Public health awareness campaigns can get tiresome, it is true. Sometimes it feels as if there is so much health-related information hitting us all the time that we just become immune to it.
But it is important to take care of your health, particularly in your 20s while you are forming lifelong habits. This kind of information might be more easily digestible if it were presented in a few distinct sections, rather than a million disperse pieces of advice. Therefore, we will list below several key things that you should start putting into action while you’re young.
Exercise regularly, but not excessively
Well, everyone says that. Yes, but many sources don’t tell you what to do to form lifelong habits. It’s great to utilize your energy as much as you can while you have it, but this could easily lead to burnout.
Unless you’re a former elite athlete who is used to exercising all day long, it’s wisest to set a routine that you know you’ll be able to live with. Think about whether you’re the type of person who can work out at home or not, and if not try to find a gym nearby that you know you’ll be motivated to go to a couple of times a week.
Alternatively, you might take an interest in a particular sport. If you join a recreational group in your area, you could find that the combination of exercise and the friendships you form in the process will make a lasting impression on you. It doesn’t take super high frequency to stay in reasonably good shape.
Stabilize your nutritional intake
We used to learn about the four food groups in school and the importance of eating three square meals a day. While this is one way of looking at things, many people are moving away from the three square meals idea and focusing on nutritional content as its own entity. In other words, it is not the composition of your meals that matters so much, but the total nutritional intake that you get on a daily basis.
This is particularly important if you’re trying to start a family. When you get to the point of wanting to have children, you want your body to be in the best shape possible to provide your baby with the right environment to grow in. You can also find a fertility tracker that can help you track your body’s preparedness for conceiving.
Develop good sleep habits
Again, this is something you’ve probably heard ad nauseum, but it can’t be overstated: developing solid sleeping patterns while you’re young will stay with you for life. You probably pulled a lot of all-nighters in college, and that’s understandable. But once you get into the work world, you should be developing patterns for the rest of your life.
Inadequate or oddly-patterned sleep not only disrupts your circadian rhythm, it can lead to a whole host of other problems. You can experience both mental issues, such as irritability and loss of memory, as well as potentially serious physical problems such as heart disease. So make it a point to sleep 6-8 hours a night at regular times. Your body will thank you for it.
Monitor yourself
No, you don’t have to do this on a daily basis. But once a month or so, it’s a good idea to take a look at what you’ve consumed, how much you’ve exercised, etc in relation to the initial targets that you set out for yourself. If you find yourself drifting significantly, think about whether you need to re-establish your metrics in order to stay on track.
You might find that being healthy is actually a lot of fun, and a great motivator. Many people who get onto the right kind of health track find that when they start feeling better, they get more and more motivated to be healthy, and they want to start reading everything they can about the subject.
Conclusion
Americans are doing more than they used to to stay in shape and maintain good health. Fitness and nutrition are definitely more popular subjects than they were in the 20th century. Nonetheless, we are still a country that suffers from excessively high levels of obesity and other chronic diseases. And many Americans suffer from sleep-related disorders.
Taking the time to develop good habits while you are young will make your life much easier when you are older. You will surely find that your later years are healthier, happier, and that you’ve set the right examples for your kids to follow.
