Healthy habits

You are not alone if you believe that you don't have enough time for daily self-care that goes beyond the bare minimum. Numerous people point to their hectic schedules as obstacles to leading healthier lives.

What if, though, you only required five minutes?

You wouldn't believe it, but there are easy, useful things you can do in under five minutes to improve your health and wellness.

If you're still not sure you can find the time, think about taking those minutes away from a time-consuming, less-productive activity. How frequently do you check your social media accounts and browse through the posts idly before realising five, ten, or even twenty minutes have passed?

Given the correlation between excessive social media use and poor mental health, it could be in your best interest to exchange five minutes of scrolling for one of the five below-listed, scientifically supported activities if you're one of the 7 in 10 Americans who use social media.

Observe your breathing.
Want to improve your physical and mental health and reduce stress almost immediately? Take a moment to breathe. Simply take a moment to yourself and breathe deeply through your nose for a few minutes.

Even better, you don't even need to wait the entire five minutes to start experiencing the health advantages. According to study, deep breathing can trigger a physiological relaxation response in as little as 90 seconds that blocks the generation of stress hormones, reduces blood pressure, and slows heart rate. Working on your breathing regularly can help you stand up straighter and feel less pain.

Become active
Being sedentary, especially for extended periods of time, is bad for both your physical and emotional health, raising your risk of both depression and death. Even five minutes at a time of movement can have an impact. In fact, a 2020 study discovered that any amount of exercise, even just 11 minutes per day, can lengthen your life.

It's up to you how you move your body. Any form of exercise will do as long as you keep your body moving. You can move your body creatively by dancing to a few of your favourite lively tunes, doing a five-minute yoga flow, or using only your body weight.

Although talking in person is always preferable, socialising in any form that makes you feel supported can help prevent loneliness and isolation, which are linked to deteriorating cognitive abilities, depression, heart attacks, strokes, and early mortality.

If your schedule makes it tough for you to see your pals every day, make an effort to talk to people as you do errands. For instance, you can simply strike up a conversation with the grocery store clerk by asking how their day is going, showing genuine interest in their response, and offering details about your own day. For both your personal health and the health of people you come into contact with, a smile and genuine interaction can go a long way. You might even meet someone new!

Make wholesome snacks.
Have you ever desired a snack while watching television but didn't want to wash the fresh fruit in your refrigerator, so you grabbed a bag of chips instead? Certainly, I have. Making fresh foods accessible for snacking can have a big impact on our capacity to make good decisions. It just takes five minutes.

It's probable that you've heard both nutritionists and fitness gurus laud the advantages of weekly meal prep, where you prepare all of your meals for the week in one sitting. Although that makes sense in theory and is practical throughout the week, it can be time- and logistically-demanding. Washing and chopping up some of your favourite fresh fruits and veggies every other day or so takes just five minutes, is less frightening, and is an excellent introduction to more involved meal preparation.