Is Your Lifestyle Putting Your Health At Risk?

It’s pretty safe to say that a lot of us care pretty deeply about our health. Most of us make an effort to take care of ourselves and see a doctor if we think that there’s something wrong. But the issue that the vast majority of people make is that, when it comes to their day to day life, they tend to ignore the impact that it’s having on their health. Sure we tend to avoid things that are particularly bad for us, but there are certain ways in which people live that we don’t even realize are having a significant negative impact on our lives. If you really want to live a life that is as healthy as possible, then you’ve got to feed that attitude into every single aspect of your life. With that in mind, here are some areas of your lifestyle that might well be damaging your health.

Diet

Let’s start with some of the more obvious ones shall we? Your diet is probably the place where many of us slip up the most in terms living a healthy lifestyle. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to something unhealthy from time to time, but far too often we find ourselves excusing our eating habits. Many of us live fast-paced, busy lives that leave us feeling exhausted at the end of each day. This can lead us to want to just stick on the TV and forget about doing anything.

A lot of the time this means that takeout or microwaves meals will be the order of the day. These are fine every now and again, but there are genuine risks to having those kinds of foods too often, including effects on your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The key is to make sure that your fridge and cupboards are stocked with ingredients for a variety of different meals ranging from very complicated to extremely fast and simple. That way, no matter what your energy levels are like, you’ll be able to cook yourself up something fresh and healthy every day. Then you can save the takeouts for a special treat.

You should also be careful with things like restaurants as well. As wonderful an experience as dining out can be, there’s certainly a risk involved when you don’t know how what you’re eating is being prepared. Now, most of the time a restaurant will be somewhere that you can trust the chefs but there are always places where they don’t adhere to the proper health codes. If you’ve been in a position like that and have become sick because of it, make sure that you check out RobinsCloud.com/food-poisoning-lawsuit.

Substance abuse

We all like a drink now and then. There’s nothing wrong with that! As long as you’re of legal drinking age and you don’t drive under the influence, then there’s nothing to stop you enjoying an evening with friends and a couple of glasses of wine. The issue is that many people don’t seem to fully understand when they should stop. Far too often people assume that as much as half or even a full bottle of wine is acceptable over the course of an evening. A lot of this is down to societal influence.

Many of us are taught by the media from a pretty young age that drinking is the only way to enjoy yourself. But, of course, this is far from being the case. Instead, it’s a good idea to limit yourself to no more that two or three drinks maximum and even then to spread them out while drinking equal amounts of water. As well as causing problems with your liver, alcohol can dehydrate you pretty drastically, so it’s important to keep drinking as much water as possible to avoid that. That’s not even to mention the sheer amount of empty calories in most alcoholic beverages.

While you’re on a fine night out with friends, it might be easy to forget about the consequences of what you’re putting into your body, but remember that it’s often more than just a hangover your body could be left with the morning after. You could also have come up against some serious health risks as well.

Lack of exercise

Raise your hand if you don’t work out as much as you perhaps should. If we’re all honest, everyone on the planet should have raised their hand at that moment. There’s nothing wrong with having a lazy day, maybe even a whole lazy weekend. But far too often, that kind of attitude becomes a full-blown lifestyle, with every evening and weekend being given over to lying on the couch watching TV. Even if you’re incredibly careful when it comes to your diet, it’s never going to do you as much good as it can if you’re not active at all. This is especially important now that so many of us work in such sedentary environments.

If you spend all day sitting at a desk in an office and then spend the entire evening slumped on the couch, then you’ve managed to spend a significant portion of your life doing nothing on a physical level. Don’t assume that the key is to suddenly become a gym-obsessed fitness nut. Of course, getting a regular fitness routine down at the gym going would be a fantastic idea, but there aren’t many of us who really have the time to commit to that. Instead, you should find small, simple ways to stay active throughout the day. If you work in an office, get up every so often to stretch and walk around a little. Perhaps even go for a short walk or job on your lunch break.

When you get home, instead of sitting straight down on the couch, why not go for a short walk around the block. Not only is it a great way to stay active but can blow some of the cobwebs away after a long work day, giving you some extra energy in the evening.

Poor sleep schedule

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, one of the truly major issues among people today is that we’re simply not sleeping enough. Far too many people are trying to survive on five hours or less every day. We’re falling asleep later and spending more and more time on our phone right before we do. Just about everything that people do these days seems to be based around preventing themselves from getting the amount of sleep that they actually need.  There are the obvious risks of a lack of sleep like low energy levels, but it also can have a ton of other effects on your overall health.

Without the right amount of sleep then your brain simply can’t function properly. Not only does this affect your cognitive function but can actually start to damage your immune system as well, leaving you open to diseases. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to weight gain and obesity. The key is to make sure that you have a regular sleep schedule and are getting at least eight hours of sleep a night. Avoid looking at bright screens before going to sleep as well. Instead read a book for twenty minutes or so to help your brain relax from the stress of the day.

Too much stress

Speaking of stress, we all know that it’s important to avoid getting too stressed out during the day. No one wants to be around someone who spends all of their time screaming at the TV or swearing at other drivers in traffic. But as well as making you kind of difficult to be around, high-stress levels can actually have a pretty alarming impact on your body.

For one thing, stress levels have been linked to high blood pressure and hair loss. It’s also been shown that people with higher stress levels are more at risk of heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. That’s not even to mention the potential psychological effects of too much stress such and anxiety and depressions, both of which have been linked to people’s stress levels. There are few ways to combat stress. One of which is through deep breathing and meditation, which can help you quiet your mind and let go of the stressful thoughts.

There are also things like counseling that are offered which can help you talk through the things that cause you to feel tense and stressed out with a qualified professional who can offer guidance and advice with how to deal with the problem in a productive way. Of course, no one’s going to be able to avoid getting angry or stressed all of the time, but by learning to manage it, you can prevent it from having a dangerous impact on your life.