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What You Can Do To Take Back Control Of Your Health
Going through life, it’s never pleasant to feel like you’re out of control of what’s happening around you. For instance, you don’t want the sense that events are running away from you at work, and there’s nothing you can do.
The sensation is even more intense and personal when it comes to your health. Your biology would play ball for eighty or ninety years in an ideal world without giving you any trouble. But, of course, that’s not always how it works. Instead, things can happen that are out of your control, and you can find yourself suffering tremendously.
While sometimes you can’t take back control of your health, there are many possible ways you can. Here’s what to do.
Take 15 Minutes Every Day To Focus On Your Wellbeing
Fifteen minutes is about one percent of your day – a tiny fraction by any reckoning. Yet, when you use them to focus on your wellbeing, it can have an outsized impact on your health. Having a bit of time to yourself where you actively work to improve your mental state can have knock-on effects on your body. People who meditate tend to feel less stressed and more content with the fact that they can’t control every aspect of their lives.
Making your health a priority can be a challenge. But when you think about how little time you need to spend focusing on your wellbeing, the cost-benefit is worth it. Those fifteen minutes can completely transform your day.
Work Out How To Love Movement
Many of us have a love-hate relationship with exercise. On the one hand, we like the effects – the healthier body and a more toned physique. But on the downside, we don’t like the pain and time spent doing it.
Seasoned exercisers, however, rarely experience discomfort or loss when exercising. And it has nothing to do with the fact that they might be fitter than you are. It all comes down to how they perceive physical activity. Instead of viewing it as something they have to do as part of a healthy lifestyle, it becomes something that they want to do. It becomes a bit like having a delicious meal or spending time playing video games. It’s a joyful experience and an essential part of life.
Getting to that stage can be a challenge, but it is possible, even if you’re the type of person who hates exercise. Going for a cycle ride, for instance, could become your “me time.” It could be your daily opportunity to reflect on your life and situation. Or it could just be an opportunity to relax and unwind after a tough week. Whatever the case, exercise doesn’t have to be something that feels like a chore or effort. Rewiring your thoughts about it can profoundly change how it feels.
One trick you can try is to make exercise feel low-effort (at least to start). Going for a walk somewhere beautiful, for instance, can be a great way to make yourself feel more active. Then, once you get into it, you can add different forms of activity – perhaps cycling or even rowing. Eventually, the physical discomfort you usually associate with exercise will disappear, and you’ll eventually wind up enjoying your time outdoors. You might even join a gym.
Make Sleep A Priority
Sleep science is still in its early stages. But if there’s one thing that people in the field want you to know, it’s that you should make sleep a priority.
Sleep, it seems, relates to many of the diseases of aging. People who fail to get enough shut-eye when they’re young tend to experience more issues related to cognitive decline and dementia when they are older. They’re also much more likely to develop the so-called diseases of civilization – such as diabetes.
The reverse is true of those who get enough sleep. They tend to develop fewer chronic diseases and feel less stressed in general.
Humans got a considerable amount of sleep historically. Most people went to bed at dusk and then got up at dawn, regularly sleeping nine hours or more. Today, average sleep times are in the six-hour range, which is very low.
The most common reason for this is an overactive stress center in the brain. Our lives are so full of pressure that we find it incredibly challenging to switch off in the evening.
You can’t just eliminate the sources of stress in your life, but according to this website, there are tools you can use to increase the quality of your sleep. Substances that reduce anxiety, for instance, can help considerably.
Protect Your Teeth
Traditionally, medicine saw diseases of the mouth separately from those of the rest of the body. If you have a toothache, you don’t go to the doctor; you book an appointment at the dentist.
But it turns out that the body doesn’t differentiate between the two. What goes on in the mouth profoundly affects the health of the rest of the body.
According to researchers, this occurs through multiple channels. For instance, if you have a chronic infection in your tooth, it activates the immune system. Over time, it can damage tissue in the rest of the body, including the lining of the arteries. Higher inflammation levels throughout the body can also harm organs and even impact how you feel by irritating the brain.
Brushing your teeth, therefore, could be one of the most profoundly powerful things you do to improve your overall well being. Tooth and gum disease are two ailments that are absolutely preventable with the right diet and oral hygiene routine.
Thus, taking back control of your health primarily depends on lifestyle choices. For most people, it is the simple things that make the biggest difference. Taking care of yourself is very much an act of self-love: something you do when you sincerely believe that you’re worth the effort. Saying no to the stresses in your life and taking care of your sleep instead can make a massive difference in your overall well being.
