According to an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, published in The Lancet journal, more than 95% of the world's population has health problems. Is it possible to get into this 5% of healthy people, and when its time to start thinking about your health and lifestyle? When you are not at your healthiest, you may find you are tired, feel anxious or depressed, can't concentrate, and feel "off". A healthy lifestyle can help you feel much better both physically and mentally, reducing the risk of various diseases, strengthening your immune system and boosting your mood and the joy of life in general.
Starting living healthier is not a "mission impossible," it's pretty easy to start with small steps and change your lifestyle gradually, becoming a bit healthier with each day. Once you make one change to your improved well-being, the success can give you strength and motivate you to continue to make more pronounced positive shifts. In this article, we've put together four main benefits of a healthy lifestyle that will give you an understanding of why you need to change your lifestyle, where to start and in what direction to move on to achieve your goals. Today is the best day to start living your healthiest and strongest life, so let's begin!
What Is the Notorious "Healthy Lifestyle" and Why Do We Need It?
If you ask a hundred people what a healthy lifestyle is, you will get a hundred different answers. How can it be? There is no single clear definition of this term and a single way to be healthy. A healthy lifestyle means doing things that can make you happy and feel good. For example, for one person, it may mean everyday walking in the park, ordering pizza on Fridays and spending all free time with friends or loved ones. At the same time, for someone else, it may mean training three times a week, regular meditations, following a keto diet and never taking alcohol. Both these people are happy with their lifestyles, and neither is better than the other. We all are different, and each of these examples is perfect for that person. To understand what a "healthy lifestyle" really is, you need to decide what your example looks like.
Today, when mentioning a healthy lifestyle, people often mean a set of practices aimed to prevent various diseases and conditions and improve both physiological and psychological health. These practices fit most people and can further be supplemented with individual approaches to well-being. They are the primary "steps" to a healthy lifestyle that are the base and the starting point for most people deciding to change their lives for the better.
Why do people need to change their lifestyle and start living healthy? There are four primary benefits of a healthy lifestyle that include benefits for your body, mind, wallet and even the environment.
Prevents Diseases
First of all, healthy habits can reduce the risk of various diseases and significantly improve the overall health condition. For example, one 2020 study published by The BMJ journal found that every 66-gram increase in daily fruit and vegetable intake was linked to a 25% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Another 2016 review of 45 studies published by The BMJ journal concluded that eating 90 grams of whole grains every day could decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease by 22%, coronary heart disease by 19% and cancer by 15 %. Regular exercising of at least ten minutes per day may also add years to your life, prevent diseases and improve overall well-being.
Lengthens Lifespan
Healthy ageing is one of the burning questions of our time. People want to live longer and be healthy regardless of the number of candles on their birthday cakes. Today, different companies offer a biological age test to determine how old your physical body is and how it corresponds to your calendar age. With healthy lifestyle habits, you will see the clear difference between these two parameters as your body will perform well regardless of how old you are. According to one 2018 study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, if you have never smoked, followed a healthy diet, are regularly active, keep alcohol to moderate consumption and maintain a healthy weight, you could live up to 14 years longer. Not a bad reason to start changing your lifestyle right now, right?
Saves Money
Yes, you read that right - a healthy lifestyle can benefit your wallet. It's always a great idea to visit your primary care physician for an annual checkup as numerous conditions don't have any symptoms, and unless you are checked, you usually don't know you have them. However, agree that the more often you need to go to the doctor, the more it will hit your budget. Thus, the healthier you are, the less you will have to see a doctor that could save your money by lowering the need for prescriptions, co-pays and other procedures.
It Can Be Good for the Environment
Ultra-processed foods like chicken nuggets, sweetened breakfast cereals and packaged dessert cakes significantly harm the environment by contributing to water scarcity, decreased biodiversity, greenhouse emissions, deforestation and plastic waste. Also, according to the 2013 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, raising livestock for animal products like meat and dairy makes up 14.5% of human-created greenhouse gases.
Finally, no approach to a healthy lifestyle is complete without physical activity, and replacing a car with a bike can bring astonishing results for the environment as well. For example, one 2017 Stockholm study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment found that if drivers who live within half an hour bike ride to work committed by bike instead of the car, it will save over 400 years of life in the county each year due to reduced vehicle emissions.
Where to Begin?
While the benefits of a healthy lifestyle seem clear, the question of where to start remains. The main steps to start living a new, healthier life include:
These rules are generalised, and you can interpret each of them depending on your preferences. Thus, you can walk half an hour instead of running a marathon, afford a pepperoni when you want to treat yourself or be alone in one of the evenings enjoying the silence and your thoughts. Remember, a healthy lifestyle, first of all, starts with you, and taking our recommendations as a basis and supplementing them with your habits and rules can have a stunning impact on your physical and mental health, leading you to a longer and happier life.