With 44% of people reporting they are falling short of their health and well being goals, and Western developed countries presenting an embarrassing benchmark of poor health parameters (obesity, low physical activity), how can this life stressor (at 46% the fourth biggest cause of stress in our lives!) be put back into balance?
When looking at the complexities of health and well-being, perhaps the answer is to keep it simple.
Diet, exercise, sleep, socialisation are key elements that when in balance have a positive effect on our well-being. But with most of us working longer hours, with less vacations, and attributing less and less time to daily leisure activities, how is it possible to achieve even just the Mayo Clinic recommended exercise level of 30 minutes a day?
It’s about starting with small achievable steps.
Cut out sugar! Swap white rice for brown, add oats to your diet. Eat smaller, but more frequent palm / fist sized portions.
Get rid of the screens! Out of the bedroom for all screens, TV, phone, tablets. Don’t check them before bed.
Dedicate a time to walk before or after work. Can’t manage a 30-minute walk? Try three 10-minute walks instead. Plug in the headphones, find a park and be a kid … yep use the swing, climb the monkey bars.
Socialise! Socialising isn’t commenting and liking on Facebook! It’s about connecting in the same space … you know the old school catch up.
And when it comes to meals, well for me it starts and ends with Jamie Oliver.
Seriously 5 ingredients. Even I can do that.
Research shows that people who participate in programmes that seek to improve health through weight management, increase physical activity have the positive physiological benefits of a reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease and also increase their health-related quality of life by an average of nearly 10 percent.
Chapter 1 of “Living your dream life” is complete and ends with a work sheet and guide so you can create your own plan for balancing your health and well-being across all the other critical aspects of your life.
Stay tuned for more on this journey towards living your dream life. And if you haven’t taken the life aspects survey to be part of this global research into how we think, feel and act about key areas of our lives, well you can take it at our survey page. https://livingyourdreamlife.org/survey/
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