Ah! It’s hard to achieve your daily goals with a dull body and mind. Brain and body have very close ties with each other. Brain and body’s fatigue reduce your work efficiency. Have you noticed that in state of stress you feel very tired and lethargic? Even though stress is related to the brain directly but it is also affecting the body. During excessive workout and body aches, the brain also feels very uncomfortable. There are different daily habits for a healthy mind and body.
Keep your vitality. A life without health is like a river without water—-Maxime Lagacé
How can we improve our mental and physical health by adding a few things in our daily routine? We are providing you the 5 daily habits for a healthy mind and body:
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Food
- Healthy activities
- Abandon bad habits
1. Sleep
Sleep is very crucial for our brain and body. Adequate sleep boosts your body to bear the stress. Improve mental health. Regulate your immunity. The actual sleep period is not definite. It varies from person to person. Babies need more sleep to develop and grow. As you become older, your sleep period reduces. There are many advantages of a good sleeping habit for a healthy mind and body.
Advantages of Sound Sleep Schedule
- Poor sleep worsens your cardiac diseases like heart strokes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc. Good sleep helps you out to ease this issue.
- Melatonin is a hormone associated with sleep. Additionally, many researchers believe that it reduces the risk of cancer.
- Good sleep reduces stress. Moreover, stress reduction helps the body and brain to improve them.
- Sleep reduces inflammation. Stress hormones increase inflammation. When you take a good nap. Your stress level reduces. Thus, less stress, fewer stress hormones, less inflammation. Wow!
- It can make you more active. When you get to sleep. You remain active the whole day. You are more aware and alert from your surroundings. If you are not taking good sleep you feel tired and passionless the whole day.
Memory, hunger, and depression improvement
- Helps in memory consolidation. Sleep improves your memory. At day time, you are tackling the many problems, emotional ups, and downs. So, your brain needs to slow down its activity to repair itself and the body as well. Deep sleep is a good tool for you.
- Leptin and Ghrelin are two very important hormones in our body. These hormones control our hunger. Researchers have found that poor sleep imbalance appetite. So, if you want to maintain your weight. It is crucial for you to check your sleep routine.
- It is found that people with Serotonin deficiency faces more depression than normal peoples. Sleep regulates depression by playing a positive impact on Serotonin.
2. Exercise
Exercise is the one of the habit for healthy mind and body. This can improve your brain and body. The amount of exercise depends on your body type. One can pick the amount and time of the exercise by examining their body type.
Exercise helps in,
- You can tackle your obesity by doing exercise. Obesity is not restricted to weight gain only but it causes many lifestyle diseases. This includes blood pressure, diabetes, strokes, etc.
- Exercise reduces cholesterol and smoothens the blood flow. Thus, it is very friendly for your heart.
- Exercise can control your diabetes. In diabetes, less insulin is producing. In consequence, elevated blood glucose levels. When you exercise, the glucose consumption by cells increases. Thus blood glucose level declines.
- Exercise can improve your mood and mental health! It reduces the stress hormones thus your mood remains goo all day.
- It stimulates the release of different types of proteins and chemicals in the brain. This activity helps you to become more smart, sharp, organize, improves your learning and judgmental skills.
- Physical activities strengthen your muscles and bones. It slows the process of losing bone and muscle density. This process increases with age. But exercise slows down the aging process. Hence, strengthen you physically.
- Reduces the chances of cancer. Exercise regulates your hormone production.
How cancer is limited by exercising?
- Increase appetite thus increases the digestion and chemical stays for less time. These harmful chemicals are defecated in stools.
- When you do exercise. Your body needs more energy. Firstly, it uses glucose. Secondly, they rely on protein and lipids. Finally, when less reserve material left the start digesting its own cells. Therefore, reduces the cancer threat.
3. Food
Food is very essential for your body. You can’t drive a car without fuel. Similarly, food is the fuel for your brain and body. Balanced and good quality of food is essential for keeping your brain and body healthy. Here we are sharing different types of food that will help your brain and body to stay healthy;
a. Nuts, seeds, and pulses
Food | Nutrient | Importance |
Almond | Magnesium, Vitamin E, Iron, Calcium, Fiber, Riboflavin | Reduces cholesterol, Lower blood sugar levels, Reduced blood pressure, Promote weight loss |
Pumpkin Seeds | Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Copper | Powerful antioxidants, Sharpen Learning, and memory, Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and Parkinson’s disease, migraines, epilepsy |
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate | Flavonoids, Caffeine, Antioxidants | learning and memory, mood booster |
Coffee | Caffeine, Antioxidants | Increased alertness, Improved mood, Sharpening |
Lentils | Fiber, Magnesium, Potassium | Lower Cholesterol, Digestive health, Stabilized Blood Sugar |
b. Fruits, vegetables
Food | Nutrient | Importance |
Broccoli | Fiber, Calcium, Potassium, Flate, Phytonutrients, Vitamin C, Beta-carotene | Reduce the risk of heart diseases, Diabetes, Cancer, Antioxidants, Anti-inflammatory |
Apples | Pectin, fiber, Vitamin, Minerals | Boost metabolic levels, Promote healthy bones, teeth and skin, Reduces the risk of chronic disease |
Kale | Vitamins C and K | Heart healthBlot clottingBone healthCancer preventionDiabetes preventionVision sharp |
Leafy green vegetables | Vitamins A, B-6, C, E, and K, Selenium, Niacin, Zinc, Phosphorus, Copper | Reduced the risk of Obesity, Heart diseases, Mental decline |
c. Fish, meat, and eggs
Food | Nutrient | Importance |
Fish | Omega- 3 fatty acids, Vitamins A and D | Benefits for Heart, Nervous system, Inflammatory conditions, Reduce the risk of arthritis |
Meat | Protein, Iodine, Iron, Zinc, Vitamins (especially B12) Essential fatty acids | Help maintain healthy hair, bones, skin, and blood |
Eggs | Vitamins B-2 and B-12, Essential amino acid, Minerals | Preserving energy, Generating red blood cells, muscle protein synthesis |
4. Healthy activities
Take time from a busy schedule. Try something new every day. Find your passion. Or you can find many fun activities. These activities will remarkably improve your brain health. One can do,
- Challenge yourself with a jigsaw puzzle. It will sharpen your reasoning.
- Play cards if you like. It will increase your thinking capability.
- You can play with words. Build a strong vocabulary. It will increase memory and also you will have more words for effective communication.
- If you like dancing then well and good. Dance with your heart. Just turn on the music and rock!
- Learn a new skill. This will improve your brain to learn something new.
- Many people like to teach others. They find pleasure with it. So, you can do this easily.
- Listen to music. Our body releases pleasure hormones while we listen to music. It also elevates our mood.
- One can try yoga. A good form of meditation. Yoga really works to reduce stress. It also teaches us self-control.
- Gardening is the best relaxing exercise and it could be a good passion.
- Painting could help you out.
5. Abandon bad habits
Bad habits can spoil your brain and body. Try to eradicate the bad habits. It will remarkably revolutionize your brain and body. You can adopt many good habits for a healthy mind and body.
Read Also: Things You Should Not Do To Live Longer Life
- Quit smoking: Smoking reduces your memory up to one- third. Also, dangerous for our body head to toe.
- Reduce sugar consumption. Large sugar intake reduces thinking capabilities. And also increase the aging process.
- Use fewer gadgets. Watch less T V. these things put a strain on our brain. Go outside and interact with people. Plan a picnic and parties with your family.
- Stress has a huge impact on the brain. Negative emotions like anger and worry increase the risk of Dementia. Try relaxing techniques to reduce stress.
- Ditch the junk food. It might give you pleasure for a few minutes. But awful for health. You can feel happy by saying; “No I don’t eat junk food”!
- Take good sleep. Don’t compromise your sleep.
- Don’t skip prayer or Namaz. This will not only reduce stress but also have many clinical advantages. It also makes you feel more secure and protected.
- Take every situation positively. It is one of the best habits for a healthy mind and body.
Author’s view
It is very hard to change your habits in a single day. So, what you can do. Take a notepad. Mention your daily routine. Point out the red area. Plan the schedule according to your body and possibilities to replace the bad habits. Now, stick to this plan. Gradually improve your routine day by day. Find a motivational booster. Try to control your anger, anxiety, sadness, etc.