Have you ever wondered how busy people manage to stay fit and healthy? When you’re spending so much time on your studies, work, and other commitments, it can be easy to fall into unhealthy habits that end up having a negative effect on your health. These kinds of situations can be difficult to avoid, but they’re not impossible.
So in this post, we’re going to look at some of the most important and effective strategies to help you stay healthy even if you don’t have much time on your hands. No matter if you’re working 10 hours a day or if you’re a busy student that also has a part time job, we’ve got a couple of handy tips to help you better utilize your time and get healthy.
Focusing on nutrition will be a huge benefit to your healthy lifestyle
One of the best ways to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle is to understand the role that nutrition plays. You don’t need to learn what every different nutrient and mineral does for our body or the exact amounts we need each day though. All you really need to know is a handful of foods that you like that are rich in nutrients, and also an understanding of what it means to eat empty calories and nutrient-dense calories.
We need to consume calories in order to get energy. However, there exists empty calories which provide little to no nutritional value. For example, unhealthy snacks like cakes can be really tasty and hit our cravings, but they provide very little nutritional value due to the ingredients used to make them.
For example, 400 calories of cake versus 400 calories of something nutrient-rich like chicken is a completely different case. The 400 calories of chicken are far healthier than the 400 calories of cake. In this specific case, the calories of chicken also contain a lot of protein. Protein tends to have an effect on the body where you spend calories in order to fully digest and absorb the nutrients, meaning that you actually burn some of the calories that you consume.
So what does this mean for busy people and staying healthy?
If you want to stay healthy, then it’s vital that you eat foods that are rich in nutrients and avoid any foods that are considered to have empty calories. Since you spend time preparing, cooking, or even ordering food, you want to make better use of your time by focusing on foods that are rich in nutrients and healthy for you.
For instance, when people don’t have much time to prepare dinner on a weeknight, they might order food or go for a quick and easy meal in the oven or microwave. Sadly, this can lead to unhealthy meals that are very low in nutritional content. But busy people usually have strategies for this. For example, they might prepare their own lunch and bring it to work so they can avoid unhealthy fast foods, or they might do food prep at home so they have a fridge full of healthy meals and snacks to avoid the temptation of fast food and takeouts.
In short, if you learn more about nutrition and how to make better meals, you’ll end up with a much healthier lifestyle.
If you prevent bad health problems in the first place, you won’t have to deal with them
People tend to spend a lot of time on their health to ensure that they’re safe and healthy. For example, they might spend a lot of time exercising to keep their muscles working and to lose weight, or they might learn more about cooking so that they can prepare healthy and nutritious meals for themselves. This time investment is important for keeping yourself healthy, and one of the most important things to focus your time on is preventive healthcare.
Preventive healthcare is essentially taking better care of your health and learning how to prevent yourself from being affected by various diseases before they have a chance to affect you. For example, quitting smoking is a great way to drastically reduce your chances of cancer or lung-related diseases. Similarly, not drinking can help you improve your overall health, reduce the chances of damage to your body, and so on. It’s essentially doing things that will prevent you from being affected by negative health effects.
Exercise is another good example of preventive healthcare. By exercising more regularly, it’s less likely that you’ll be affected by poor health conditions, and you’ll be able to manage your weight better as well. In short, if you want to spend less time recovering or dealing with health problems, then it’s important to spend more time on preventive healthcare to safeguard your wellbeing.
Focus on the basics and the rest will follow
A lot of people tend to overcomplicate things when it comes to staying healthy, but the reality is that you don’t really need to spend much time in order to be healthy. There are some simple fundamental things that you should be focusing on–basics that form the foundation for any healthy lifestyle. Such as:
- Remember to drink water to stay hydrated.
- Avoid unhealthy snacks and foods.
- Keep moving and be active with your body.
These are just three simple fundamentals that everyone should focus on and incorporate into their lifestyle. But how is this done?
Let’s start with the first one, drinking more water to stay hydrated. Hydration is important the majority of our body relies on and is made from water. We need to stay as hydrated as possible to cleanse our system and also prevent dehydration. But how do we consume more water, especially if we’re busy all the time? One way is to simply have a water bottle handy near you at all times. Lots of people bring their own water bottles to work and refill it throughout the day, while others will pick up a water bottle from their workplace. They might also set reminders on their phone to have a sip of water in order to stay hydrated.
To avoid unhealthy snacks and foods, it’s a good idea to try and replace them with healthier alternatives. It’s good to focus on small and sustainable changes first. For example, instead of drinking a lot of soda each day, why not switch some of your drinks to sparkling water or even diet soda to cut down on your sugar intake. As you make small and sustainable changes to your diet, you’ll slowly start to pick up healthier habits.
What about being more active with your body? This can be easy for some people, but it really depends on your lifestyle. One simple way to introduce more activity is to start taking less convenient options throughout the day. For instance, instead of taking an elevator, why not walk one or two flights of stairs? Instead of getting off at the bus stop close to your home, get off one or two stops earlier and walk the rest. Do you normally take your time at work when walking to different places? Try to pick up the pace and walk faster to get your heart working.
These are just a few examples of how to introduce more activity into your lifestyle. While it’s not a full replacement for working out, the added calorie loss does add up and it helps to keep your heart active and healthy.
In short, staying healthy while you’re busy is all about making better use of your time. It’s about focusing on the important aspects of your life and avoiding things that could be a detriment to your health.
