Here are TWENTY things to do now to improve your health.
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1. Go for a brisk walk. Brisk means that the pace is quick, you’re somewhat breathless, and it’s not easy to have a conversation with your exercise partner.
2. Get a fitness tracker. It’s a good way to create accountability. Also, if you get one with a chest strap it gives you a more accurate reading of the heart rate, both during movement and rest.
3. Know your resting heart rate.
4. Improve your posture. A well-aligned skeletal system will degenerate more slowly than a poorly aligned one.
5. Exercise most days of the week to improve memory, both episodic memory and spatial memory. Recent research suggests that moderate intensity exercise improves memory as it relates to activities associated with remembering daily details (episodic). Whereas more intense exercise, like HIIT (high intensity interval training) or running, helps improve your memory around finding out where you put your glasses (spatial).
6. Create a weekly date-night for exercise. Sharing a workout with your best friend or a romantic partner is a great way to spend time with someone you love, especially if quality time is a love language for you.
7. Check out the health of your exercise shoes. A good shoe should be flexible and have lots of “give” over the foot. If your shoes feel like corsets consider them coffins. Good foot health involves mobility around the ankle, the arch, and the toes.
8. Go ahead and begin your fitness program now. Who says you can’t start something in the month of December. The gym is often less crowded and making an appointment with a trainer is certainly easier if you get ahead of the January crowds.
9. Learn to do a plank.
10. Start a walking or hiking group. Text everyone the night before to encourage attendance. Having a group promotes community, dedication, and fun.
11. Put firm dates for your exercise on the calendar. Consider the dates sacred and don’t cancel on yourself.
12. Practice balancing on one foot each day. Take off your shoes, engage your belly, then lift one foot one inch off the floor. Don’t cheat by putting this foot on the other leg. See if you can stay steady without touching down. Count-up the seconds on each foot. Set a goal of 30 seconds for each.
13. Get a thorough fitness assessment from a trainer or trusted fitness professional. An assessment is necessary to determine specific, measurable, and attainable fitness goals.
14. For one week, keep a food diary. Record what you’re eating at each meal. Record what you’re eating for snacks. Write down everything, including drinks, not changing what you eat but simply noticing what you eat. Be specific. Be precise. After one week of recording and observing, you’ll have a better idea of your current dietary habits, and if you feel you need to make any changes to your diet, you’ll certainly have a more informed concept.
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16. Get good sleep. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.
17. Lift weights twice a week. Just give it a try. You’ll probably really like it.
18. Discover what types of movement you like to do, and then do them as much as you like. Movement is essential to maintaining good posture, strong muscles, balance, and overall health.
19. Consider the mental health benefits of a regular exercise program.
20. Go barefoot. Get out of your shoes at least once a day and place your feet against the floor to increase proprioception. Proprioception which is the ability to know where you are in space.