With summer arriving, and vacation time coming, maybe it’s time to have that much-promised review of your personal health and wellbeing. How’s your work-life balance looking? Do you feel like your days are dedicated to all work and no play? Are you not feeling your best? There are some simple things you can change in your life to turn things around, to boost how you feel – both in body and mind. Here are four ways to get you thinking.
Check your diet
What you eat and drink can have a big impact on your body, and how you feel inside. So, if you’ve become overweight, or you feel that you are heading in that direction, take some time to review your current diet.
Why not make a list of all the things you consume in one week? Then use an app to calculate how many calories you have consumed and whether it’s in line with the official recommendations for your gender and build. You may find that you’re consuming far too many sugary and fatty products and not enough fruit and vegetables.
Being overweight can leave you feeling lethargic, having little energy and feeling moody and irritable. You will also heighten your risk of developing other health conditions. So, it’s important that you keep your health in check.
Don’t feel like you must be the expert though. In fact, you may do yourself more harm than good if you make drastic changes to your diet which are ill-thought out and not appropriate for your own personal needs.
Speak to your family doctor, a dietician or a fitness expert. They can help assess whether you are heavier than you should be and can advise on what steps to take to address it, in a sensible, healthy and sustainable way.
If changes to your diet are advised, then sit down and come up with a menu plan to help you achieve your goals. You may want to consider buying in ready-prepared, organic meals. Get more on the ranges available.
Head-to-toe check
If you’re going to see your doctor, to help you review your diet, why not also ask for a head-to-toe health check? As well as getting your weight measured, you can also have your blood pressure tested and undergo other personalized checks – along with getting some wider advice and support on maintaining good health. These checks can be both informative and reassuring, and help get you on the right path to feeling strong in body and mind.
Keep in shape
Feeling good in body and mind doesn’t just come from what you eat, of course. You also need to have good levels of fitness. So, maybe it’s time for you to take a look at how much exercise you’re getting into your daily and weekly routines.
If you’re an office worker, the only exercise you might get during the week is walking between your home and the car, and the car and the office. Not much at all. So, if you relate to that, you need to think about how you can get some more activity into your working days.
This can come in all sorts of forms. For example, take a look at how you get to and from the office. Do you live close enough to ride your bike or walk, instead of taking your vehicle? Or could you make half your journey in your auto and the rest in the saddle or on foot? If you take public transport, like a bus or subway, then how about getting on one stop later, or getting off one stop earlier and walking the rest of the journey?
If this isn’t possible, then think about making use of your lunch break. Yes, you need some time to eat. But could you spend half of it going for a walk? Or maybe you can be even more daring and turn that walk into a run? Most big offices have showers and washing facilities, so you don’t have to worry about being all hot and sweaty in front of your computer during the afternoon!
You can also boost your fitness levels during your working week by making other simple changes. For instance, do you always need to take the elevator when you visit colleagues on other floors of your office block? Or could you take the stairs instead?
Away from work, think about how you can boost your fitness levels outside the office. If you don’t already belong to a gym, why not join one? You don’t have to go there every night, but you could do a few days a week. Or, you could join a sports club, playing squash, soccer or baseball. It doesn’t have to be official and competitive; you could just play with your friends or co-workers.
Chill out
You can also boost how you feel in body and mind by making sure you get enough ‘me time’ in your life. That means, having time to relax, switch off and chill out. You need to strike a good work-life balance.
This is particularly important if you also have a family because life can be tough both at work and at home. It’s also crucial to ensure you carve out enough time to spend with your partner.
A great way to break away from your career is to take a vacation. So, with the summer arriving, think where you could go for the ultimate break. If it’s just you and your partner, maybe you could head for the coast or head for a mountain retreat.
If you’re taking the kids, try and pick somewhere where you can all have fun. Maybe a resort, where the young ones will have loads of activities to keep them occupied, while you and your partner have some chill time.
Aside from vacations, try and add some pleasures to your life. Going for day trips, walks, spa treatments and so on can all have positive effects on how you feel.
