5 Essentials For Better Health in 2013

Question: What are the most important things I can do for better health in 2013?

Answer: The 5 Essentials, of course!

Health only comes from healthy habits practiced every day. Among the healthiest habits you can cultivate are sleeping well, eating well, enjoying your mobility, reducing stress and remaining clearly focused on your purpose in life.

Sleep

An Irish proverb says you can’t heal if you can’t sleep! Your body repairs itself while you sleep. Your hormones balance themselves while you sleep. Your mind integrates new information with old while you sleep. Even your emotions harmonize during sleep, primarily during your cycles of dreaming.

Humans are diurnal animals – awake during the day, asleep during the night. We need between 7 ½ and 9 hours of peaceful sleep every night. Our room should be cool, dark, quiet and comfortable. We should awaken feeling rested, energetic, optimistic and hungry!

Eat

Speaking of being hungry, food should be a source of joy, not an obsession. We do best when the foods in our diet are predominately plant-based. The more colorful and flavorful the foods are, the better they are for our health.

 

Select a variety of fruits and vegetables. The average size adult should consume between 7 and 9 servings daily. Chew well. Whenever possible, eat your meals with people you love!

Play


I have come to the conclusion that the English language doesn’t contain the right words to emphasize the importance of daily activity. Exercise doesn’t work – that sounds more like a punishment than the meaningful movement for which we were designed. I like the word “play,” but I have to say I am in the minority among my peers when I use it to describe our daily need for activity.

However we choose to describe it, we need to move. We were designed to move. The entire history of humanity up until this generation is a history of movement. The more we move, the more we are able to move and the more we will want to move.

Exercise (what a bad word!) should be a source of joy, not a punishment. We should find a way to play daily for optimum health.

Happy hour

We need a time to unwind every day. Our 24/7/365 lifestyle is killing us. More important, stress makes us miserable and it also makes us miserable company. Find time – make time – to relax and unwind every day, preferably with people you love!

Purpose

Interestingly, people without purpose are among the sickest in the world. Conversely, purpose demands of us that we take care of ourselves. Purpose makes us healthy; it is our reason for being healthy.

Purpose is not defined as what you do. Rather, it is defined as who you are while you are doing what you do.  It is as unique to you as your fingerprint and it would still be relevant to you as an individual if you were born a thousand years ago or a thousand years in the future. Purpose is not defined by circumstance, gender, location or occupation. It is the simple, timeless truth about who you are. People who discover their purpose have the greatest opportunity for health!

Remember, health only comes from healthy habits practiced daily. These habits are bound up in these 5 Essentials for Better Health. Supply yourself with the nutrients and nurturing you need and optimum health will be the outcome!

What About You?

How can you apply these 5 essentials for better health to your life this year?