What does ‘living a healthy lifestyle’ mean to you? Well, this may mean different things to different people. For someone, living a healthy life just means spending a life sans diseases. For someone else, healthy means being able to spend quality time with his grandkids or being able to complete his exercise schedule as per his plan. Although the way you define ‘healthy’ can differ from one to another, leading a healthy lifestyle is certainly one of the key components of achieving perfect physical and mental well-being.
As per few eminent authors, people who are involved in poor lifestyle habits like following a bad quality diet, smoking, too much of a sedentary lifestyle, are always at a higher risk of health decline and even death. Although there are several factors which play a role in deciding the quality of your life and the level of your health, yet diet and exercise are certainly the main determinants of a proper life. When you have a balanced diet, you can maintain optimum level of energy throughout the day. At the same time, you should also let your body to rest as this is also important to attain a healthy life.
Lifestyle and prevention of diseases
Are you someone who spends a rather inactive lifestyle? If answered yes, you can be sure of developing few common chronic diseases. Nevertheless, you’re fortunate enough that these conditions can be handled by engaging yourself in some form of physical workout at least 5 days in a week and by being careful about the foods that you choose to eat in a day. Remember that your diet will also have an impact on whether or not you’ll develop diabetes. As per the New England Journal, people who maintained a BMI of 25 or less than that could have lower risk of suffering from diabetes. Moreover, being overweight will also boost your chances of suffering from types of cancers, arthritis and high blood pressure.
Lifestyle and increased life span
When you focus on leading a healthy lifestyle, this not only enhances the quality of your life but also adds many years to your life span. As per the American Journal of Public Health, it has been claimed that quitting smoking before the age of 35 could add 6-10 years to your life. On the contrary, if you quit smoking at the age of 65, this will only add 1-4 years of life expectancy. Hence, it is important that you always remain mindful about what you eat, how you perform your daily exercise and how you avoid taking stress as this will help you add few more years to your life span.
Lifestyle and proper mental health
Unless you know how to deal with stress, you won’t be able to maintain good health. The authors of a recent survey concluded that by leading a healthy and positive lifestyle, eating a balanced diet and cutting down stress from your life, you can improve your mental health. With stress come mental health disorders like depression, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, Alzheimer’s and dementia. Although there are several dementia home care packages available in your state yet it is important to keep such neurodegenerative disorders at bay. Find out ways of releasing anxiety and take resort to the effective breathing techniques that naturally soothe your mind for the rest of the day. With regular exercise too, you can boost the functioning of your brain.
Could poor lifestyle lead to early onset of dementia?
Dementia is a neurodegenerative mental health disorder which mostly occurs among the elderly generation. Once this disease attacks you, you gradually start losing your capabilities of performing your everyday task and at the later stages of the disease; you will forget your name, address and fail to recognize your family members. You may have to even seek help of websites like https://www.homecaring.com.au where you can get help of the best professional caregivers for your loved ones. Now there are several evidences which prove that leading a poor lifestyle can be directly linked with a premature onset of dementia.
For instance, if an individual quits smoking once and for all, he will reduce his risk of developing dementia at his later half of life. Smoking shrinks different areas of your brain and even brings about a change in the structure of your brain which facilitates the onset of dementia. This disease specifically occurs when there are blockages and tangles within different areas of your brain and hence you should try your best to avoid all those risk factors which can multiply the chances of this illness.
Why is it necessary to follow a healthy lifestyle?
You’re not new to the fact that by following an unhealthy and poor diet, you can increase chances of developing different forms of illnesses. Dementia is one such condition which is linked with poor lifestyle factors. Whenever you have a diet that is rich in saturated fat, this can increase your cholesterol levels which in turn narrow down the arteries. You can gain weight as a consequence of this and it can also heighten chances of cardiovascular problems. Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure and too much sugar will cause Type 2 diabetes.
It is better to adopt a healthy lifestyle as soon as you can since this will help you lower all risk factors. Evidences reveal that causing damage to the heart or arteries or blood circulation can boost an individual’s chance of suffering from dementia. Have you heard of vascular dementia? It is caused by blood not being supplied to the brain. Too much intake of alcohol can also have a similar impact on a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia. Drinking too much of alcohol can also lead to another kind of illness called alcoholic dementia.
Revise your lifestyle to keep mental diseases at bay
Are you struggling with any type of mental illness? Or are you trying to assist someone whom you love to get back his mental health? With the array of options that you have for treatment, it is indeed overwhelming to choose the best one. Figuring out how to cover the costs is even more stressful. Along with a healthy lifestyle, if you can choose the treatment options in a more effective manner. Here are few alterations that you should bring to your lifestyle in order to keep mental health disorders at bay.
- Keep up your level of activity
By now you must have heard hundred times that you need to exercise. But what is the ultimate reason behind exercising? Do you exercise only to lose weight? No, apart from helping you lose weight, it also protects your physical health too. Not only does it take care of your physical health but it can also benefit your mental health. There’s no magic amount of workout that you should do to protect your mental health. You just have to keep moving as much as you can. Rather than driving, walk to those destinations which are nearby. Accompany your dog or a walk and go out for a leisure bike ride. Choose to take the stairs rather than the elevators.
- Ditch smoking
If you take into account a group of individuals who are living with some kind of mental illness, you’ll find most of them to be smokers. For several years now, therapists thought that smoking help combat the symptoms of mental health for which they never pressurized their patients to quit smoking. Quitting smoking altogether can be challenging and may initially also spoil your health due to its withdrawal effects. However in the long run, quitting smoking will certainly have good effects on your mood. Physical health issues like coughing, heart disease, emphysema, cough and colds will also vanish once you quit smoking. Hence, for improving your mental health, quitting smoking is undoubtedly one of the best things to do.
- Take care of your physical health
Your body and mind aren’t two separate entities. When you’re already struggling with physical health issues, this will boost the chances of mental health issues. Something that is as minor as bladder infection or toothache can temporarily increase your stress level and will prompt you to take resort to medical care. If you suffer from endocrine system disorders, this can also lead to symptoms like anxiety, depression and disturbance to your sleep cycle. Don’t ignore things and get your blood tests done so that you know what it is that is undermining your mental health.
- Opt for a proper diet
Are you aware of the fact that your diet has a direct impact on your physical health? If you opt for unhealthy dietary choices like sweets, processed food items, foods with low nutritional value, this can harm your mental health. Researches reveal that omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids are extremely good for your health. You can find them in fruits like avocados and it not only boosts your mood but also increases the power of your brain. If you have a sweet tooth, you can indulge in dark chocolates as well.
- Engage yourself in social activities
Did you ever experience the feeling of crying with your friend? If you did, you would know that friendship can cure many mental health issues. There are several researches which reveal the ultimate value of friendship. You will find isolated people to be more likely to struggle with mental disorders and hence a single day with your friend in a week can boost your mood for the next week. How about being involved in a bigger community? This will help you feel more connected and this makes it easier to deal with the challenges of daily life. Spend time with people who make you feel good about life and about yourself. Decide on the level of socialization that you might be comfortable with.
- Prevent any kind of abuse
If you’re a part of an unhealthy family where everyday a family member has to go through some kind of abuse, whether sexual or psychological or physical, it is well-neigh impossible to maintain sound mental health. Did you know that the upshots of an abuse can stay on for several years and there are few abuse victims who go through PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder? In case you’re the one who is being abused, you should find out a way to stop it. Get help of a treatment so that you can move on in life.
- Start a relationship
Experts always say that you should first put your mental health before starting off with a relationship. Although it’s true that relationship is not the cure to everything but researches reveal that having a healthy romantic relation can create a big difference to your mental health. Whenever you’re into a healthy relationship, this can help people avoid anxiety and other traits. Focus on yourself when you’re in a bad relationship.
- Get healthy and sound sleep
Do you find yourself on the verge of crying as you try hard to get out of bed? If this is exactly what you’re going through, you need more sleep. You need to understand that your sleep habits are not the way it should be. Sleep experts recommend people to take at least 7-9 hours of sleep but the key is to get the right amount of sleep. If you can go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday, you will gradually make your body regulate its sleep/wake cycle. When your brain knows the sleep and wake-up time, this becomes easier to recover post an illness.
Therefore, if you’re someone who is trying to spread awareness of lifestyle changes that improve your mental health, take into account the above mentioned changes. Get in touch with a mental health professional who will help you retain your mental peace and bring back normalcy to your life.
