HEALTHY HABITS: 10 daily habits that changed my life

HEALTHY HABITS: 10 daily habits that changed my life 

Good daily habits can make such a bigdifference to your overall health and your life. In this video I'm going to share 10daily habits that have changed my life in many different ways. If you'reinterested keep watching. Hello hello! Welcome back to the whole happy life. Myname is Ria and I'm a holistic nutritionist with a food engineeringbackground. For today's video we're going to talk about 10 daily habits that havemade a really big difference to my life in different areas such as physicalhealth, emotional health and brain health. Before we dive in I wanted to say a fewthings so you know the context. The first thing is these daily habits have beenthe result of gradual habit forming over the last five years- it's not somethingthat happened overnight.

 It is difficult to form habits and it does take time. Thesecond thing  - although these habits are daily habits I don't put pressure onmyself to do them every day especially when things get too busy or things aretoo overwhelming. Sometimes things slide a little and that's okay. When you'remaking lifestyle changes it's not about perfection it's about doing what you canand generally I do try to do these habits at least three to five times aweek IN the times that I'm really stressed out because I feel that they dohelp me stay on track and they do help reduce stress. Anyway enough with theintroduction let's get into the habits. The first daily habit is that I drink aglass of water as soon as I get up. 

Well not as soon as I get up  -I brush my teeth,I go to the bathroom and then I have a glass of water. I find that this has madea big difference to energy levels in the morning. When we're sleeping we're nottaking it any water and when we wake up we can be mildly dehydrated and whenwe're dehydrated our fatigue levels go up. There is some science behind this -I'll put it in the description box. 

So a good thing to do is start your morningby getting enough hydration. I drink a glass of filtered water. If I feel likeit, I'll add some lemon to it I don't always do that and it's usually at roomtemperature but if you like warm water that can work too. It really is aboutpersonal preference but drinking some water in the morning is a great thing todo for your energy levels. Number two I meditate for 10 minutes every day.I used to be very skeptical about meditation when I first started. I didn'treally believe in it I didn't think that there was science behind it but there isactually quite a bit of science. It can do things like reduce anxiety, it canhelp you improve your immune function, it can help reduce pain. 

There's a lot thatit can do I have a few links in the description box but for me the biggestchange is mental clarity and I feel much more calm. I am not naturally a calmperson I may appear calm on YouTube but I am not naturally a calm person.Meditation  - years of meditation has gotten me to this point and I really dothink that there are a lot of benefits to trying it out. Now if you're abeginner, meditation can seem very daunting and I have two tips to provide.So the first one is try to just be very open about meditation in the beginning.The first 10 to 15 sessions for me were very difficult. I didn't know what I wasdoing and I felt overwhelmed and I felt like I was doing it the wrong way. Itwasn't until the 15th or 16th session that I really got into it and I startedto see the benefit. So give it time. The second thing is if you are starting outtry guided meditation versus meditation where you're just doing it on your own.Guided meditation can really help you stay on track and can really guide youthrough the process.

 I use an app called Calm - I highly recommend it. I love it.There is also another app called Headspace which you could try out. Numberthree I go for a brisk walk outdoors every day. Now I have to say that I livein Canada so a brisk walk outdoors every day does not happen year-round! Itdoesn't happen in the winter but for the rest of the year I do try to get outsidebecause I find it's such a mood booster to get some fresh air.. to get somesunlight and to be out in the greenery and there are studies that show thatexposure to greenery is good for your health. As usual, everything's in thedescription box. 

Now for me the brisk walk is not just a mood booster -  it'salso the way I get exercise. I am NOT a gym person I have never been in gymperson I just don't enjoy it who knows who the people who enjoy the gym I wouldlove to do that but I just can't I don't like it so for me getting exercise hasto be something that's part of my lifestyle and I love going up thewalk so I started to make my walks my exercise now the World HealthOrganization recommends that we get about 150 minutes of moderatecardiovascular activity week or 75 minutes of cardiovascular activity awalk can count if your heart rate is high enough so when I'm walking I testmy heart rate I have an app on my phone samsung health is the app that I use andmy heart rates usually between the moderate and thicker zone so my walkactually counts as a workout it counts as water and activity so that's how Iget my 150 minutes of exercise per week through my walk number four in additionto the walk ayuh exercise so the walk is great for cardiovascular activity ifyou're doing a brisk walk or if they're jogging or running but a well-roundedexercise regimen should include more than just cardio I like to include someweight training and yoga but I specifically wanted to talk about weedsthere's a lot of women shy away from it especially because they think they'regoing to look a certain way if they train with weights the World HealthOrganization recommends at the average adult do at least two sessions a weekwhy is it so important as we age we tend to lose muscle mass it's a normal partof Aging another normal part of aging is losing bone density.

 

It happens but wecan slow that process down with one thing and that one thing is weighttraining so it doesn't matter what age you are it could be in your 20s or 30sit's never too early to start preserving your muscle mass and preserving yourbone density if you're a beginner you should always speak to a professionallearn the proper moves you could do body weights or free weights but always speakto someone who knows what they're doing so you don't get injured and theneventually when you know what you're doing you could always work at a homethat's what I do I am NOT a gym person as I mentioned earlier so I don't go tothe gym but I will use free weights and bodyweight exercises at home if you'reinterested in the exercise channels that I follow I have them in the descriptionbox below number five I try to eat something green every day it's ratherembarrassing but I will admit that even as a nutritionist I find it hard to eatgreens.

 I did not grow up eating greens so it's a very foreign concept for mebut I do understand that they are very nutrient dense and it's a good idea toget some greens on a daily basis especially a variety of greens you aregetting a variety of vitamins and minerals if we're interested in nutrientdensity score that I have one link in the description box below now if you'rebeginner the easiest way to add greens to your diet really is smoothies I findthat that was the best gateway for me to get into the habit of eating greens ifyou're interested in how to make green smoothies taste better I do have a videoon it which I will link in the description box below number six 

I eatat least two to three servings of brightly colored fruits and veggiesevery day this is my bare minimum two to three I usually try to eat more why isit important to eat brightly colored fruits and veggies well you may haveheard of the term eat the rainbow eat the rainbow basically suggests eatingfruits and veggies from different colors but different colors mean they havedifferent phytochemicals which mean they have different health properties somephytochemicals can help with cancer prevention some can help with liver somecan help with metabolism there's different reasons to have thosephytochemicals and it's a good idea to get a variety so I do try to cut atleast two to three servings of fruits and veggies from those different groupsif you're interested in learning more about eating the rainbow I have a linkin the description box below number seven.

 I listen to relaxing music everyevening as a way to wind down so music has many different health benefits thescience is still emerging but what I found very interesting is that naturesounds and relaxing music can help reduce stress it can help reduce thestress hormone called cortisol if you're interested for the science is in thedescription box so I do try to listen to something that's very relaxing flutesmaybe some nature sounds rustling with leaves things like that a waterfallthose are all really nice to listen to at the end of the day as a way to winddown and just relax number eight I try to read or learn something new every dayand I love to do this because it's something that I truly enjoy but thereare other benefits to it especially when it comes to brain health so as we agethere is that natural decline in our memories it happens but mentalstimulation can slow down that decline so for me it's reading.

 I willlike to learn new things for you it could be whatever works for you ifyou're a reading person read a book fiction and nonfiction both have theirbenefits if you're not into reading learning a new language on an app suchas duolingo could work or you could watch something every day like shortsnippets on Ted Ed to learn something new it's all about keeping your brainengaged and stimulated number-9 I try to spend quality time with loved ones everyday and I want to underline the word quality time because a lot of us end upspending time with our loved ones but we're on our phones and we're notproperly engaged with them they're not really talking to them it's not goodcommunication and this happens to everybody it's just the digital age thatwe live in I used to scroll on my phone next my husband and I felt like I wasspending time with him but that wasn't really spending time so now no phonesproperly talked to him I spent time with my cats - I find that cuddling a pet ora human - can help you release oxytocin which is known as the cuddle hormone orthe love hormone and it can help reduce stress number 10 I avoid phones in theone hour before bed.

 

So I used to be on my phone right before bed and I found itvery difficult to fall asleep because my brain was all over the place it was verymentally stimulated and phones also emit something known as blue light and thatblue light is something that your brain thinks is they like so when you're onyour phone and that blue light is going to your brain your brain thinks it's nottime to sleep so it won't produce melatonin very well and it becomesharder to sleep I actually have talked about this in another video on sleepwhich I will link in the description box below but what I tried to do is Iswitched my phone off an hour or an hour and a half before bed like flight modeso I don't look at any notifications I don't look at anything and that way I'mactually able to sleep better I hope you find this video useful and you enjoyedit if you liked it give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe because Icreate videos like this every week and before you go let me know in the commentbox below what is the one habit that has changed your life.