Category Archives: Lifestyle

Going Healthy, Health, Life, Lifestyle

15 Ways To Improve Your Health This Summer

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With everything going on with COVID-19, your family’s health has never been more important. Despite the risks to health right now, especially for vulnerable people, staying at home due to lockdown is actually encouraging some healthier habits among families. 

How are your family adjusting to lockdown? Will it make you rethink your habits in the future once restrictions start getting lifted? Permanent changes to your lifestyle can help your family live better and longer, as well as boost your immunity against sickness in the future.

Whether you’re already making changes or you want to form better habits going forward, here are some ideas for 15 ways you can improve your health this summer.

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Image Credit: Unsplash under Creative Commons

1. Exercise daily

Daily exercise is important for keeping your body healthy. It not only helps you regulate your weight, but it can strengthen your heart and lungs, as well as your muscles. Exercise should consist of cardio, strength and flexibility to help ensure the best results. 

There are some great exercises you can do at home to tone your whole body, making daily exercise easy.. Many people are looking forward to their daily exercise at the moment, so if you’re recently discovered a passion for running, cycling or walking lately – make sure you keep it up this summer!

2. Get some fresh air

Fresh air is important, and while a lot of people are making an effort to go for walks, etc., during lockdown, it’ll be easy to take it for granted again when restrictions are lifted. 

Even if it’s just for a short time, a walk outside can do you a world of good. It can help you feel refreshed, get you some vital vitamin D and give you a break from whatever you’re doing. 

Don’t forget you can enjoy fresh air at home too. Get involved in some garden games with your kids and enjoy some fresh air together.

3. Start each day with a hearty breakfast

A healthy, hearty breakfast is a great way to start the day. A lot of people grab something to eat in a hurry, which can often lead to some unhealthy choices. Even store-bought smoothies can be full of sugar, counterbalancing the added vitamins you’re taking in. Why not take it in turns to make breakfast each day so that it doesn’t all fall on one member of the household?

There are plenty of tasty make-ahead breakfast recipes to help you eat a good breakfast every day.

4. Make more meals at home

With most restaurants closed and takeout getting tired (and expensive!), more people are cooking from home right now. Some home cooking is ideal for preparing healthy dishes, without the processed ingredients that can be hidden in your food. Start getting into the habit of planning your meals for the week ahead, it’ll help you commit to eating healthier while cutting back on your food waste too.

One idea to get everyone excited about home cooking is to do theme nights. A simple theme like Mexican or Italian night can give you something to look forward to, and could encourage everyone to start helping in the kitchen. 

5. Up your hydration efforts

During the summer months, hydration is more important than ever. Our bodies need water to function, and you’ll need even more of it when the weather is warmer and you’re losing more of it through sweat. There are plenty of ways you can stay hydrated, but drinking water throughout the day is the easiest and most important one.

Why not equip the whole family with their own water bottle and keep them close by to help everyone stay hydrated?

6. Take care of your skin

Taking care of your skin is important, and in the summer, when UV rays are at their strongest, it’s even more important. It’s easy to neglect your SPF, but by making it a part of your daily routine, you’ll be used to protecting your skin in all weather. Wearing SPF doesn’t just protect against skin cancer, but it can stop you experiencing premature ageing too! 

7. Enjoy a break from tech

Technology can be all-consuming. We spend a lot of our daily lives on our phones, using computers, etc. That’s been even truer since lockdown restrictions have been put in place. Taking a break from technology is important, and when the sun is shining – why wouldn’t you want to get out and enjoy it? 

Spending quality time as a family, away from tech, can be a great way for you all to bond and enjoy each other’s company. You might even find you don’t miss it as much as you thought you would!

8. Practice good hygiene

Practicing good hygiene is common sense. Washing your hands, keeping your home clean and showering often are things we should do anyway, but it might be time to turn things up a notch to help keep your family well. 

There are steps you can take to keep your home germ-free, as well as practice better hygiene when you’re out and about. Carry hand sanitizer with you and use it regularly throughout the day – it could make a big difference to stopping germs from spreading. 

9. Keep summer allergies under control

Dealing with symptoms of a cold can be miserable. But what if they weren’t caused by a virus, but by allergies instead? Hay fever and other seasonal allergies are common at this time of year, and can leave you feeling miserable. If anyone in your home suffers from common allergy symptoms during the summer, it’s worth making sure you have plenty of antihistamines and other medication to help ease your symptoms. It helps if you know what you’re allergic to, as this can make sure you treat your allergy symptoms accordingly. If you have air conditioning, use it instead of opening windows, but make sure to get the filters cleaned by an AC Repair company before you turn it on. The last thing you want is for pollen to be getting blown directly into your face!

10. Set some goals to keep you busy

Most of us focus on setting goals for the new year, but why not set yourself some part-way through the year instead? From making over your home to having a fitness goal, having something to aim for can give you some focus and put an end to those lazy summer days. By the time fall comes around, you’ll have achieved something amazing! 

11. Walk more

Walking is one of the simplest forms of exercise, and it’s an effective way of keeping active. Staying at home recently has likely meant that daily walks are a part of your routine, and is something you can easily maintain when you’re at work or on weekends. A short walk at lunchtime or before dinner can help you make up for a day spent sitting down, while also boosting your cardio health.

If you find walking boring, why not try some fun walking apps that will be sure to get you moving? 

12. Cut down on snacking

Snacking is many people’s go-to for relieving boredom, but all of those salty or sugary snacks could be contributing to weight gain, as well as making you feel tired and sluggish. Instead of reaching for the chips or chocolate, try a healthy snack instead. If you are snacking because you’re bored, you could take your mind off things by reading or finding a hobby that keeps you occupied.

13. Take some time to yourself

It’s important to take some ‘me time’ now and again – life gets busy, after all. When you’re working and taking care of a family, it’s easy to become exhausted. If things start getting too much, make sure you ask for some help – friends and family might not realize that you’re struggling.

Treat yourself to some time to do the things you enjoy – it can help you rest and recharge ready to face a new day.

14. Get plenty of sleep

Sleep is important, but do you ever find it’s harder during the summer months? There are many reasons for this. The sun rises earlier and it’s hotter – making sleep uncomfortable. Learning to sleep in the heat will help you get your 8 hours, so try everything you can to keep cool at bedtime. 

15. Don’t forget about your mental health

While it’s easy to just think about your physical health, it’s important to focus on your mental health too. You can take care of your mental health by following many of the steps above, especially by exercising and taking a break from time to time. If you’re concerned about your mental health, or anyone in your family, make sure you book an appointment like you would for a physical problem. There’s help available to you, you just need to seek it out.

Taking care of yours and your family’s health should always be a priority, even during the carefree summer months. It’s a great time to form new habits and enjoy being outdoors, as well as spending time together as a family. Use the time you have at home to help your family become healthier and stronger – when restrictions are lifted, you’ll be able to keep up your self-care habits ready to enjoy your time together.

Going Healthy, Going Strong, Health, Life, Lifestyle

Strength Training Is The Secret To Healthier Joints

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We have multiple joints all throughout our bodies. The technical definition of a joint is that it is where two bones meet one another. Some of our joints are more well-known than others – like the knee, hip, ankle, and shoulder joints. We need joints to help us move around and perform specific tasks. 

For example, did you know that the way our thumb joint works allows us to have opposable thumbs? This means we can grip things with our thumbs, which basically sets us apart from chimps! 

Anyway, back to the main point! 

Joints are essential, but they are often injured. The more moveable joints in your body (the ones mentioned earlier) are prone to get damaged in multiple ways. You can twist the joint and damage the ligaments, you can get arthritis, you can dislocate them, etc. Joint pain stops you from doing many of your daily tasks and can cause problems in your life. While the chances of suffering from joint pain increases as you age, you can easily prevent it. You deserve to have healthy joints, and it is highly possible when you try strength training. 

What is strength training?

For those that don’t know, strength training is basically training your muscles to get bigger and stronger. Typically, this means you start lifting weights. As you keep lifting, your muscles adapt to the load and get stronger. By progressively increasing the weights, you will get harder muscles that look bigger and can handle more weight. 

Why does strength training help your joints?

Some of you might have heard that weight training is bad for your joints. I’ll forgive this as it seems like it should be the case. Surely it’s not good for your joints to add lots of extra force to them? As long as your form is correct, then your joints will be fine. 

In fact, they will benefit in the short and long-term from exercise and strength training. 

Look at the knee joint – probably the most prone to injuries. If you took a look at all the different knee injury cases, you’d find many happen in slip and fall incidents where the knee twists. Twisting your knee is preventable through strength training. How? Because building strength in the muscles around the knee will also strengthen the ligaments and tendons that hold the joint together. In essence, you reinforce the supporting structures. This adds more stability to the joint, preventing it from twisting easily. 

The same goes for other joints in your body – if you strengthen the attaching muscles, then the joint itself becomes more stable and less prone to injuries. 

Furthermore, one of the short-term benefits of strength training is that it increases the synovial fluid in joints. Think of this as oil for a gate. Joints need this fluid to move smoothly and prevent bones from rubbing against one another. Exercise and strength training increases the production of this, greasing your joints up nicely. In turn, this can prevent diseases like arthritis from forming! 

You see, strength training is the ultimate solution to healthier joints. If you want to live with less pain and more stability, then pick up some weights and protect your joints today.

Going Healthy, Health, Life, Lifestyle

How to Make Your Days Off Count

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We all lead incredibly busy lives, and sometimes it can feel like you never get a proper, full day off, especially if you are a parent. Even when they do happen, once in a blue moon, it’s so easy to feel like you’ve wasted them – sleeping in, rushing around doing chores, eating rubbish food because you haven’t had time to cook – and before you know it, you’re waking up on Monday morning feeling even more tired than before.

When these amazing days arrive, perhaps when the children are at the grandparents, or away with school, and you are off work – whether that is a weekend, or you work different days – it’s important to know you’re making the most of your valuable time. Follow these simple steps to help yourself feel rested, rejuvenated, and like you’ll never let your day off slip through your fingers again.

Getting Up

Sleeping in is undoubtedly one of the best aspects of a day off. However, it’s very important not to take this too far, or you risk not only wasting your day, but also damaging your sleep patterns for the next week. Scientists recommend adults have between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Any more than this can actually be almost as bad as not getting enough sleep, as it can cause increased feelings of fatigue and even depression.

A nice compromise is to limit your lie-in to an extra hour (two at the most) – and perhaps even keep your alarm, but use the extra time to doze or read in bed before starting your day. If you’re really struggling to get up on those days off, a great incentive is to promise yourself an extra-special breakfast. Nothing tends to get people out of bed better than pancakes…

Activities

Now, your perfect idea of a day off might be to do absolutely nothing all day – and that’s completely fine! However, the idea that idle hands are the devil’s tools definitely has some truth to it. A day will always feel longer and more worthwhile if you have at least one activity planned. This can be as simple as a walk, a coffee or drink with friends – even just a craft activity at home, or finishing that book you’ve been meaning to get through. Something as small as this can give you a great sense of accomplishment, and actually help your mind relax even more than just sitting in front of the television.

Lunch and Dinner

Here is where your day off can really give you an opportunity to treat yourself. You don’t have to be eating meal-prepped dinners, or stuffing yourself with anything you can find between work and other commitments. Cooking can be an incredibly soothing and de-stressing activity for a day off, without you having to worry about time or complexity. It is now even being used as a therapy technique for people suffering from stress and anxiety, which just shows how valuable it can be. Perhaps try out some gourmet dishes you haven’t made before, or even invent your own meals without any pressure or expectation – and then you get to eat some delicious food afterwards, which is always a bonus. 

Relaxing

Here we get to the most important part of your day off: sheer relaxation. You have so many options here, so don’t always fall into the Netflix trap whilst the hours pass you by. Reading a book, playing a video game, or even choosing a specific film rather than a TV series are all brilliant options. A top tip is to do any of these things under a weighted blanket. Now, many people might think these are purely for bedtime, and why use a weighted blanket if you’re not trying to sleep? There are so many benefits to spending your relaxation time under a top-notch blanket – they are proven to reduce stress and help you feel secure, which will maximize your chill-out time as much as possible.

A Good Night’s Sleep

This might seem obvious, but the worst thing you can possibly do after a wonderful day off would be to stay up until the early hours, and wake up the next morning feeling exhausted. It might be tempting to make the day last as long as possible, but getting that good night’s sleep at the end of your day off is the best way to really make it count. Encourage relaxation with an appropriate CBD oil and then, try to get an early night. If this is difficult, try banning technology from your bedroom – or if that’s not possible, have a look at blue light filters for your devices so you can give your eyes the break they deserve.

Following all these tips will help you relax in the most productive way possible, and feel like you’ve made the most of those rare, wonderful days off.