Supporting your physical health...
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Looking after our physical health has so many benefits for our wellbeing, including positively impacting our mental health as well as giving us more energy, boosting our self esteem and confidence and reducing the risk of major illness.
There are a number of lifestyle factors that impact our physical health:
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Diet and Nutrition
The benefits of eating a well balanced diet are wide ranging including giving you the nutrients needed to allow your body to grow and repair, providing the energy needed to keep going throughout the day, maintaining a healthy weight, helping to prevent and reducing the risk of developing illnesses such as some cancers, type 2 diabetes and heart disease and helping us to feel at our best.
Here are some top tips for eating a healthy and balanced diet which can also support with maintaining a healthy weight:
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Eat lots of fruits and vegetables – try to eat at least 5 portions a day.
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Eat more fish, it is recommended we eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be an oily fish (salmon, mackerel, trout, sardine or fresh tuna).
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Cut down on foods high in saturated fat and sugar.
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Try to eat less salt – no more than 6g a day for adults.
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Choose low fat meats such a skinless chicken or turkey, if you include red meat in your diet choose lean cuts and trim off excess fat.
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Eat smaller portions of carbohydrates such as bread, rice and pasta and where possible chose brown or wholemeal options.
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Don’t be mislead by foods that are labelled ‘light’ or ‘low fat’ as these may have less fat in them but are often full of sugar meaning they have more calories in than a full fat alternative.
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Try healthy snacks such as dried fruit or nuts, carrot, pepper or celery sticks,
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Use low fat cooking methods such as grilling or baking versus deep frying or roasting.
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Reduce alcohol consumption - alcohol can be loaded with calories.
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Try to not eat too late in the evening, try to have your dinner early evening and don’t eat after 7.30-8pm.
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Graze – little and often. Try eating five to six mini-meals throughout the day. This method helps keep blood sugar levels stable and energy levels up and staves off your hunger level.
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If you do struggle to maintain a health and balanced diet, consider keeping a food diary for a week, this will give you a good picture of what foods and drinks you consider during the week. At the end of the week go through the diary and think about what changes you can make to eat more healthily.
The British Nutrition Foundation has lots more information on their website with regards to healthy eating.
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Hydration
Water is essential for life and it performs critical roles in our body such as carrying nutrients between major organs, regulating our body temperature and maintaining healthy body functions. On average we take in and excrete around 2 and a half litres per day, though this varies from person to person.
Our hydration levels will fluctuate throughout the day and when our water intake is less than our body's requirements this can lead to dehydration. Some common symptoms of mild dehydration might be headache, increased thirst, dark yellow or brown urine or tiredness.
A loss of 2% or more can reduce our cognitive mental performance. Based on scientific opinion on water intake, women should aim for 2 litres per day and men 2.5 litres per day and ideally with 70-80% from drinks and 20-30% from foods.
The benefits of proper hydration are:
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Reduces high blood pressure
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Combat fatigue
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Stop high cholesterol
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Halt clergies and asthma
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Flush out unwanted bacteria from the bladder and kidneys
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Speed up joint and cartilage repair
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Stop giving unwanted weight
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Slow the ageing process
Here are some top tips for staying hydrated:
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Drink at regular intervals throughout the day.
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Make sure you always have access to water even when you are out and about.
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You may need to drink more water when you are exercising or spending time in hot and dry environments.
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Foods can contribute to your daily water intake such as melon, soups, stews, fruit and vegetables.
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Water is the healthiest way to stay hydrated as ut contains no calories or sugar.
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Staying Active
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The benefits of physical activity are well known and exercise is often referred to as a ‘miracle cure’. There is lots of evidence and research to show how being physically active can lead to a healthier and happier life. From a physical health perspective, being active can reduce your risk of major illness, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.
Being active can also enhance our mental wellbeing, by boosting our self esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy as well as reducing the risk of stress, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Any improvements we can make to being more active will have a positive impact, however ideally adults should aim to be active every day and should achieve 150 minutes of activity in a week. For activity to benefit our health we need to be moving enough that our heart rate increases, we breathe faster and feel warmer.
Many of us struggle to find time to build exercise into our busy lives, but making some small changes each day can help us to become more active and the longer you keep them up the more likely this will become. Part of your daily routine, some ways in which you can do this are:
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Use the stairs instead of the lift
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Do regular walks with friends of family
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Leave the car behind for short journeys
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Park further away from where you are travelling to
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Walk around the room when you are on the phone
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Set an alarm to get up and move about or do some stretches every hour
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Do more gardening
For others, motivation really impacts our ability to get into a habit of being regular active, considering some of the following will help to keep up your motivation levels:
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Get a buddy - exercising with someone else can help as you have someone else to hold you account and you are less likely to let someone else down if you have prearranged to do something.
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Set goals - whatever the goal may be, it is a great motivator to have something to work towards, this could be as simple as just doing 10 minutes exercise every day or signing up for a charity run. However make sure these goals are achievable.
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Reward yourself and celebrate - when you do achieve your goals, celebrate or treat yourself and recognise your achievement.
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Do things you enjoy - you are unlikely to continue with something that you don’t enjoy, so choose activities that you really like and if you aren’t enjoying what you are doing, try something different.
When thinking about building your exercise it is good to try to incorporate a mixture of exercises which include:
Aerobic activity - this burns calories and reduces fat and boosts your heart rate - cycling, running and swimming are all examples of aerobic activity and these can all be built up slowly.
Strength training - this protects against bone loss and builds muscle and involved weight lifting or resistance work such as press ups.
Flexibility - stretching regularly encourages blood flow to muscles improving our functional abilities, exercise such as yoga and pilates can gently reverse the shortening and tightening of muscles associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
*If you do have any pre-existing medical conditions, always seek the advice of a doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
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Sleep
Sleep is essential for our health and wellbeing and is just as important as exercising and eating a balanced diet. When you are sleeping your body is working to support healthy brain function, repairing your heart and blood vessels, maintaining your physical health as well as preparing you for the next day.
There is no normal amount of sleep that is needed and this can vary from person to person and at different stages of our life, however it is suggested that for adult an ideal amount of sleep to get is between 7-9 hours per night.
The benefits of getting a good nights sleep are:
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Better productivity and concentration
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Lower weight gain risk and better calorie regulation
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Lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke
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Preventing depression
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Improving your immune system
Here are some quick tips to improve your sleep:
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Do not use electronic items for at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep as the light that devices emit promote wakefulness.
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Have a bath before going to sleep which can help lower the body temperature which can facilitate deeper sleep.
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Listen to some relaxing music before going to sleep.
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Try some simple breathing exercises when in bed, breathing in through your nose and out though your mouth and make your breaths deep and long.
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Regular exercise can help us to sleep better and get a better quality of sleep.
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Avoid caffeine for at least four hours before going to sleep.
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Get into a routine of going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time.
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If you are worrying about something which is stopping you sleeping, think about getting up, writing down your worries and then getting back into bed.
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Try to have a conducive sleep environment which is not too hot or cold, is dark and is as quiet as possible.
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Smoking and Alcohol Consumption
Stopping smoking can have many health benefits and whilst there is not a best way to stop smoking as it differs from person to person there is lots of support available through local stop smoking services and you are 4 times more likely to quit successfully with expert help and advice.
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Useful websites for more help and information:
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Stopping smoking and local stop smoking services
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smokefree.gov - tools and tips on wanting to quit, having recently quit and staying smoke free.
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The recommended guidance is to not drink more than 14 units each week which is equivalent to 6 pints or lager or 6 medium glasses of wine. Try to have drink free days in the week, use measures when you are pouring a drink at home or try many of the new low alcohol or alcohol free drinks that are increasingly popular.
Useful websites for more help and information:
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