5 Healthy lifestyle habits that make a difference

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5 Healthy Lifestyle habits can make a difference to you life expectancy. At refresh YOU our My Method approach will help you develop lasting and life-changing lifestyle habits. It is our way of making sure we move forward one step at a time – Life is not a sprint; it is a marathon. The first 2 steps we want you to follow are

  1. RE-SET – we focus on building lifestyle habits.
  2. RE-BUILD – we concentrate on reinforcing these Habits.

3 REASON WHY HEALTHY HABITS ARE IMPORTANT?

  1. Exercise Classes with us are only a small part of your week. If you train 3 times a week for 1 hour this represents 1.78% of the week. This is what that looks like

That is like fitting a working week into 42 minutes. What chance do you have of getting everything done with that level of commitment?

  1. Healthy Lifestyle habits can help prevent chronic disease and long term illnesses.
  2. Feeling good about your health is great for your self esteem and self image.

TRAINING WHEN YOU AREN’T AT CLASS

To achieve life-changing results we need to make better use of the other 98% of the week. Turn your life into a workout.

“Training” when you are not at a class (healthy Lifestyle Habits) need to be an important contributor to the health and fitness outcomes you achieve.

I hope having described things in this way I can answer the first question most people are likely to ask.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DO LIFESTYLE HABITS MAKE?

Appetite whetted for more, I will share with you some findings from a 2018 Harvard J.H. Chan School of public health survey. If you want to read the study here it is Healthy Lifestyle.

Or you can judge whether you think lifestyle changes are worth it, here are the numbers

  • Female – 14-year increase in life expectancy
  • Male – 12-year increase in life expectancy

Those numbers are definitely worth making a change for, don’t you agree?

What is unique with this study is it involved tracking 120,000 participants over 34 years (a large study of a long period). This was an America study, but Australia’s health stats are heading in the same direction. As a result it makes it particularly relevant result.

5 HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABIT’S WHICH WORK?

  1. HEALTHY DIET – eat the correct balance between whole foods and processed foods. Include lots of fruit and vegetables, avoid unhealthy fats, high sodium and processed foods.

  1. HEALTHY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL – a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity daily. This can be a mix of exercise classes, or activities like swimming, walking, running. It is important you maintain a regular routine of physical activity.

  2. HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT – this was defined as a normal body mass index (BMI) 18.9 to 24.9. This makes the first 2 healthy habit very important.

4. NO SMOKING – if you have never smoked, great. But if you no longer smoke it will still have a positive effect.

  1. MODERATE ALCOHOL INTAKE – for Women that 5 to 15 grams per day and 5 to 30 grams per day for men. As an actual drink here are a couple of examples.

Beer 5% – 350 ml

Wine 14% – 150 ml

Spirit 40% – 44 ml

If you are looking at this list and thinking “there is no way I can do all those”, I have some more positive news. The research found you will still benefit from doing some of them. They estimated if you did only 1 habit you will extend your life expectancy by 2 years.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE REFRESH YOU APPROACH?

When you join us at refresh YOU we will ask you to start trying to form healthy habits.

  • We have 11 healthy lifestyle habits we ask you to pick from. We know these will help you make the most of the 98% of the week you are not in classes.
  • Two of these relate to SLEEP and take care of 29% of the week, so that is an easy start.
  • We then have another 7 habits which will help you make better use of 69% of the week.
  • Three which relate to you achieving a HEALTHY DIET
  • Three which relate to you maintaining a HEALTHY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL.
  • One which relates to ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

With the healthy lifestyle habit defined in the Harvard Study, having a go at some of the following can make a real difference. Do not worry if one week you manage 10000 steps each day and all your classes. Then, the next week you are on top of eating a healthy diet, but not quite there with the activity. If you maintain at least one of them then you are grabbing two more years of life as a minimum.

10 HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS WE RECOMMEND

  1. Try 7 hours of sleep each day without fail
  2. Reduce your blue light exposure after 7 pm so you sleep better
  3. Regular exercise classes
  4. Set yourself a step target each day; the aim is for at least a regular 10000
  5. Walk up and down stairs instead of taking the lift
  6. Eat the rainbow, vegetables, and fruit
  7. Reduce your sugar intake, learn to select the right foods.
  8. Reduce your alcohol intake by drinking only on the weekends.
  9. Learn to read food labels and understand what you are consuming.
  10. Snack and meal prep so you are able to make a good food choice.

Give them a go, they will make a difference. Even better if you have struggled to maintain a consistent exercise habit try a MINI REFRESH now! 7 days to try classes on the timetable at your local venue and start the best habit of them all.

Richard Hallett – refreshYOU Pymble