Healthy Habits for a Long & Happy Life
Women enjoy longer life spans compared to their male counterparts. If you want those extra years to be good ones, it’s important to be proactive concerning your health and wellness routine. With all the things your average woman is responsible for, it’s easy to let healthy habits fall on the wayside. However, taking care to relax, eat well, and exercise will ensure that you feel great both today and for years to come.
Relaxation Tips for Women
Leave Work at the Office
It’s easy to let your worlds collide, but when you bring work home, you cheat yourself out of your time to unwind. Leave the work at the office and curate your home to be a sanctuary of relaxation. Consider adding spa-like touches to your bedroom or bathroom: soft lighting, cool paint colors, decorative accents, and aromatherapy candles are all great ways to start.
Start Meditating
When you meditate every morning, you train your mind to be more focused and better able to handle whatever it is you are doing at the moment. Designate a space in your home where you can practice meditation in peace that’s free from distractions and meddling. If sitting still for more than a minute sounds like torture, consider a moving meditation practice instead.
Nutrition Tips
Eat Breakfast
When you skip breakfast, you are more likely to overeat throughout the day. Taking the time to eat breakfast every morning is a great way to kick off the day in a healthy manner. You can tackle everything on your to-do list with a full stomach and stable blood sugar.
Up the Calcium
The World Health Organization recommends women get 500 milligrams of calcium a day. Making sure you consume enough bone-strengthening calcium (along with vitamin D) can prevent bone loss and fractures as you age, protecting your health and independence way into your golden years. Instead of chugging milk or relying on supplements, increase your intake by eating more calcium-rich foods, including white beans, salmon, kale, almonds, and seaweed.
Limit Alcohol
From Carrie Bradshaw’s Cosmopolitans to the Real Housewives stars throwing wine, the media loves to portray women who drink as glamorous. The truth is, women are more negatively affected by the many health consequences of drinking. With that in mind, start limiting your intake of alcohol today for a healthier tomorrow.
Exercise Tips for Women
The Right Reasons
Most people would argue there are no “wrong reasons” to exercise. However, many women feel like they have to work out to look a certain way — a way deemed optimally attractive by the mainstream media. Instead of using exercise as a wedge to help you fit inside some mold, embrace activity for how it will make you feel: stronger, healthier, and happier.
Add Weight Training
Some women avoid the weight room because they don’t want to look “bulky” or masculine. First of all, weight lifting will never make a woman look bulky unless she eats tons of calories. Instead, lifting weights and resistance training will help prevent muscle loss as you age so you can continue being mobile and experience fewer injuries in your golden years.
Mix it Up
Doing the same exercises day after day stunts your progress and makes you more susceptible to injury. Beyond that, it gets boring! Mix up your workouts as much as you can to challenge new muscles and prevent boredom. Instead of getting stuck in your gym rut, sign up for a new class, try a different set of weight machines, or enroll in an intramural league where you can combine exercise and socialization.
Establishing healthy habits helps women feel good today and for years to come. Relaxation is super important. Leave work at the office and consider meditating to train your brain to handle stressful situations better. Everyone knows you should eat healthy foods, but women especially should be mindful of things such as calcium intake and alcohol consumption. Finally, regular exercise is great, but make sure you are doing it to feel good, not to look a certain way.
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Julie Morris is a life and career coach. She thrives on helping others live their best lives. It’s easy for her to relate to clients who feel out of sorts with life because she’s been there. After years in a successful (but unfulfilling) career in finance, Julie busted out of the corner office that had become her prison. Today, she’s fulfilled by helping busy professionals like herself get the clarity they need to live inspired lives that fill more than just their bank accounts. When Julie isn’t working with clients, she enjoys writing and is currently working on her first book. She also loves spending time outdoors and getting lost in a good book. Visit her site at juliemorris.org.
By Julie Morris
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