Embrace and apply these tips to stay healthy amidst a busy schedule.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential for good health and effective work productivity. Here are 7 tips to help you easily stay healthy amidst a busy life:
1. Prioritize Sleep
Sleep allows your body and brain to recover at night. A good night’s sleep ensures you feel refreshed and alert when you wake up in the morning. Lack of sleep not only leaves you feeling fatigued but can also increase the risk of various illnesses and health issues such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. Sleep deprivation is also a threat to your physical safety.
Insufficient sleep can impact insulin management, raising the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and negatively affecting glucose control in those already diagnosed with diabetes. Additionally, sleep deprivation affects the immune system, making the body less effective in responding to viruses and other infections. Prolonged lack of sleep can lead to chronic low-level inflammation in the body, contributing to various chronic health conditions.
Sleep deprivation can impair your ability to remember important details. Thus, sleep is also crucial for memory consolidation, improving concentration during work and study, creativity, and learning new skills. Mood is also affected by sleep, with sleep deficiency increasing the risk of mental health issues such as depression and impacting work performance.
Quality sleep will help you be healthier. (Image: Internet).
Sleep needs change with age. Infants and young children require about 15-17 hours each night, while teenagers may need 8-10 hours. Adults aged 18 to 64 generally need 7-9 hours of sleep, and after 65, the sleep duration decreases to 7-8 hours.
If you are too busy, you can take short naps during the day and don’t forget to practice good sleep hygiene to make falling asleep easier.
Sleep hygiene is a general term for activities and behaviors that affect the quality and duration of sleep. This includes pre-sleep routines, diet, physical activity, and other aspects of daily life. Key factors for good sleep hygiene include maintaining a regular sleep schedule, prioritizing sleep, limiting naps so they don’t affect nighttime sleep, creating a comfortable sleeping environment, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
If you experience long-term sleep problems, consider scheduling an appointment with a doctor for sleep health advice and sleep hygiene guidance, or if necessary, undergo tests to assess sleep disorders.
2. Keep Track of Health Metrics and Vaccination Schedule
In the 4.0 era, you can easily manage your health records anywhere at any time, including your vaccination schedule. Recording unusual health changes can significantly assist doctors in diagnosing your conditions.
Set reminders for your vaccination schedule to ensure you don’t miss any booster shots. Staying fully vaccinated helps protect yourself and the community from the risks of illness and reduces the burden on the healthcare system.
3. Stay Hydrated
No matter how busy you are, it’s essential to drink enough water each day. If it’s challenging to remember to drink water, consider using reminder apps or alarms to track your daily water intake and avoid dehydration.
Drink enough water every day. (Image: Internet).
According to Harvard Health, staying hydrated is crucial for many reasons: regulating body temperature, keeping joints lubricated, preventing infections, providing nutrients to cells, and keeping organs functioning properly. Adequate hydration also improves sleep quality, cognitive function, and mood.
You can drink plain water, fruit juices, sports drinks, broth, etc., depending on your needs and preferences, as long as you consume enough water that matches your physical condition and activity level.
4. Plan Healthy Meals
When you’re busy, eating a nutritious meal on time can seem challenging. If possible, plan your healthy meals in advance, even preparing ingredients ahead of time to save on prep time. Remember, don’t skip meals, especially breakfast. Skipping breakfast can reduce your productivity as it leads to fatigue, sluggishness, and increased stress.
You can also prepare various healthy snacks to prevent cravings for junk food when you need an energy boost, such as protein bars and nuts.
There are many apps that can help you plan healthy meals with suitable menu suggestions based on your health or assist you in choosing delivery services or grocery shopping. Eating out frequently not only makes it hard to control food safety but also makes it challenging to manage calorie intake.
You should plan healthy meals, even preparing ingredients in advance. (Image: Internet).
5. Five Minutes of Mindfulness Each Day
According to the NIH, studies show that focusing on the present can have positive impacts on health and happiness. Mindfulness-based therapies have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression. There is also evidence suggesting that mindfulness can lower blood pressure and improve sleep.
It may sound counterintuitive when you’re very busy, but mindfulness doesn’t actually take as much time as you think. A meditation session can last just 5 minutes with soothing sounds around you to effectively manage stress. The key is to genuinely focus and relax your mind during mindfulness practice.
6. Stay Connected with Nature
Office workers often tend to stay glued to their seats until quitting time, particularly on busy days. You can take 10 minutes during your lunch break to take a walk outside, get some sunlight, breathe fresh air, and step away from the computer screen to boost your spirits and relieve stress.
7. Try to Wake Up Early to Exercise
If you’re busy, try to wake up early to exercise. Morning workouts not only help lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and alleviate anxiety symptoms but also enhance cognitive function by stimulating brain activity. It boosts alertness and concentration, increasing your productivity throughout the day.
To maintain your workout routine, consider inviting a group of friends to exercise together, which can be more enjoyable.
In addition to these tips for staying healthy while busy, you should also learn stress management techniques, occasionally treat yourself to something you enjoy, and prioritize tasks to avoid feeling overwhelmed and missing any assignments.
