Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can feel like an onerous endeavor that does not fit into the realities of daily life. Holding down a full-time job, eating healthy, training for a marathon, making homemade green juice, spending quality time with your family/partner, and meditating for an hour each day might be challenging.
Of course, a healthy life can include all of these elements (if desired), but it is not defined by spectacular demonstrations of health and athleticism.
So much of healthy living is made up of simple things we do on a daily basis—things that seem insignificant at first, but when done consistently over time, add up to great results.
31 wellness recommendations for a healthy and happy life.
Here are 31 recommendations for living a healthier, happier lifestyle that are simple and easy to adopt into your daily life:
- Drink one glass of water first thing in the morning:
Coffee is also fantastic, but it’s preferable to start your day with a full glass of water to rehydrate. Hydrating first thing in the morning aids digestion, promotes skin health, and increases energy.
- Take the stairs.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is an easy approach to increase your daily physical exercise. It also helps to build and tone your legs and core!
- Make half of your platter vegetables.
A simple hack for healthy eating (and portion control) is to make half of your plate vegetables at each meal. The vegetables include necessary vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that are beneficial to one’s health and lifespan. Furthermore, because they are high in fiber, they improve digestion (i.e. keep you regular!) and keep you feeling full for longer.
- Purchase a fitness tracker and track your steps:
Using a fitness tracker (such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch) to track your steps is a simple approach to ensure that you receive enough physical exercise every day. We aim for 10,000 steps every day, which has numerous physical and mental health benefits. A fitness tracker will also remind you to do 250 steps every hour (another crucial health metric—see tip #9). Here are our top fitness tracker smartwatches for 2021.
- Switch to non-toxic household cleaning products.
Conventional household cleaning products include hazardous chemical elements that are bad for our health (or the health of our children and pets!). Switching to healthier alternatives is an easy approach to limit your exposure to environmental contaminants in your home. For a comprehensive list of recommendations and what to look for when selecting safer household cleaning products, consult our Healthy Cleaning Guide.
- Use non-toxic skincare and personal care products.
Conventional skincare and personal care products, like cleaning products, are made with hazardous substances that should not be absorbed into our body’s main organs. Switch to non-toxic personal care and beauty items to reduce your body’s harmful burden.
- Take a probiotic every day.
Maintaining a healthy gut has a big impact on digestion, skin health, immunity, mental health, and more. Taking a probiotic with a glass of water every morning is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your gut health (which also benefits your overall health in many ways). Learn more about the health benefits of probiotics (and how to incorporate them into your diet), and shop our favorite probiotic supplement here.
- Eat actual food.
Aim to eat real cuisine created from natural foods that you’d find in your own kitchen pantry or that your grandmother would recognize. (Yes, this excludes most packaged foods, sorry!) This is not the same as saying you should only eat “health foods” (many of which are increasingly processed!). “Real food” comprises both unprocessed items like an apple, a cucumber, soybeans, or a steak, as well as foods that are loosely processed from one (or a few) real-food elements, such as butter, olive oil, yogurt, tofu, etc. In other words, choose foods that can be reasonably prepared in your own kitchen and avoid those that can only be produced in a laboratory.
- Get up every 30 minutes while working:
Reduce the negative effects of sitting (such as at a desk job) by standing up and moving around for a minute or two every half hour.
- Get some sunlight every day.
Vitamin D is one of the most important elements for overall health, and sunlight is an excellent source of it. Aim for at least 30 minutes of sunlight every day, especially in the afternoon and without sunscreen (learn more here). Is there little sunlight where you live during the winter? It may be beneficial to take a vitamin D supplement and/or eat foods rich in this crucial component.
- Fill your home with houseplants.
Houseplants help to clean your interior air (unfortunately, it definitely needs it!), they’re attractive, and studies show they increase mood, creativity, and problem solving!
- Sweat every day.
Aim to sweat in some way every day, whether it’s through jogging, biking, dancing, hot yoga, or any other physical activity you enjoy. For more workout ideas, as well as tips and methods for incorporating regular physical activity into your everyday life, visit our Fitness Guide. You can also download a fitness planner to construct your own individual fitness plan and keep on track.
- Consume a daily green smoothie:
Green smoothies as a snack or a quick on-the-go breakfast are an easy way to get your greens in every day. Check out our curated selection of healthy (veggie-packed!) smoothie recipes for our top beginner green smoothie recipe suggestions.
- Work hard and be kind:
Enough said!
- Develop an optimistic mindset:
“The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude.” It’s true: mentality is everything! Develop a positive attitude by identifying negative thought patterns and replacing them with positive thoughts or affirmations. Here are other mental resources for positive thinking.
- Get sufficient sleep:
Most adults require 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. However, in addition to quantity, sleep quality is as important! Follow this advice for getting a good night’s sleep, such as keeping your bedroom chilly at night and avoiding blue light after dark.
- Begin the day with a healthy morning routine:
Begin each day with gratifying activities that set the tone for how you want to feel—inspired, calm, productive, or otherwise. Check out our list of healthy morning routine suggestions to help you start your day off right!
- Eat a rainbow:
Aim to consume every color of the rainbow every day. (Natural colors only; no Skittles! To keep track, download our free Eat the Rainbow daily and weekly trackers, which are fillable and printable.
- Floss your teeth:
Floss your teeth every day to maintain healthy dental and overall health. Daily flossing not only protects your teeth and gums but also promotes immunity and heart health.
- Spend time alone:
Regular alone time helps you get to know and keep in touch with yourself (we’re all always evolving and changing!). Alone time provides an opportunity to assess how you’re doing and what you desire, allowing you to live your most intentional life. Some people love hiking, going for a walk or run, meditating, or even sunbathing as a healthy way to spend alone time.
- Do what you enjoy:
Doing things you enjoy every day is an important aspect of healthy living that is frequently forgotten! Set aside time each day to perform activities you enjoy, such as exercising, baking, creating, reading a book, or watching television.
- Select organic foods whenever possible:
There are several health, environmental, and social benefits to choosing organic foods, so we’ll allow the more extensive piece mentioned to do the talking and simply encourage you to eat organic whenever feasible. They benefit your health, the environment, and the farmworkers who produce your food.
- A spoonful of apple cider vinegar will keep the doctor away:
Apple cider vinegar has a wide range of uses. A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar mixed with a glass of water aids digestion relieves bloating, boosts immunity, regulates blood sugar levels, and other benefits. We recommend using organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar.
- Smile frequently.
Smiling improves your physical and mental health (true!), so find ways to smile as much as possible during the day.
- Focus on overcoming your fears.
Fear holds us back from enjoying our best lives. Recognize your fears and take action to conquer them. (Overcoming your fear of public speaking, for example, can lead to new opportunities in your job and personal life.)
- Use a yoga ball as a desk chair.
Using a yoga ball as a desk chair will save your back, shoulders, and neck while also strengthening your core.
- Managing stress with self-care activities:
Chronic stress is bad for your physical and emotional health. Learn about your stress triggers (things that cause you tension, either immediately or over time) and stress releases (things that can help calm you down when you’re anxious) so you can cope with stress and stay healthy.
- Intermittent fasting can help with weight loss:
We’re not big on dieting (restrictions are not pleasant!), but intermittent fasting is more of an eating pattern than a diet. It offers several major health benefits, including reduced inflammation and increased longevity, as well as the ability to speed up metabolism and encourage weight loss.
- After each alcoholic beverage, drink a glass of water:
No, we are not going to tell you to avoid drinking (but you are welcome to do so!). Consuming alcohol in moderation can be part of a “healthy” lifestyle if done responsibly. A glass of water after each alcoholic beverage helps to eliminate the alcohol from your body, slows down your alcohol consumption, and keeps you hydrated.
- Be grateful:
Every day, practice gratitude—whether when you wake up, before you go to bed, or during your lunch break at work. Here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate more thankfulness into your everyday life, as well as a list of the physical and mental health benefits of practicing appreciation on a regular basis.
- A walk around the block is preferable to no walk at all:
When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, doing something small is preferable to doing nothing at all. If you want to go for a stroll but don’t have time for an hour-long walk, take a quick walk around the block. A 5-minute walk beats no walk at all!