How to Create Healthy Daily Habits

Healthy daily habits undoubtedly help people lead to a happier life. A habit is a pattern of behaviour that we have acquired. When we repeat an action enough times, it moves from our conscious to our subconscious mind. For that reason, it becomes second nature. Consequently, they often almost become involuntary as we don't have to pay attention to complete the action. Therefore, when we develop unhealthy habits, we can struggle to achieve our goals and ambitions.

Our environments often support our habits. As a result, to keep healthy daily habits, we should adjust our settings. Doing so will allow us to form a better routine for a healthy lifestyle. Healthy daily habits enable us to improve both our physical health and our mental health and wellbeing. Nevertheless, these can take some time and effort to develop. However, it is worthwhile as your quality of life can improve significantly.

Eating well should be incorporated into our healthy daily habits. What you eat can have a considerable impact on how you feel physically and mentally. Eating well is known to improve mental health and wellbeing by reducing anxiety and depression. Therefore, we should avoid high sugar, saturated fat, caffeine, and processed foods. Instead, we should opt for fresh alternatives such as fruit and vegetables. For example, substitute saturated fats for healthy fats found in avocados, nuts and olives. Likewise, for protein, turn to eggs, fish and poultry.

Making small changes in the food we eat can have a much better positive impact on our bodies than fad diets. For that reason, the changes are long-lasting, and when repeated enough times, our brains will opt for these healthier alternatives without thinking. The slight change will then eventually become one of your healthy daily habits.

The benefits of exercise are endless, so ensure to make it one of your healthy daily habits. Benefits include-

• Weight management
• Strengthened heart
• Increased energy levels
• Elevated mood
• Increased self-esteem
• Decreased stress
• Reduced depression and anxiety

If exercise is something you are overwhelmed by, start slow and gradually increase.

Studies show that many of us do not get enough sleep. We should be getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night to meet our needs and goals. The reason for this is that deep REM sleep repairs cells and sets our body up for a new day. Similarly, other reasons why we should consider getting enough sleep as one of our healthy daily habits are:

• Better concentration
• Improved productivity
• Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
• Combats depression
• Improved immune system

Making time for yourself will allow you time to clear your mind and is one of the best healthy daily habits. When stressed for an extended time, your 'fight or flight' response can lead to a low immune system, weight gain and decreased focus. Therefore, by creating healthy daily habits of meditation and gratitude, you will lower stress levels and find stress easier to manage. Moreover, doing so will allow you to become fulfilled and become your best self.

People often get lost in their everyday lives. Work, kids, partners, and duties are overwhelming, and they forget about their happiness. When did you last do something that you love purely for your enjoyment? Whether it be sitting down to knit a new scarf or creating a scrapbook, make time for yourself! "Me time" is commonly overlooked yet, has the potential to increase your happiness significantly. For this reason, hobbies should be one of your healthy daily habits.

One of the healthy daily habits often neglected is our social needs. We, as humans, are very sociable and need other people to lead a fulfilling life. Some tips to help build deep, supportive, loving relationships are:

• Be yourself, and don't be afraid to show your flaws
• Reach out to others regularly
• Find common interests
• Be positive as others enjoy the company of positive people
• Listen effectively

Many other healthy daily habits aid success and happiness. It is best to concentrate on developing healthy daily habits that suit you and help you work towards your goals.

For example:

• Improved money management
• Respect the environment
• Treat others how you want them to treat you
• Practise good hygiene

There are four stages of habit formation. These stages can be analysed and altered to form healthy daily habits. The steps can be best understood using an example of stress eating.

Initially, you may have become stressed because perhaps you have a deadline approaching. Thus, your deadline would be considered the cue. Also known as your trigger.

The cue then causes the second stage, craving, making you want to get something to eat. Next is the response, which would be to complete the action and eat something. Finally, the reward is having your stress levels reduced.

To break a bad habit, first, you need to know what it is. Next, you need to recognise what triggers it. Therefore, you will be able to change your behaviour by avoiding these triggers. For example, perhaps you do not sleep well if you have spent all day in your bedroom. Therefore, to break this habit, avoid your bedroom during the day and only use it when it is time to go to sleep.

It would help if you considered the reasons why you want to break bad habits. A way to do this is to identify an end goal as to why you will break the habit. For instance, you want to sleep better. The reasoning behind this could be to improve your mental health and to have better concentration in work the next day. Doing so will provide motivation.

However, it is essential to remember that breaking a bad habit can be equally as tricky as creating new healthy daily habits. Studies have shown that it takes roughly 21 days to break a habit and often take much longer. Trying to get rid of habits too quickly can lead to unhelpful thinking habits, which try and rush the process. These are harmful as they can damage your mental health.

It is a lot easier to talk about healthy daily habits than to make them a part of your routine. For that reason, a good idea is to create a plan to help you achieve your goals. For example, you may feel like you are overeating each day by having unhealthy means and snacking. You can avoid this by planning meals, incorporating healthy snacks into your plan. Moreover, you will be aware of the amount and type of food you are consuming.

Often, sticking with these new habits can be difficult. A way to make them more rewarding is to keep a journal of success. For example, one of your new healthy daily habits could be to go on a 30-minute walk each day. Therefore, each day you do this, record it. Do this with any new habits you are trying to create. Practising self-control, in this way, will motivate you and give you a sense of achievement, so it is a good way of building a habit.

Some healthy daily habits can be formed easily when you have someone do them with you. If someone else you know also wants to walk more, why not plan to do it together? Doing so will give you more motivation, as well as improve relationships.

Besides, it is essential to remember that change is a process that can take time. Be patient, and don't beat yourself up if things do not go as planned. In other words, our daily life can often get in the way. Thus, we cannot achieve our goals as quickly as we had planned. A way to avoid discouragement is to introduce healthy daily habits one at a time. Therefore, once the new practice becomes part of your routine, you can then introduce another one. Most importantly, we must remain motivated and keep trying.

Written by Amy Bamford