Five Essential Health Habits
- Daily Dedicated Movement
- Restorative Sleep
- Positive Mental Attitude (PMA)
- Clean, Nutritious Food
- Bodywork
1) Daily Dedicated Movement
This little piece of the puzzle is definitely an essential one. Movement is life. Among other things, it lubricates the joints, returns blood to the heart and increases endorphins. Plus sweating is one of the greatest ways to detoxify the body. All of this helps the cells of the body get good nutrients in and waste out. I try to get in 30 minutes of concentrated exercise every day, preferably first thing in the morning. I vary my routine- from cardio to light weights to body weight exercises like planks and burpees – but never push myself to the point of exhaustion. On the days when I feel too tired or sore for weights or cardio, I always turn to yoga and meditation. This year marks 20 years that I have been practicing yoga. I started with Hatha, and moved through the years from Ashtanga to Vinyasa and most recently, some Bikram. Whatever the practice, the benefits are amazing. It clears the mind, improves flexibility, brings blood flow to much needed areas of the body and quiets the mind. Even the two minute meditation that I do at the end of most practices is enough to calm my mind and rejuvenate my soul. As I mentioned earlier, I also find this to be a safe, effective way to get in exercise if more forceful routines are not in the cards on any given day.
2) Sleep
One can never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep. Is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, and an essential part of healing. We are built, as humans, to start winding down our bodies as the sun sets. Most days of the week I am asleep by 10:30. I have read for each hour after 10pm that you go to sleep, the quality of the sleep decreases significantly. Personally I need a good 7-8 hours to function optimally, and can thankfully achieve that most nights. Some things I find helpful in achieving a good night’s sleep are cutting screen time long before my head hits the pillow, using blackout curtains in the bedroom, sleeping with a fan, drinking a calming tea close to bedtime and, if need be, diffusing some relaxing essential oils, like lavender.
3) Positive Mental Attitude
“Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.” – William James
I try to maintain a positive mental attitude as my baseline mindset. Of course there are days when this is challenging. There will always be days where I feel overwhelmed trying to help the kids, do my work, make dinner, do laundry and any other of the numerous things it takes to be a mom and small business owner. Out of necessity, I have gotten pretty good at acknowledging when I am overwhelmed and asking for help. I try to set ego aside and remind myself we are all human. I feel the bumps in the road, but I eventually come back to this mindset. I have taken to reading daily motivational snippets from websites like www.tut.com. This is a simple thing to add to life, but sometimes hard for the mind to accept. As with anything, I have found it takes is practice and commitment. Interestingly, the more I study about this area, the more I see how much influence a PMA can have, even on the cellular level. There’s this amazing sect of science called Epigenetics which looks at how things like environment and attitude can fully influence gene expression. It’s totally fascinating, but a bit too scientific for our current conversation.
4) Food
I could spend hours on this topic, so I will try to be concise and to the point. I am far from the perfect eater but I do my best to be mindful of what I put in my body. There is very little in my house that contains more than five ingredients. My meats are grass fed, farm raised, free range and whatever other terms they use to let you know the animals lived somewhat of a natural existence before becoming our next meal. You will be hard-pressed to find items in my pantry containing partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial food dyes and anything else than comes from a lab. Each day, one of my meals is a salad, and the others contain greens in other variations. I am gluten free and dairy free (with the exceptions of grass fed butter and sheep/goat cheeses, which I only consume sporadically and know I can tolerate in small doses). I have a smoothie every morning, made with a detoxifying, anti-inflammatory protein powder and chia seeds, and often coconut oil, walnuts or almonds, kale or spinach, carrots, ½ a banana and blueberries, strawberries, pumpkin or pineapple. Most days I can get away with feeding my sweet tooth with a square (or two) of very dark, bittersweet chocolate. I don’t fear fat. I embrace it. I eat ¼-½ an avocado every day. I use olive oil like it’s going out of style. I choose good fats, knowing they are healthy and have nothing to do with raising LDLs. Of course there are days when I eat a burger (minus the bun) and sweet potato fries at a restaurant. But that is the exception, not the rule. And then there’s the water. Water is so very essential to life and health, and so very neglected. The general rule is to consume ½ your body weight in ounces of water daily. If you have a caffeinated beverage, you need to add an additional glass of water for each of those consumed. It may seem like a lot, but it’s essential. I start each day with a pint glass of lemon water made from ¼-½ of a lemon, and spend the rest of my day with a refillable water bottle at my side.
5) Bodywork
I have always enjoyed bodywork, but since becoming a Chiropractor over 10 years ago, its value has increased exponentially as my knowledge has increased. I had my first chiropractic adjustment about 15 years ago and was immediately sold. Not only did it help my then-poorer posture, but my immune system took a boost it thankfully has not lost. I discovered acupuncture a few years later and have never looked back. Those sessions balance my body and give a boost to whatever organ system is lacking in energy. Massage has always been a welcome treat, helping with relaxation and flushing toxins from sore muscles. CranioSacral therapy has been a wonderful addition to both my practice and life, and the benefits for immune system boosting and stress relief are amazing. If I can get some therapeutic cupping in there as well, I’m a happy girl. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by talented practitioners and I try to receive each of these therapies with some regularity.
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If you are starting from “scratch” with all of this, start small. As a dear friend of mine once suggested, choose one thing each day and better it. Just one. And watch the changes unfold from there. I am fortunate enough to witness every day the capacity that the human body has to heal. When all interference is removed and it is fed- body, mind and soul- with nutrition of all kinds, the results are nothing short of miraculous.