8 Short Tips to Better Personal Well-Being

1) Drink up: It is as simple as H2O. Drink as many as six to eight glasses of water every day. Water helps transport nutrients in the body, eliminates waste products and regulates temperature. All these benefits for a zero caloric intake.

Do not bother yourself with ionizing machines that convert tap water into alkaline water. The makers claim these wonder machines reduce acidity in the body, hence warding off degenerative diseases. But doctors say the human body already maintains a healthy pH range without external help.

2) Eat mostly plants and unprocessed foods (and a little meat): That is, according to American food journalist Michael Pollan’s famous rule. He advocates eating whole foods instead of processed food, and suggests stopping when you are about to feel full.

Meat should be a side dish. By eating less meat, it means a lower intake of saturated fat, one of the major risk factors for heart diseases and other types of cancer. As a rule, you need only two palm-size servings of meat a day. Mix that with a range of different foods with varying nutrients to have a healthy and balanced diet.

3) Don’t pop pills: You can easily get vitamins from the food you eat, such as Vitamin A for healthy eyes from eggs and Vitamin C from fruits.

If you are a person on a balanced diet with no pre-existing conditions, you generally do not need supplements, which is merely a marketing myth.

4) Lose weight through a healthy diet: Forget the Atkin’s Diet or slimming centers or fat-busting creams. The essential ingredient to losing weight is to eat healthily.

Avoid high-calorie food all the time, choose healthy foods most of the time and eat the ‘naughty’ food only some of the time.

5) You need eight hours of sleep daily: Studies have linked inadequate sleep to weight-related issues and diseases. To ensure a good night’s rest, establish a routine sleep pattern, keep the bedroom solely for sleep and not other stimulating activities such as exercising, and avoid a heavy meal or exercising close to bedtime.

6) Stub out: The risk of smoking is clear enough. It has been found that smokers are seven times more likely than non-smokers to get lung cancer. Smoking also causes heart diseases such as coronary artery diseases, a common heart disease where the arteries are clogged and may possibly trigger a heart attack, not to mention the amount of savings you can get from stubbing it out.

7) Exercise regularly: Do it as often as three times weekly, each session a minimum of 30 minutes. A combination of resistance training and cardiovascular workouts can build strong bones, heart, lungs and blood circulatory system. You may wish to incorporate active elements into your lifestyle by taking the stairs or getting off a stop earlier than your destination and walking the rest of the way.

8) Calm your mind: When your body experiences emotional stress such as anxiety, anger and sorrow, it will release chemicals such as adrenaline that will drive your blood pressure up, make your heart beat faster and put a strain on your health. It will lower your immune responses, making you susceptible to diseases.