Healthy Lifestyle month: Extra tips and information.
Healthy lifestyle awareness month is celebrated annually in February each year in South Africa. It is a whole month program to educate the country on healthy living, physical activity and wellness – mental and physical.
It is a fact that in order to prevent diseases, curb the elements of stress and enhance overall wellbeing a healthy lifestyle is mandatory.
What is a healthy lifestyle?
Some of the important essentials of a healthy lifestyle are the following:
- Healthy, nutritious diet
- Regular exercise
- Avoidance of toxins and stimulants like cigarettes or alcohol
- Sound sleep
- Regular check ups
It’s time to take care of you! ——— You deserve it!!!!
Good nutrition
- Eat at least 3 fruits every day – Make a salad
- Add more beans to your diet
- Increase your vegetable intake
- Eat whole grains such as brown rice, brown bread etc.
- Enjoy two sources of dairy a day
- Avoiding processed or packaged foods
- Eat 3 meals a day
- Drink more water. Men should aim to drink around 12 glasses of fluid a day, and women should drink around nine glasses. A glass is 250ml.
Regular physical activity
- Make small changes to the amount of exercise you get in a day
- Take the stairs instead
- You only need to do up to 30 minutes of exercise a day
- Get a friend to join you at the gym; someone who will keep you motivated
- Plan an exercise program at home if you feel too self-conscious to go to the gym
- Take part in a fun sport such as baseball, cricket, golf or tennis
Tobacco control
- Don’t smoke. But if you do, here are a few tips to kicking the nasty habit:
- Be prepared for cravings
- Identify your smoking triggers. For example, situations that bring on stress
- Join a nicotine support group
- Consider using quitting aids such as nicotine patches or gums.
- Ask your doctor to prescribe something to help you quit
- Set a quit goal. By this date you will have quit smoking
- Avoid friends and family who smoke around you
- Don’t. Buy. Any. More. Cigarettes
Intervention against alcohol and substance abuse to maintain healthy lifestyles
- Set a drinking goal or standard for yourself. Resolve to only enjoying one alcoholic drink when at a party
- Don’t keep alcohol in your home
- Drink slowly
- Look for alcohol-free alternatives
- Don’t give in to peer pressure. If you’re old enough to drink legally, you’re old enough to overcome peer pressure
- Get support. If you feel you have a problem, don’t let it fester. Join a group if you have to.
Substance abuse
- Identify the signs of substance abuse
- Invest in strategies to help you get through it
- Do thorough research of your recovery options
- Alcohol and substance abuse are often used as coping mechanisms for depression and anxiety
- Alcohol and substance abuse can actually increase the risk for mental health problems
Promotion of safe sexual behaviour
- Always use a contraceptive before engaging in sexual activities with a significant other
- Unsafe sex can lead to the spread of STDs such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis
- Get tested for HIV regularly
- Limit your number of sexual partners
- Visit a doctor when you spot the signs of an STD
- Chlamydia rates are higher amongst young women
Regular check-ups Visiting doctors, dentists is always a good way to keep a check on your body. These can help you detect problems pretty early and enable a quicker treatment. Celebrate this month by taking up appointments and getting the necessary check-ups in order to find out the details about your precious body.
Sound sleep
- Stick to a sleep schedule,
- Create a restful environment,
- Limit daytime naps ,
- Manage worries
Famsa delivers wellness coaching. They help their clients find the motivation and tools to get to their physical and emotional health goals, learn resilience and coping skills for a well life.
Healthy Lifestyles Awareness month …. Make it a good one!
https://www.healthylivingpharmacies.org/
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