We all want to live a long and happy life, so it’s important that we take the necessary steps in order to help ourselves as much as we can do. There are some things that can hinder our health and wellbeing, so to avoid them, here are a few.
Lack Of Sleep
Sleep is something that we all need in order to function every day. Without it, we’re not ourselves. We lack focus, and our energy levels tend to be low in general. We’ve all had a bad night’s sleep before right? That feeling you have when you’ve not slept enough is not very nice. On top of which, continuous lack of sleep can also harm your memory too. If you go to work feeling like this, your likely to be lacking concentration, which can be dangerous for both yourself and your colleagues. It’s particularly dangerous if you’re working with equipment or looking after others.
During sleep, your body is working hard to recover and repair itself. Your brain is hard at work too, trying to remove toxic by-products that are produced. Without sleep, these mechanisms that remove the toxic don’t work as well as they should, and that could lead to severe damage later on in life. In order to get more sleep, try to get yourself into a good sleep routine. Find something that you do before bed and use that as the trigger to help your body recognize that it’s time to relax and go to bed. You can also stop drinking caffeine after lunch and making sure that you remove any electronic devices from your room before hitting the pillow. If you struggle to slip off to sleep, try eye masks, darkening your room with blackout blinds or using different sounds to encourage drifting off.
Stress
Stress can come from a lot of places in your life. From work perhaps, maybe the stress of a new project or a situation that’s ongoing or it could be in your personal life. Stress isn’t always something that you realize is affecting your health until it gets too much for your body to handle. It might be just a headache, a low productivity at work or restless sleep. It comes in a variety of forms, and if left to get worse, it can often cause a lot of lasting damage to both your physical health and mind.
The problem with stress is that it can often stay for long periods of time, go away or come back. So, the best way of treating stress is to manage it using a method that works for you. This could be any but not limited to the following:
- Getting regular activities of fitness into your weekly routine.
- Finding ways that help tell you to calm your mind through relaxation techniques. An example that’s popular is yoga.
- Setting aside some personal time for yourself to indulge in self-care.
- Spending time with your loved ones.
Stress can happen to everyone at some point in their life, so if you’re feeling stressed then talk to someone about it. If it’s stress within the workplace then go to your HR department or speak to someone you can trust, whether that’s a manager or colleague.
Bad Habits
We can all have our bad habits, but some might be more severe than others when it comes to our health and wellbeing. Excessive drinking, smoking or taking drugs are some of the main bad habits that are common. A lot of workplaces will now have random drug tests and will use this method of surprise to try and catch individuals out.
In order to kick a habit, it’s important to figure out where this habit came from in the first place. It could be triggered by a certain event or by an individual. Once you’ve found that trigger, try and remove it if possible or at least make an attempt to drive it out. If that doesn’t work, then seeking professional advice might be a viable option.
Not Exercising
It’s true that a bad diet and lack of exercise can lead to poor health. A lack of exercise is an obvious cause of bad health and wellbeing. Studies have found that not exercising could end up being just as worse, if not more, than smoking. Having a balanced diet is only half the battle – you should be getting at least twenty minutes of exercise in per day. It’s not a lot, but for some, it can seem like too much to handle. So to start with, try going to an exercise class or taking part in a sport once a week. It’s better than nothing, and it’s always good to build yourself up, rather than doing too much than normal and wanting to give up before you’ve even gotten started. Find something that you enjoy and trial classes to see if they’re something you like. That way, you won’t be wasting money, and you’ll be getting lots of exercise in during the process. Again, start off small and then build your way up until you’re doing the equivalent of at least twenty minutes a day!
Loneliness
We all need social contact of some degree. Loneliness can be a killer when it comes to your health, so it’s important to maintain friendships and take the time to see those people in your life to keep social. It might seem difficult if you have a busy work life or lifestyle in general, but like allowing time for yourself, you should also allow time for your friends and family. It can also be of great benefit when it comes to your mental health. Fortunately, mental health is becoming less of a stigma and something that we’re all sharing when it comes to talking about it. When you’re not feeling yourself, talk to a friend or family member about it, and if it feels too personal, there are also professional avenues that you can explore.
Your health and wellbeing should always come as a priority in life, and nothing should ever be as important as looking after yourself. Hopefully, these tips can help you improve your health and wellbeing both for now and in the future.
