7 Ways to Promote A Healthy Lifestyle for Adults

When you’re young, your body is more resilient to the negative effects of an unhealthy lifestyle. But as you age, unhealthy lifestyle choices can harm your wellbeing, causing and accelerating many chronic and degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer. Adopting healthier lifestyle choices can improve your physical, emotional, and mental health, helping you live a longer and happier life.

Although it’s challenging to maintain healthy living habits for prolonged periods, the hard work and effort will be worth it. Research conducted by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people who practiced a healthy lifestyle had a lower risk for developing chronic diseases and enjoyed a significantly longer life expectancy. Besides promoting healthspan and lifespan, good health also improves your quality of life.

Follow these seven research-proven health-enhancing tips to live your best life:

Eat More Nutrient-Rich Foods

The modern diet is the reason why people are unhealthier than ever before. The modern foods people consume today are filled with added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and processed vegetable oils, providing low nutritional value and empty calories. Many studies have found that the global rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, and arthritis is directly associated with the consumption of modern, processed foods.

Cutting back on processed foods and adopting a more nutritious, wholesome diet will improve your overall health and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. To live healthier, add more real foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fatty fish to your daily diet. Natural, unprocessed foods provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and all the essential micro and macronutrients your body needs to promote optimal physical and cognitive function.

Increase Physical Activity

Modern life is making people increasingly sedentary. We spend most of the day sitting down to perform our desk-based office job or lay on a couch to watch television or use our smartphone. The modern sedentary lifestyle is contributing to sitting disease, which is a range of health conditions - such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer - that result from inadequate physical activity.

Increasing physical activity not only prevents sitting diseases, but it can also help strengthen your musculoskeletal system, enhance your mood, reduce stress, and improve sleep quality. Many studies have found that regular physical activity improves overall health and increases longevity. Experts recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week to promote optimal health and wellbeing.

Keep Your Workouts Fun

Although most people know about the health benefits of regular workouts, they still don't perform them because they hate exercising. Most people perceive exercising to be a chore. If you’re among those people that do not enjoy exercising, you’re choosing the wrong workout.

Any physical activity that boosts your heart rate, makes you breathe harder, and exerts stress on your muscles and bones is good enough to practice for health improvement. Choose a physical activity that you enjoy so you can practice it frequently without getting bored. Practice high-intensity dance workouts or sign up for self-defense classes to get fun exercise and boost your health.

Develop Loving Relationships

Humans are social animals. We need one another to help us survive and thrive. But many people these days embrace social isolation and shun relationships. Social isolation can cause a variety of physical and mental health problems, such as heart disease, depression, and premature death. Developing loving, romantic relationships will make you healthier and happier.

Plenty of studies have found that people in loving relationships have better health, more positive emotions, and live longer than people not involved in a romantic partnership. Fortunately, dating apps and modern communication technologies can make it easier to find romantic partners and maintain close-proximity or long-distance relationships. So put yourself out there and find love. It’s good for your health and helps you live a long, happy life.

Have More Safe Sex

You may be surprised to learn that American adults are having less sexual activity. Not having enough sex can be bad for your health. Inadequate sexual activity increases the risk of heart disease, impairs cognitive function, and weakens your immune system, making you sick more often. Having safe sex regularly has plenty of physical and mental health benefits, including reducing stress, boosting mood, and lowering the risk of prostate cancer in men.

Looking after your sexual health is important for promoting general wellbeing. While there are no general guidelines as to how often you should be having sexual intercourse, experts recommend having safe sex to prevent the risk of acquiring sexually-transmitted infections and diseases. Use barriers like male and female latex or polyurethane condoms to avoid STDs. Having protected sex frequently helps promote a happier and healthier life.

Get Quality Sleep

Sleeping is an essential human need. During sleep, your body heals and repairs itself, helping promote optimal physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Many people don’t get enough quality sleep. Inadequate sleep causes injuries, impaired cognitive function, productivity loss, and a variety of chronic physical and mental health problems such as heart and kidney disease, diabetes, obesity, stroke, and depression. Getting sufficient quality sleep is vital for your health and wellbeing.

The amount of sleep needed varies from one person to another. In general, experts recommend adults get seven to eight hours of quality sleep per day. How can you get deep, quality sleep? Develop a consistent sleep schedule, avoid caffeine eight hours before bedtime, and eliminate blue light from electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops two hours before going to bed. Getting enough quality sleep will improve your overall health and boost your productivity.

Manage Stress

Modern life is very stressful. Most people feel overwhelmed by the demands and pressures of daily life. While some stress is beneficial for boosting physical and cognitive performance, excessive chronic stress can wreck your physical and mental wellbeing. Living with chronic stress causes diverse health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression. While the pressures of modern life can’t be avoided, you should take steps to manage stress and reduce its severity.

If you don’t have the time to take a much-needed break, you can incorporate many simple activities into your daily life that will help you relax and relieve stress. Exercise, yoga, relaxation techniques, and meditation lower cortisol levels and increase endorphin production, bringing you natural stress relief. Investing 20 minutes each day to unwind from the daily grind can help you relax and destress, improving your overall health.

Get Regular Checkups

As you get older, you increase your risk of developing age-related health conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help reduce your risk of developing a chronic disease. Along with healthy lifestyle habits, visiting your doctor regularly for checkups will also help protect your health. Regular doctor checkups help you find and diagnose health issues early so you can treat it before it turns into a full-blown disease.

How often should you get medical checkups? It depends on your age, health status, and risk factors. If you’re in good health and are below the age of 50, you should see your doctor every three years. However, if you’re above 50 years old, you should visit your doctor to get a routine physical exam at least once a year. Getting regular medical checkups helps you find health issues before they become a problem, increasing the likelihood of treatment success.

Live Healthier to Enjoy a Happier and Longer Life

Your lifestyle choices play an important role in the quality of your life. Besides diet and exercise, many other factors influence your health and wellbeing. You should practice a holistic approach that addresses your physical, emotional, social, and mental health to promote optimal wellness. Follow the scientifically-proven wellness tips discussed above to improve your health and help you enjoy a longer and more fulfilling life.