The polluted and stressful environment you live and work in, your diet poor in nutrients and rich in chemicals, sugar, and harmful fats, your lack of exercise and exposure to various toxic substances, like tobacco smoke or gas emissions, negatively affect your health.
Even without a clear diagnostic, you feel tired and unable to focus. You feel that everything happens too fast and you are no longer able to keep up. It happens to the best of us, and it just means that your body is overwhelmed by threats and your mind is tired.
If you continue on the path you have followed so far, you will feel worse by the day, maybe even develop a life-threatening condition. It is time you did something to regain your health, to help your body and your mind heal. The following seven steps will show you what to do and teach you how to do it.
7 Steps to Healing Your Body and Mind from Within
1. Learn to Relax and Relieve Stress
Stress is your worst enemy. It can raise your blood pressure, cause you to overeat, raise your cholesterol levels, or drive you to addictions. If you can, avoid it! Avoid driving at rush hours, avoid things and situations that may cause worries or anger, focus on activities that keep you calm, and try to stay in peaceful and safe environments.
If you cannot avoid stress, you should at least learn to manage it, relieve it. Consider exercising, listening to music, taking up yoga, getting massages, and enjoying long hot bubble baths. Essential oils are your best friends. Talking about your problems may help as well but be careful what details you share and with whom!
2. Hydrate
We’re 60% water, and the in colorless and odorless liquid performs some important functions in our bodies. It:
- Helps form saliva and supports digestion
- Helps the brain produce neurotransmitters and hormones
- Hydrates mucosal membranes and keeps them wet
- Supports cell growth and reproduction
- Allows the body to flash away toxins through sweat and urine
- Regulates our body temperature
- Helps absorb shock in the brain and spinal cord areas
- Lubricates the joints
- Transports oxygen throughout our body
Under the circumstances, it makes sense to replenish our water reserves by drinking at least 8 glasses a day. If plain water is not exactly to your taste, consider turning it into tea or flavoring it with ginger, mint, lemon juice, or your favorite fruits!
3. Rest
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation negatively affects your immune system, favors diseases, causes you to overeat, leads to migraines, and diminishes your performances. And yet, you often sacrifice it favor of other activities.
Make sure that, every night, you get minimum six hours of sleep, preferably eight. To improve sleep quality, avoid eating two hours before bedtime, turn off all electronics in the room, put on some comfy pajamas, and drop some lavender oil on your pillow. Relaxation music may help as well.
4. Adopt a Healthy Diet
The first step would to a healthy diet is to avoid processed foods. Most processed foods are stuffed with harmful chemicals and sugar. They can cause anything from cancer to diabetes. They boost your appetite, cause you to eat more than you need and gain weight, and, thus, expose you to further obesity-linked conditions.
Then, you need to watch your eating schedule. Snacking all day will not work, and neither will eating at night or on the go. Give yourself time to enjoy your meals and give your body time to process them. Believe it or not, fasting has some incredible, science-backed benefits as well.
Finally, you should eat healthy, nutrient-rich foods, preferably from verified sources. Fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, and whole grains are your best friends. How you cook them makes a huge difference as well. Boiling, steaming, marinating, and roasting in the oven are always the healthier alternative to frying and grilling.
5. Supplement, If and When Necessary
Despite your best efforts, you may not be able to provide your body with all the vitamins and minerals it needs. Without them, your health will deteriorate and your physical and mental well-being will suffer.
Therefore, you may need supplements. These could include anything from iron, magnesium, and potassium, to vitamins. Probiotics are very important for your digestive, immune, and sexual health as well.
While you can get vitamins, minerals, and probiotics from food as well, they are not that easy to absorb, so supplements may work better. Just choose your supplements carefully, as men and women have different needs, especially when it comes to probiotics. Also, not all products are alike. You want yours to come from verified sources and contain helpful, safe ingredients.
6. Surround Yourself with Quality People
You cannot choose your blood relatives, but you can choose your partner, friends, and co-workers. You can also choose how close you are to certain people and influence the path your relationships take. Your relationships with others influence your physical and mental well-being, so it is important that they be positive, nurturing, and rewarding. It also improves your social health.
You want to surround yourself with people who love you and appreciate you for who you are, not for what you have or what you can do for them. They should encourage you and support you to be the best that you can be, and not drag you into harmful entourages or mess with your self-confidence. They should help you through hard times and be grateful for your help.
7. Remember to Have Fun and Enjoy Life
No one will build you a statue for working overtime and during weekends. Luxury can’t replace love and passion. While you need to work and look after your possessions, remember that your personal life matters more, and draw a clear line between it and your professional life.
Take the time to enjoy your hobbies, spend time with the people you love, rest, and have fun. Go out every week and on at least one vacation every year. Watch movies, read, travel, and party! Life is short, so live it to its fullest.
Final Advice
Your health is precious, so take care of it while you still can! Follow the above steps to help your body heal and get stronger from within. With time, your better health and well-being will pay results on the outside as well. As you begin to feel better, your looks will improve as well. So will your performances, both at work and at home, both in public and in private.
Author’s Bio:
Dani Fogel is a Communication Coordinator at Brandable, based in Los Angeles, CA. She works on the Queen V brand within the company’s Digital and Ecommerce department.
