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How to Stay Fit, Healthy, and Happy

Tips for how to improve your overall health and happiness

By Kari OakleyPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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How to Maintain Both You Health and Your Mood at the Same Time

There's an old saying that youth is wasted on the young. We tend to echo this sentiment with a sigh of longing. Our aging bodies usually make us less happy than we might otherwise be. And we're left looking back on our younger days with a sense of longing. But there's ample evidence that this doesn't have to be the case. We can improve our fitness, happiness, and even regain a measure of youth if we approach it the right way.

Age related physical decline doesn't have to be dramatic

It's a fact of life that our bodies are capable of less as time goes by. Any complex system, biological or mechanical, will begin to wear down after a while. But we make a huge mistake in assuming this decline needs to be dramatic. Time can take far less of a toll on our bodies than we think. We see people develop larger bellies and slower paces as they enter middle age. But this usually has more to do with a desk job than it does with the aging process.

A youthful body begins with a youthful amount of physical activity. You simply need to start taking time out to give your body the exercise it needs. Even something as simple as taking a swift walk during your lunch break can help fight back against a sedentary lifestyle. You'll eventually want to ramp your workout up. But even a small amount of exercise has been proven to make people happier.

Rethink your relationship with food

Diet is another area where people tend to confuse lifestyle choices with aging. Consider someone who eats an excess of 100 calories per week. This is roughly equivalent to a small apple. 100 calories isn't much by itself. But if one eats that excess every week, then at the end of one month, it'll be up to 400 calories. By a year, that small excess will total up to 4,800 calories. You can see the problem more easily when you consider that one pound of fat is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories. A tiny caloric excess can turn into a big problem over the years.

Calorie counting isn't always fun. But people can avoid a lot of health issues by simply keeping track of how many calories they eat every day. There's even some evidence that keeping caloric intake to the lower healthy range can actually slow the aging process. Of course one can also exercise away those calories. But just keep in mind that it takes a lot of physical activity to burn off even a fairly small snack. It's usually easier to just practice moderation in one's diet than to try burning off every treat.

Keep to a regular workout

We've seen how unhealthy lifestyle choices tend to escalate and build upon each other. But we can cultivate the opposite as well. People simply tend to fall into routines within their life. Our culture pushes fairly unhealthy habits as the norm. But as you work with these healthier choices, you'll start to get used to them. The healthy choices will become a habit. And once difficult workouts or routines will quickly become second nature. It's simply a matter of sticking with healthy choices until they become a habit.

If you feel young, then you should look it as well

At this point you'll feel stronger, faster and healthier. Your body will start to look as good or even better than it did when you were far younger. There's even evidence that the exercise will return some parts of your body to a youthful state.

But there's usually one point which holds people back from being fully happy with their progress. Food and exercise can help build muscle and burn fat. But it usually only has a minor impact on our hair's health. That's why most people also look into how to stimulate hair growth. This is usually the final piece of the puzzle for people who want to feel fit, healthy, and happy. Both our health and hair health influence our mood. We simply feel happier when we look good. As such, it's important to also look into products which can make our hair as healthy as the rest of our body.

Putting everything together to form a solid plan

It's important to remember that most of these tips should be used together. Working out won't provide as many benefits if one isn't eating a healthy diet. Likewise, people who don't pay attention to their appearance might not get as much psychological benefit out of feeling younger. But if one takes all of these tips together, it can form a powerful plan for a healthy and happy future.

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About the Creator

Kari Oakley

Kari Oakley is a fitness trainer from Kenosha Wisconsin. She now lives in downtown Chicago, and loves to get out. She is a big fan of anything adventure, and loves getting a workout in the outdoors.

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