5 top tips for achieving better health

When it comes to improving your health it can seem overwhelmingly complicated so here are 5 guidelines to keep you on track....

Set your health goal: Your goal must be specific to you, think about what you want your health to be like and aim for that. 12 weeks is a good amount of time to achieve a health goal. Once your goal is set, you will need an action plan on how to get there. For example if your goal was to be able to run 5 kilometres comfortably, then you would need a weekly plan building up you strength and endurance gradually.

Be more active: Find ways to include more, incidental exercise into your daily life, for example walking at lunch, using the stairs, getting up earlier to do exercise, doing activities with friends and family. The key here is keeping it up regularly then you will see the benefits such as improved health, more energy, feeling more alert, improved confidence and feeling great.

Eat well:There is a lot of information and misinformation out there when it comes to what we should eat. It’s time to get back to basics, if it looks like it’s original form then it should be healthy, think about the source and quality of the food rather than worrying about the fat content. The less processed, packaged  and high sugar foods you have the better you will feel. By eating fresh and seasonal foods you will be doing the best for your health.

Sleep Well: A lack of proper sleep leads us to crave unhealthy foods high in sugar and caffeine, this leads to an energy peak and then soon after slump. Foods that will sustain your energy better are quality proteins such as yogurt, nuts and meat. Our bodies need sleep between 10pm and 2am because this is when your body does it's repair and recovery, if you are not getting good sleep between these times you will feel tired and it can have long term health effects. Tiredness can also affect your motivation to exercise however if you do exercise even if you just go for a walk you will feel more energised. To improve your ability to get to sleep at an earlier time you could try some of the following techniques: eat at least 2 hours before bed; stop watching TV or using your computer 1 hour beforehand; dim the lights; read a non work related book; listen to relaxing music, stretch or meditate.

Drink plenty of water: Dehydration can cause you to feel lethargic, give you headaches and affect your concentration. You should drink 0.033ml of water for every kilogram of bodyweight. Plus drink an extra glass for every coffee or tea you have. Our bodies are 75% water and we need it for the function of our nervous system, digestive system, eliminative system, detoxification system and our cells need it to produce energy.