Top 7 Wellness Tips

Written By Maren Rush

1) Get enough sleep –

Yes, we know that the newest season of your favorite show is on and is totally binge worthy, but the havoc that sleep deprivation can wreak on your body can affect your mood, hormones, energy levels, metabolism, and more.

Studies have shown that individuals who sleep less than 6 hours per night were 66% more likely to develop hypertension than those who slept 7 to 8 hours per night. Sleep deprivation has also been shown to slow glucose metabolism and increase appetite, which can lead to obesity and/or the development of metabolic syndrome.

It’s also not a surprise that we don’t think as clearly or have as much energy when we aren’t clocking at least 7 hours of sleep per night. We know it’s not easy, but it’s necessary!

2) Get active –

We’ve all heard it – we should get 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity in each day, at least 5 days a week. For someone who is used to being active, that might not be much, but if you’re just starting out, 150-300 minutes of physical activity per week can seem daunting.

Our advice is to start small – take a 10-minute walk during your lunch break, try new yoga poses, or park your car farther away from your destination, just to get started. The fastest way to ruin a healthy habit is to go too hard, too fast, so you end up dropping the habit altogether.

In addition to starting small, don’t be afraid to try new things! It doesn’t matter that your friend loves Orangetheory or your brother can’t get enough of his Peloton. If you don’t like it, you won’t continue to do it. Trying everything can include walking, lifting weights, Pilates, spinning, skiing, yoga, HIIT training, and so much more.

Physical activity is important to boost energy, increase metabolism, prevent cardiovascular disease, improve mood, prevent osteoporosis, decrease the incidence of cancer, and more.

3) Eat real food –

Life these days has our calendars jammed packed with work, activities, and social commitments. Does anyone really have time to sit down and eat a real meal?

While it may be tempting to go through the closest fast-food joint for lunch or have Door Dash deliver something easy before your son’s baseball game, it is not the best way to fuel your body. Sure, the occasional lunch or dinner out is not going to hurt anything, but food plays such a huge role in how our body feels and behaves, so we should treat it accordingly.

Tips for healthy eating:

  • Create a weekly meal plan and grocery shop according to the plan. You are less likely to eat out when your refrigerator is fully stocked. *Pro tip – do an online grocery order to prevent impulse grocery purchases

  • Double your recipes so you can have leftovers to take on-the-go throughout the week

  • Carry healthy emergency snacks with you to tide you over in an emergency (i.e., nuts, beef jerky, or a healthy energy bar)

  • Minimize the amount of processed food you consume. Nutrients from food come from fresh food, so prioritizing the quality of what you eat is important.

4) Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate –

By the time you feel thirsty, your body is already experiencing mild symptoms of dehydration. In order to stay hydrated, a good rule of thumb is to drink half of your body weight in ounces per day. You may need to take in more water if you are losing water through sweat from working out, sauna use, being in the sun, etc.

Even mild dehydration can have an effect on the way you feel. If you’re battling fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches, dizziness, or brain fog, make sure you are adequately hydrating to help combat these symptoms.

5) Get some sun –

Studies show that 15 minutes of sunscreen-free sun exposure per day (between the hours of 10am and 3pm) can have a significant effect on serum Vitamin D levels. Low serum Vitamin D levels have been associated with an increased risk for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s, asthma, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, and even death.

Why not just supplement with oral Vitamin D? When taken orally, excessive doses of Vitamin D carry the risk of toxicity. Vitamin D synthesis from the sun, however, does not carry that same risk. The sun is also free, available to everyone, and promotes feelings of well-being.

6) Manage stress –

Why is managing stress so much easier said than done? We all know that stress has a negative effect on your mind and body, so let’s focus on talking about easy ways to manage stress.

  • get adequate sleep

  • eat healthy, nutrient-rich foods

  • engage in daily physical activity

  • schedule time for self-care, i.e., massage, lunch with friends, group exercise class, reading a book, etc)

7) Engage in alternative health treatments –

When focusing on wellness, we have to concentrate on the things that keep us well. What are some other things to incorporate into a healthy lifestyle to maintain feeling your best?

  • IV therapy – designed to deliver fluids and nutrients directly to the bloodstream for a quick boost of energy and relief of unwanted symptoms.

  • Cryotherapy – can be delivered as a whole-body treatment or localized to a specific area and is designed to reduce pain and inflammation, improve mood, and boost metabolism.

  • Dry brushing – using a soft bristle brush over bare, dry skin can deliver a multitude of benefits such as improved circulation, increased lymphatic drainage, and improvement in stress.

  • Massage – provides relaxation, relieves pain, and produces hormones essential for feeling your best

Sources:

Mullington, J. M., Haack, M., Toth, M., Serrador, J. M., & Meier-Ewert, H. K. (2009). Cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 51(4), 294–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2008.10.003

Yang Y. J. (2019). An Overview of Current Physical Activity Recommendations in Primary Care. Korean journal of family medicine, 40(3), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.19.0038

Alfredsson, L., Armstrong, B. K., Butterfield, D. A., Chowdhury, R., de Gruijl, F. R., Feelisch, M., Garland, C. F., Hart, P. H., Hoel, D. G., Jacobsen, R., Lindqvist, P. G., Llewellyn, D. J., Tiemeier, H., Weller, R. B., & Young, A. R. (2020). Insufficient Sun Exposure Has Become a Real Public Health Problem. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(14), 5014. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145014

Robyn M. Lucas, Anne-Louise Ponsonby, Considering the potential benefits as well as adverse effects of sun exposure: Can all the potential benefits be provided by oral vitamin D supplementation?, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Volume 92, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 140-149, ISSN 0079-6107,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2006.02.019.

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610706000058)

Rymaszewska, J., Lion, K. M., Pawlik-Sobecka, L., Pawłowski, T., Szcześniak, D., Trypka, E., Rymaszewska, J. E., Zabłocka, A., & Stanczykiewicz, B. (2020). Efficacy of the Whole-Body Cryotherapy as Add-on Therapy to Pharmacological Treatment of Depression-A Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers in psychiatry, 11, 522. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00522

Garcia, C., Karri, J., Zacharias, N. A., & Abd-Elsayed, A. (2021). Use of Cryotherapy for Managing Chronic Pain: An Evidence-Based Narrative. Pain and therapy, 10(1), 81–100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40122-020-00225-w

Practice, W. F. (2018, July 24). The Health Benefits of Dry Brushing. Integrative Medicine & Total Wellness | Wiseman Family Practice. https://www.wisemanfamilypractice.com/health-benefits-dry-brushing/

Maren Rush https://mrdcreativeagency.com/
Previous

Benefits of High-Dose Vitamin C for Wellness
Next

Why IV Therapy?