves our overall well-being and helps fight stress. (The latter can have various adverse health consequences.) Studies show that regular exercise improves mental health, improves memory and cognitive function, and can help you achieve better sleep. It offers even more positive health outcomes, such as reducing the risk of heart diseases and allowing your body to manage blood sugar and insulin levels. 

The Mayo Clinic recommends exercising for at least 30 minutes every day. The exercises you choose will depend on your fitness goals, and they can be as simple as brisk walking, jogging, or full-body workout you can find online and do at home.

3. Get Enough Sleep

Although crucial, not all can get adequate sleep every night either due to stress, lack of time, or one of the common sleep disorders. Chronic sleep deprivation causes serious health complications such as a high risk of developing heart diseases, diabetes, compromised immune system, obesity, and depression. 

Ensure to make a good sleep your priority, maintain sleep hygiene, and consider adding sleep supplements such as melatonin to your nighttime routine. According to CDC, adults between 18-and 60 years require at least seven or more hours of sleep per night. 

4. Minimize Screen Time

Digital screens help us in many ways; they allow us to complete daily tasks, connect with others, stay up to date, and provide many other benefits. However, they also are one of the leading causes of our stress and pose a risk of addiction. 

The blue light from our digital devices and stimuli from screens cause repeated stress on the Central Nervous System. This stress makes us feel angry, impulsive, isolated, aggressive, and less empathetic leading to severe mental health problems. Therefore, it’s essential to limit screen time for better health and use electronic devices when you need them instead of using them in bed, at lunch, or when meeting friends. Furthermore, screen exposure before bedtime will delay the release of melatonin, leading to less restful sleep.

5. Try Natural Wellness Products

Finally, one of the best steps you can take on World Health Day is to supplement your body and mind with natural wellness products. These will not cure any conditions; instead, they can serve as a building block for a balanced body. 

One of the most popular natural ingredients on the wellness market is now CBD. The natural hemp-derived ingredient can indirectly affect human endocannabinoid receptors and provide various outcomes. Besides, CBD products come in numerous forms, such as topical CBD, CBD oils, gummies, skincare, bath bombs, hair care, and even pet products, allowing CBD for different goals. If it’s your first time using CBD, you can find answers to many common CBD questions in our blog – CBD For Beginners: Product Types, Dosage, And Usage.