The adverts for healthy living never seem to apply to the everyday person. These promotional images seem to assume that we all have time to spend ten hours a day in a gym or the money to afford ridiculously expensive organic foods for every single meal. These health companies just don’t seem to be geared towards the average person, and that’s often what puts so many people off the “healthy living” route. We’re all busy people. You might have work worries, school worries, family worries, or even personal worries which occupy the majority of your day and leave no time to worry about silly, unimportant things such as… the health of your body.

Obviously, you can see where I’m going with this. The health of your body and mind are both of paramount importance, and you don’t need anyone to tell you that. However, what society doesn’t tell us is that we’d be much better prepared to cope with the stresses of day-to-day life if we just gave ourselves more time to look after our physical health. You’d have more energy, concentration, and a far better mood to handle whatever the world could throw at you if you looked after yourself better. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming, either. Here are some easy ways to incorporate healthy living into your everyday routine.

Exercise.

Everybody hates that word, but you needn’t feel such a strong hatred for it. Exercise doesn’t have to mean grueling gym workouts, marathons, or other time-consuming and body-destroying activities. It can mean that if you have tall aspirations and you fancy gearing your entire life around hardcore fitness workouts, but it doesn’t have to. In fact, all any of us need to do is stay active. That could mean watching a fitness video before your breakfast or before your work day; it could mean taking regular breaks during your work day to walk around the office or using your lunch break to go for a quick jog along the sidewalk near your office building.

The key is to stay active, and that means doing more than walking to your car each morning. Exercise just requires you to get your heart moving. Try to aim for 10,000 steps a day. It sounds like a lot, but it’s far less than you think when you make it a challenge to incorporate walking into your day as much as possible. You could get an app to monitor your progress, as that might help keep you on track. A couple hours of walking a day is a great way to incorporate exercise into a busy lifestyle. The occasional jog, and some strength training here and there wouldn’t go amiss either. You could set aside a little time at the weekends to jog through your local valley (perhaps with family or friends if you all fancy giving the healthy lifestyle a shot). You could even squeeze a set of press ups into your morning routine. There’s more time in the day than you think if you utilize it well.

Sleep.

Getting enough sleep should be at the top of your priority list when it comes to healthy living. So many people don’t get enough sleep, and there’s always a justifiable reason either in your head or in terms of what you say to other people. You have a busy working life, you have an overactive mind, or you have children to look after. There’s always a reason in our minds as to why we’re not sleeping enough, and this is perpetuated by a society which tells us that we need to be awake and alert constantly. There’s no time for sleep because we’re all busy people and there’s always so much to do. Ironically, you’d find that you were able to get far more done throughout the day if you slept more; your mind would be more alert and your body would be more energetic. It’s strange that we’ve ended up telling ourselves that there’s no time for sleep in the modern lifestyle, but the opposite should be true; our demanding lifestyles demand more sleep than ever.

In fact, you rely on your bed, as well self-imposing a better bedtime schedule, when it comes to healthier sleeping patterns. Sleeping is about physically resting your body as well as resting your mind. This is the part of the day during which your entire body needs to recover its energy. You could get Saatva information here if you wanted a place to begin when browsing for a new mattress because many of us are guilty of using old ones which do our bodies no favors. Throwing out an old mattress every seven years isn’t just done for the sake of having a cozy, comfortable night’s sleep; it’s about the health of your body on a physical level. You rely on a mattress for support. This doesn’t just ensure you get your eight hours of sleep every night but that you’re don’t damage yourself by lying in unsupportive positions for hours at a time and ending up with long-term aches and pains as you age. Sleeping well is about keeping your mind and body healthy and alert throughout the day. It’s about sleeping in a supportive manner as well as getting enough sleep in terms of hours.

Diet.

Eating well is obviously a huge part of healthy living. If you want to lose weight or simply look after your heart then rethinking your diet is a great place to start. It’s not about cutting out anything delicious from your diet; it’s all about moderation, balance, and consistency. Your diet needs to be a permanent and continuous thing; you can’t cut out bad foods for a week and then bounce back to them. That’s why, if you find the balance, you’ll be far happier. Eat a variety of foods (vegetables, fruits, protein-containing foods, etc), and ensure you’re getting all the nutrients and vitamins you need. Then, maybe once a day or a few times a week, treat yourself to a few biscuits or a chocolate bar after your lunch. Don’t deny yourself good food; just think about what you’re eating and how much of it you’re eating. Moderation is important.

Mind.

When it comes to healthy living, the mind is at the center of it all. Give yourself breaks throughout the day to recover; meditate, and focus on your breathing or shoving all worrisome thoughts out of your head. Just focus on your physical self because there’s a strong connection between your body and the mind. The two rely on one another. The health of your physical body helps the health of your mind, so it’s important that you look after yourself in all manner of ways; don’t neglect exercise, but don’t neglect mindfulness either.