When starting a journey toward health there are many things people recommend that you do. It can be hard to know what advice to follow to get you to your results fastest. However, in terms of overall health, losing weight fast or building muscle fast isn’t always best.
While exercising is a big part of your overall health as it reduces your risk of over 25 health issues that require medication, making a lifestyle change requires supplementing exercising with other factors that work along-side exercise to improve your overall health. Follow these steps to ensure you improve your fitness journey in an effective and lasting way.
#1 Drink more water
Drinking water has a plethora of health benefits. Not only does drinking water help keep us alive but also helps improve our level of fitness when coupled with exercise. First and foremost, we need water to stay hydrated while working out. Water helps to keep us hydrated while sweating during our workout. It also helps us to form saliva so that we don’t get uncomfortable dry mouth. Not drinking enough water before a workout can result in a lower level of performance in exercise that lasts longer than 30 minutes.
Drinking plenty of water after a workout helps our bodies to further stay hydrated and keep our muscles from cramping up. Additionally, drinking water before and after a meal aids digestion by helping to carry food throughout our intestines. Not drinking enough water before and after meals can cause constipation and irritability, which ultimately hinders our workouts by making it painful to exercise.
#2 Eat more whole foods
You may hear some people say that health is 80% diet and 20% exercise. This is absolutely true! Your body cannot perform at its highest level without being fed proper nutrients. While there are many different ways to eat for different types of athletes, while starting out on your fitness journey, focus heavily on eating a variety of foods to get the daily value of all the nutrients you need. Eat from a variety of sources such as eating carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, meats, legumes, and dairy. Exercising regularly increases your need for vitamins and minerals.
Since many people are commonly deficient in magnesium, iron, zinc, and vitamins A, C, and E, eating a balanced diet of foods from several food groups not only ensures getting all of your nutrients but also builds more muscle as well as increases your endurance during exercise. Avoid foods that are fried, pre-packaged, and have added sugars. Sticking to eating whole foods highly decreases the likelihood of eating foods that are bad for you. Whole foods include foods that are eaten as they are found in nature.
#3 Get Quality Sleep
Getting enough sleep is crucial in terms of your health. On average, adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. In addition to getting enough sleep, you should be getting quality sleep. Getting quality sleep consists of getting a restful night’s sleep in order to aid brain and body function the next day. It’s important that you get between 4-5 sleep cycles per night in order to have a good level of sleep health.
If you find yourself waking up in the morning not feeling rested, you might not be getting good quality sleep. In order to get better sleep, try taking an hour before bed to unwind. Stop using all technology an hour before bed as blue light affects your melatonin levels and ultimately your ability to get restful sleep. Try making bedtime habits such as reading a few chapters of a book, drinking a relaxing cup of tea, and stretching. Keeping a routine triggers your brain to know that it’s time to relax for the night. Exercise also aids in getting better sleep, therefore the two are linked together in terms of health.
#4 Set Goals
Setting goals is an important part of your fitness journey. By challenging yourself you’re able to add more value to your individual well-being and everyone around you. Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to be constrained to the gym 24/7. There are other ways to maintain a well-rounded healthy lifestyle. Many people choose to take an adventurous vacation, to not only push themselves physically, but also to learn more about a new culture or way of life.
Many vacation destinations require different modes of transportation and invite tourists to participate in various outdoor activities. It’s important to explore these activities and explore more exclusive locations to become more well-traveled. It is frequent to see younger generations running around Europe or tropical areas, but older people don’t need to be intimidated by traveling and exploring at an older age. In this day in age, senior travel has improved greatly and allows seniors to be more confident when traveling even with specific health and age limitations.
Setting goals, whether it be to workout twice a week, meal prep once a month, be more organized, or travel once every three months, setting goals and reaching them helps you to set yourself up to be more successful in sticking to your fitness routine.
Improve Your Fitness Journey!
Sticking to a fitness routine is extremely important to your overall health. It’s recommended that adults get 30+ minutes of exercise each day. In order to improve your results, follow these tips of drinking more water, eating whole foods, getting quality sleep, and setting goals for a more successful fitness journey!
