Many of us want a healthy lifestyle but don’t know how to achieve that. Being healthy is fairly easy but having a healthy lifestyle is another issue. What’s the difference you might ask? Well- being healthy is not just about being fit and rid of diseases it’s also about being happy on the inside and out.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Having a healthy lifestyle consists of mental/emotional well-being, physical, spiritual, and social. You have to be well acquainted with each of these to truly be healthy.

Starting with the most common and easiest of these—physical health. Physical health consists of eating healthy, minimized risk of injury, prevention of disease, and exercise. Eating healthy and exercise have a lot of misconceptions to it; one of them being that you can’t have junk food, whereas you can have it but in moderation.

Food should be enjoyed and knowing how to control your cravings is the trick to true healthy eating. Another one is if you exercise you can eat whatever you want, no you can’t. just because you work out for an hour doesn’t mean you can go back and regain all the calories you lost.

A huge misconception is that you have to be skinny to be healthy which isn’t true; as long as you are healthy by health standards then it doesn’t matter if you weigh a little more than you have to. To get on track with your physical health try to eat three meals a day; listen to your body when you’re hungry or thirsty.

Many people don’t know where to start when it comes to exercising—should I just focus on one part of my body or everything? To be clear you can’t target one part of your body because you will lose weight everywhere but if you target that area, you will see a larger change in that area than the others.

A good starter for an exercise routine is doing high-intensity cardio on Mondays, upper body strength(arms/abs) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays are lower body strength and abs, Thursday is stretch and recovery, Fridays light exercise, no jumping cardio on Saturdays, and rest on Sundays. You can alter your routine to target whatever part of your body.

Though physical health is the most common mental health is the most talked about. Having a steady and healthy mind is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Mental health is your way of thinking—positive or negative. It is how you handle stress and different issues and your course of action.

Mental health is taught in schools but never truly practiced. Students go home after learning what to do to fix their mental health then get hit with a bunch of homework and start stressing about it and other things which can cause anxiety and in worst cases, depression. Most people would tell you to be more optimistic about things, but it is not that easy.

 Being happy and ready to do anything every day is extremely difficult. To succeed in mental health, you need to stay active, talk to someone, don’t skip sleep, relax often but work hard, and be social. By staying active more blood circulates to the brain and more oxygen and nutrients.

 Your brain releases serotonin, dopamine and other hormones when you exercise because you have achieved something and feel refreshed after. mental health includes talking if not therapists would be useless. When you bottle up emotions you become stressed and put an emotional strain on your brain making you feel depressed. Sleeping the required hours your body needs is important so it can store new information and rid toxic waste. The body repairs itself and stores energy while you sleep, so get your beauty rest!

In my list of goals, I tell myself to make at least one new friend every two months. Having friends can save you from so much stress in your life. Good friends will make you feel like you have someone to support you and have your back at all times. Some people are more social than others, but we all need some sort of support. To get a friend you need to be a friend listen to others and don’t be self-centered. Be respectful of ideas. 

To make friends introduce yourself to others and see what you have in common, taking about what you have in common will be the seed you need to see the friendship bloom. Research says that being lonely increases depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and problems sleeping. So, find yourself some friends but get rid of toxic people in your life. People who are toxic and self-centered are not real friends they will bring you down more than being lonely. You need to be able to identify which people will be good for your health, keep them and grow your relationship. Then build up other aspects of your life.

You wont be able to achieve all of this at once so take it slow. Start with your physical health and make a habit of exercising everyday and when you have that mastered start working on mental health. Find times to meditate, find what keeps you grounded and your happy place. Go out more and socialize, meet new people and bond.