Healthy Living: Try one Healthy Habit Every Day of the Week
Healthy living includes healthy habits, and it’s up to you to try to include one in each day of the week.
Instead of trying to improve your whole life at once, focus on one simple change each day that will help you become more relaxed and live healthier.
Are you one of those people to whom the words “from Monday I will…” are common in vocabulary? You start the week with the best of intentions but then life interfere his fingers. Stress, lack of time, a lot of obligations and duties, dissatisfaction with relationships and other life segments confuse your plan, so you can easily forget your planned afternoon walk from work to home, replace salad with “fast” food, you can only dream about eight hours of sleep, as well as relaxing rituals for resting of your mind and body.
What follows may be seemingly small rituals, but the sum of their benefits can make a big difference. Remember, it has been proven that when we repeat something in a row for 21 days it becomes a habit. We want you to embrace them as much as possible and to design some of your own along the way. Get started today, whatever day of the week it is.
MONDAY: Wake up earlier
Assuming you managed to rest and recharge your batteries for the weekend, start Monday earlier than usual. You set the alarm only 15 minutes earlier, and the extra time you do anything that will make the rest of the day more relaxed. If you are an early riser, wake up an hour earlier. Divide the full hour into three different activities: dedicate 20 minutes to your mind (e.g. read a favorite book or solve crossword puzzles), 20 minutes to the body (e.g. nurture the skin or do stretching exercises) and 20 minutes to the soul (e.g. pursue a hobby or design clothing combinations for the week ahead).
TUESDAY: Let your heart write
Before going to bed, prepare a pen and notebook by the bed, and after waking up, write down whatever comes to your mind – your non-structural current of thought. Write without reshaping, remaking, embellishing, and censoring, as if no one will ever read it. With this meditative type of diary, you can better connect with yourself and more easily understand your own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
WEDNESDAY: Stir
Start wiggle and fidgeting more as you sit in the office. Tap with your feet, shake your foot in rhythm, turn the pencil in your hand like a majorette, turn on a chair… Research shows that even such small movements improve blood flow to the limbs. For an extra boost, if you can, play your favorite music.
THURSDAY: Eat a bar of chocolate
In the afternoon, when you notice a drop in energy and concentration, treat yourself with a cube of dark chocolate instead of coffee. Black is ideal, with at least 70 percent cocoa because it improves cognitive performance, memory and mood.
FRIDAY: Stay at home
Instead of hanging out and going out, spend Friday night alone or with a partner at home. Make sure those hours or two go by without interruption. Take a bath, read a book or watch your favorite series with your better half.
SATURDAY: Stay in nature
If you want to lift your mood, release stress, reduce negative feelings, improve creativity and immunity, and recharge your batteries, plan a trip to nature. If you don’t have time for a full day in a green oasis, don’t worry. Even a 20-minute stay in silence in nature, a new study published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology has shown, has relaxing and calming effects.
SUNDAY: Meditate
To prepare for the working week, try a short meditation. If you are a beginner, use the simplest aid, and that is breath. Monitoring one’s own breathing is part of the oldest meditation techniques and it teaches us to dwell in the present moment, which is the goal of meditation. Even short meditative practices that ‘clear’ the mind of thoughts reduce stress and improve sleep, and stimulate creativity to step on Monday fresher and more relaxed.
