Who doesn't want to be healthy lifestyle? As the work pressure and the need for approval is increasing among youths, so is the health deteriorating. Health does not comprise only of physical health, but it also consists of mental well being.
What do you mean by 'healthy'?
Health is a state in where your body and mind is well and disease free. To have healthy lifestyle means to practice certain eating habits and other things that contribute to your health and well being.
There are three most important aspects of your body that you will need to balance:
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Nutritional choices or diet
You can improve the physical health by working out and doing yoga, mental health by meditating daily and nutrition by balancing your diet.
In this article we will talk about how yoga, meditation and nutrition will lead you to a healthy lifestyle.
Yoga for healthy lifestyle: img
Yoga is an ancient Indian workout pattern which involves simple stretches. Every yoga pose focuses on health of a particular organ or a set of organs.
Yoga poses improve flexibility of the body and has healthy lifestyle. This is because they require stretching of your muscles. This makes you feeling better and lighter. Increase in flexibility will make you feel less tired. In one study , people experienced increase in flexibility by up to 35%in just 8 weeks of yoga practice.
Yoga for strength and healthy lifestyle:
There are some styles of yoga namely ashtanga and power yoga are rigorous forms of yoga. These extremely physical yoga will help you tone and improve strength of your muscle.
However, even less physical yoga poses such as Iyengar or hatha yoga can have strength and endurance benefits.
Many poses such as plank pose, upward dog pose build upper body strength. If you hold standing poses for a long time , increases strength of your hamstrings .There are various poses that strengthen your body's core and limbs.
Better posture :
There are many poses that straighten your back. The curves of the spine are accustomed to the way you sit . Practicing these poses will help the neat alignment of curves of your spine. The yoga poses strengthen your core and muscles to support and maintain each pose.
Practicing this will natural improve your posture and strengthen core. These will make you stand tall and appear confident and taller than usual. Hence helps in healthy lifestyle.
Breathing for healthy lifestyle:
Every yoga pose is not only about exercising but you also have to regulate breathing along with yoga poses. This breathing exercise along with yoga will enhance the supply of oxygen rich blood into the body and provide healthy lifestyle.
It has a set of breathing techniques, they come under' pranayama'. Pranayama literally means oxygen regulation.
It helps you with thoughtful breathing exercises. These breathing exercises are essentially useful for people suffering from lungs and breathing disorders.
Yoga is not aerobic like running or cycling. It has more focus on sustaining the poses and regulating breathing efficiently.
Calming action and less stress:
If you are in a job which requires you to be on toes throughout the day, or if you have a stressful job. Then practicing it works wonders to calm your mind and relieve it from unwanted worries and stress.
For calm and peace you should practice yoga exercises which are coupled with meditation. It achieves a mindfulness feeling and is a great start for your day.
Improves the health of your heart:
Unwanted stress, anxiety and unhealthy lifestyle contribute to high blood pressure and slow heart rate.
Inculcating yoga just for 15-20 minutes per day will help in all the above problems. Yoga is proven t have immense benefits in lowering high blood pressure, heart disease risk and stroke.
Meditation for healthy lifestyle: *img
Meditation is crucial practice for mental well being. When you concentrate on what you think for certain amount of time during a day, it gives you stability and clarity of thoughts.
Here is how you can meditate properly:
Sit down with straight or lie on your back with your neck in a relax position. Take a deep breath .
Then focus on your extremities, your toes and fingers and relax their muscles. Then gradually relax your arms , elbows, knees , calf , legs and finally relax your shoulders and neck muscles.
At this stage just observe the thoughts in your mind and let them come and go. Do not try to stop or control your thoughts in any way. Just let them flow through your mind.
Inhale and exhale deeply as you relax further. Focus on your breath.
Be in this position for as long you feel calm and relax. It could take about 20 mins to as long as you want.
Practice this meditation exercise daily in evening and morning . You will notice lowering of stress levels and it improve both your private as well as professional life.
Benefits of meditation:
Stress relief:
It reduces stress. In a study involving 3500 people , this is proved.
When stress increases there is an increase in stress hormone cortisol, this then produces all the side effects of stress.
'Mindfulness meditation' showed a decrease in immune response associated with stress. This was proved in an eight week study.
Controls anxiety and decreases it:
Less stress means less anxiety. As discussed above meditation is useful to reduce anxiety. It also reduces anxiety disorder such as phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder and paranoid thoughts.
A study comprising of 2,446 people proved that a variety of meditations can decrease anxiety. Meditation associated with yoga is very useful for anxiety.
Keeps emotional health normal :
Nowadays, people have a lot of emotional issues. Increase in digitalization has decreased the need for emotional companionship. The number of likes, comments make you feel appreciated. However, when your internet persona does not match your off the net persona. This can lead to negative thoughts and stress.
If you practice meditation regularly, your self image improves and you have a more positive outlook.
10 tips for maintaining healthy lifestyle in terms of nutrition:
Reduce trans fats and sugars for healthy lifestyle: *img
If you eat packaged food items often then this tip is for you. Packed food contain a lot of trans fats and sugar. Apart from that they are worse in aspect of nutritional value. They are loaded with flavors, colors and salt to make it taste better. Hence you should completely avoid such foods if you want to have a healthy lifestyle.
Increase nutrition packed food for healthy lifestyle:*img
The body requires a lot of nutrients to function well. So try to incorporate as much nutrition in your daily meals and opt for healthy, low fat , low sugar and low salt snack items.
If you are in a habit of binge eating and just can't let go then have smaller meals and healthier snacks to munch on when hungry.
Include whole grains in the diet for healthy lifestyle:*kmg
The quickest source of energy for the body is carbohydrates. There are many diets that suggest that you not to take any carbohydrate intake. However, you should not follow such diets as they are harmful for the health of your body. Instead of going for simple carbohydrates, opt for complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are present in foods like whole grains in abundance. You can just switch to whole grain bread or pasta for a healthy lifestyle.
Add a lot of protein in your body:*img
Proteins are the building blocks of the body structure. Our body is mostly comprised of proteins. Including proteins in the diet will improve the skin, hair and overall health of the body.
Moreover, proteins are very fulfilling and one does not require to consume a lot to feel full.
Some examples of protein rich foods are:
Beef, pork, chicken and fish. apart from that there is also a lot of plant proteins like beans, lentils, peas, split peas, soy products, tofu, curd, nuts and seeds.
Have fresh fruits and veggies:*img
Have a fresh fruit in the first meal of your day. Fresh fruits have a lot of vitamins and minerals necessary for the body. They are a fresh start to the day.
Vegetables are also in nutrition and contain a lot of antioxidants. You can include these veggies in your diet.
For example; carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, bottle gourd etc.
Have dairy:*img
Milk and milk proteins are irreplacable when it comes to nutrition. It is rich in vitamins, calcium and proteins. If you are a vegan then you can include plant milk such as soy milk and almond milk. However, apart from being costlier, they are not as good in nutrition as animal milk.
Cut sugar out:*img
This might sound easy but it is very hard. Researches say that sugar addiction is the worst addiction. Sugar is not only devoid of any nutrition but also adds a lot of calories to your food.
If you cannot completely quit sugar, then you can go for healthier sugar alternatives such as jaggery and beet sugar. Jaggery is a very common sweetener used in India. Although it is extracted from sugarcane itself, it is very rich in minerals. It is an healthier alternative for sugar and is available easily in any Indian store.
Practice portion control:*img
Are you in a habit of over-eating your favorite foods. You can get rid of this habit by using smaller plates. Smaller plates make you feel that the plate is full. You can practice portion control.
It means that whenever you are hungry, just have a little amount of food, just enough to suffice your need. Instaed of eating everything at once, try eating less more often during the day.
Drink a lot of water:*img
The daily requirement of water for the body is 2-3 liters. Water makes your skin healthy and blood healthy. This is because it flushes out all the toxins from the body.
Probiotic:*img
Take a probiotic drink daily. It helps in maintaining the health of the digestive tract. It does so by increasing the good bacteria in the intestine. These bacteria aid in digestion and help in absorption of certain substances.