Habits are formed out of repetition. When we swap our bad habits and replace them with new, healthy habits you are closer to living your best life!
Healthy habits help us feel more energized, productive, spiritual, and connected.
40% of everything we do everyday is habitual behavior, unconsciously stored in the brain.
When we allow ourselves to try something new and interrupt our usual cyclical lifestyle, it increases the neuroplasticity in our brains which stimulates positive hormone release, and protects the brain from degradation (Alzheimer’s, dementia).
It takes time to develop and sustain new habits so don’t beat yourself up if they don’t become instinctual right away. Over time, as long as you continue to practice and build on it, they will make you feel so good that you won’t want to skip a day anymore!
Read on to find out these 5 daily health habits that can benefit your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
1. 15 Minute Morning Walk
Studies have shown that direct exposure to sunlight in the morning can improve cognitive function, focus, energize the body, and balance your hormones.
Not only does a walk in the AM provide you with this sunlight benefit, but it also gets your body moving which is vital for our circulatory and lymphatic systems. When we are sleeping, we are in a vertical position for 7-8 hours a night, so it is important to wake the body up with gentle movement.
Try these tips to make this a daily habit:
Jazz up the walk by listening to your favorite podcast, binaural beats, or affirmations
Tell your goal to your partner you sleep with or an accountability friend who can text you in the morning and ask you if you’ve done your morning walk
Walk with a neighbor or friend
Choose a scenic route
2. No Phone 1 HR Before and After Sleep
It’s been proven that blue light exposure from computer screens, TV screens, and phone screens can mess with your sleep quality.
People tend to lie in bed and scroll for hours on social media, or doing last minute emails, before they go to bed. This can have a profound negative effect on your sleep quality and can even promote insomnia.
One of the best ways to get better sleep, is to put your phone away at least an hour before you go to sleep. Making this habit a part of your bed-time routine will do so much for your health and well-being.
Try these tips to make this a daily habit:
Use the Health Mode on iPhone to set a daily timer in Sleep or Mindfulness mode that will shut your notifications off to keep you from getting distracted.
Try reading a book instead to help you wind down
3. Water + Fiber Before Your Coffee
It is important to hydrate first thing in the morning, especially before you dehydrate yourself with the cup of joe. Coffee is incredibly dehydrating and after not drinking water for 7-8 hours while sleeping, it is important we hydrate our bodies.
However, water is not the only thing you should have before your coffee. Coating your gut with fiber through a green smoothie will stimulate digestion and relieve constipation symptoms.
Greens also provide your body with a variety of vitamins and minerals that will immediately hit your bloodstream and provide your body with the ultimate healing and health effects.
Try these tips to make this a daily habit:
Try using a greens powder that mixes with water easily to get your greens in in the AM. Like Athletic Greens or Bloom Powder.
Leave a glass of water on your bedside table to encourage water drinking as soon as you wake up.
4. Start Reading Ingredient Lists on Packaged Foods
Trying to eat as clean as you can should be a priority on your healthy habit list.
However, being able to enjoy packaged and processed foods are still a part of a balanced diet. The important part is avoiding certain additives and ingredients that are both hormone disrupters and bad for our bodies.
Avoiding ingredients like sugar, high-fructose corn syrups, seed and corn oils, gums, artificial sweeteners, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, artificial colors, and MSG’s.
Try these tips to make this a daily habit:
Put at the top of your grocery list a reminder to read the back of labels.
Organize your grocery list with processed/packaged foods as a separate category to examine how many of these foods you are buying.
5. Meditate in the Morning
One of the greatest ways to improve your mental, physical, and spiritual health is through moments of stillness.
You can achieve greater mental clarity, focus, relieve brain fog, heal chronic diseases, improve awareness, relieve stress and anxiety, and create a life of your dreams all through the power of meditation.
No matter what meditation style you choose or length of time you do it in, just by shutting off the mind and tuning in, you can achieve all those benefits and more.
Try these tips to make this a daily habit:
Label your alarm clock on your phone something like “It’s time to meditate.”
Leave your meditation pillow beside your bed so you can get out of bed and immediately greet your pillow.
Make a cute meditation area in your house like mine that is inviting and a safe space to find stillness and peace.
I hope you found these tips helpful in creating your own healthy habits and a happier life.
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