Great Wellness Habits - Big Blue Waves

Got 5 Minutes to Improve Your Life?

If you’ve never delved into the wellness world, it might seem a bit intimidating at first.

You can learn the basics of the modern wellness lifestyle in a relatively short amount of time.

Many of the key ideas can be grasped in a 5-minute read (like this article). But implementing some ideas may be an ongoing practice for years to come. Read on the learn more!

The Basics

Like any field of study, learning the fundamentals creates a strong foundation for continued growth.

What are the fundamentals of “wellness”?

Exercise, good nutrition, relaxing, and a great night’s sleep.

The “Wellness 12”

Here are 12 fundamental aspects of personal wellness, at least for me. Practicing (and mastering) these sets of habits will most likely improve your quality of life! Best wishes!

Sleep well
Eat Well
Hydrate well
Move/Exercise/Stretch
Rest, Relax and Recover
Breathe Deeply
Practice Good Mindset
Use Good Posture
Get fresh air and enjoy the outdoors
Practice Self-care
Overcome addictions
Practice Common Sense

Sleep Well

Sleeping well rejuvenates your body. Most people perform best on at least 8 hours of sleep. If you’re struggling to get your 8 hours at night, you can always add regular afternoon naps to balance it out.

Here’s some ideas to consider for better sleeping by better eating.

7 Ways to Become a Morning Person

Eat Well

Understanding and implementing good nutrition and eating habits will keep you healthy for a lifetime! While you could dedicate a lifetime to studying nutrition, the fundamentals can be learned quickly.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
Hippocrates

Nutrition is important. Most people over 25 can’t survive solely on Twinkies, MSG-laden ramen and soda pop. While it won’t kill you right away, you’ll probably feel a lot better eating kale and pomegranate juice, or at least a good-quality steak and some organic potatoes.

Implementing the fundamentals of good nutrition will bring you tangible benefits very quickly. Here are some useful basic guidelines for a good diet:

Eat high-quality, well-prepared foods
Focus on less processed, more “natural” foods
Incorporate high-quality seasonings into your food
Eat a bunch of healthy veggies and fruits
Limit added salt and processed sugar
Consider eating fermented foods with your meals

Here are a few posts that go into deeper detail about a healthy diet:

Hydrate

Water is necessary for life, so optimal hydration helps pretty much every part of the body.

It’s a good idea to drink, on average, about 8 glasses of water a day, which equals out to 2 liters or 64 ounces. Of course, each person needs different amounts of water for optimal hydration. Check out some of the cool calculators around the web.

High-quality water

While different opinions exist, the best options seem to be:

Tap water with a good filter
High-quality bottled water
Fresh, high-quality spring or well water

Looking for more info on staying hydrated? Check out these articles:

Skin care

Besides staying hydrated by drinking water, remember to keep your skin hydrated, too. The easiest way is to use a high-quality moisturizer and toner, though certain natural oils are also a great choice.

Move/Exercise/Stretch

You can rapidly improve your health and well-being with as little as 1 hour of exercise 3 times per week. Serious athletes may want to dedicate more time and energy to exercise, but this small time investment will yield profound results.

Of course, like anything involving wellness and health, consult with a licensed professional before making any changes and/or starting a new exercise program. Please view this as only as a perspective to consider.

Stretching

To counteract sitting down and slouching, or the typical drawbacks to indoor, office-style living, try these daily stretches from Bret Contreras:

Deep squat
Glute squeeze
Hamstring stretch
Crucifix stretch – like the top of the sun salutation in yoga
Diaphragmatic Breathing

There are so many great, fun ways to move the body; I hope you find some that suit your current physical state, mood and goals! Here are a few ideas to get you going:

Rest, Relax, and Recover

One of the most overlooked practices of health and wellness is rest. It’s absolutely necessary for our bodies and minds to take the time to relax in the midst of our busy, stressful lifestyles. There’s many ways to do this, too. You can try yoga or meditation, but also, just hanging out and watching a movie will do the trick! Check out some other ways to take time to rest and recover here:

10 Great Ways To Relax

Breathe Deeply

Breathing into your belly, also called “deep belly breathing,” once a day will help you to feel more calm, centered and relaxed. Paying attention to the breath can refocus the mind and improve relaxation and recovery.

Deeper breaths can also help the body increase the amount of oxygen available to the brain and organs. And remember, you don’t necessarily have to focus on deep breathing all day, everyday. You’ll start to see benefits if you do as little as 30 seconds a few times a day!

Like Bret Contreras mentions, and he cites with numerous studies, deep breathing can help one’s general mood.

One general method

Breathe in. If you’re breathing at a “normal” pace, it’ll probably take around 5-7 seconds.
You’ll feel (and see) your belly filling up with air.
After about 5-7 seconds of breathing in, slowly breathe out.
It’ll probably take about 5-7 seconds to breathe out.

Practice Good Mindset

Positive phrases

Practicing positive self-affirmations may help some people see the world in a better way. (You can check out some of the studies on PubMed to get a sense of other perspectives).

Here’s some examples:

“I am feeling relaxed and grateful as I walk this beautiful earth”
“I am breathing deeply and am feeling well”

The compliment sandwich

Practicing good communication skills in regards to important personal life issues, like being assertive, will provide long-lasting rewards. The compliment sandwich allows you to keep a situation positive while incorporating important ideas about what could make it even better.

While there may be other communication techniques you prefer, this one will help you build positive momentum and still work on specific areas for improvement.

The Compliment Sandwich Recipe

Piece of Bread – a relevant, truthful compliment
The Fillings – a piece of constructive criticism or an area to improve
Bottom Piece of Bread – another relevant, truthful compliment. Or a general optimistic observation of how the doing the constructive criticism will help.

The Compliment Sandwich: How To Give Constructive Criticism Without Hurting People’s Feelings

And why not practice the compliment sandwich on yourself, too?

For example, instead of saying to myself: “man, I’m so out shape.”

I’m going to say, “Good job writing this article and focusing on your well-being. To make things even better I could work out on a more regular basis. But overall, I think I’m doing pretty well.”

Treat Oneself Like a Beloved Friend

In other words, treat yourself as kindly and compassionately as you would treat a dearly, beloved friend.

Practice the Golden Mean

The Golden Mean is basically the ideal moderate position between two extremes.

In other words, while it’s good to practice and incorporate many habits of living well, it’s also good to keep things in perspective.

Most things manifest best in moderation, from drinking water to behavior – at least that’s what Aristotle argues (and Plato, and Socrates, and a bunch of other philosophers!). In general, the moderation remains the best long-term strategy for most people.

From Wikipedia:

Aristotle says that we can describe virtues as things that are destroyed by deficiency or excess. Someone who runs away becomes a coward, while someone who fears nothing is rash. In this way the virtue “bravery” can be seen as depending upon a “mean” between two extremes.

What about the Middle Way?

Via Wikipedia:

There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable
Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata…? It is the Noble Eightfold path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration

Check out the Wikipedia article that shares knowledge and history on the subject of the Golden Mean in many cultures.

For example, remember to practice good habits, like reducing alcohol and cigarette intake. But, don’t allow yourself to be too stressed out if the orange you’re eating is organic or not! The best way to integrate healthy, wellness-oriented habits into your daily routine is in small, easy steps.

Assertiveness

In most cases, healthy assertiveness will quickly (and over time) reap good rewards. If you’re living a “normal” modern life, then being assertive will provide one of the best ways of improving and maintaining a good life.

Use Good Posture

Standing and sitting with good posture has positive effects on the body and mind. Practicing good habits that produce good posture, as well as being of aware of one’s posture may have short and long-term effects on one’s well-being.

Get Fresh Air and Enjoy the Outdoors

In most places, the air quality will be better outside than inside. You can do lots of cool stuff to create great-quality indoor air. But getting outside and breathing in some fresh, clean air may improve a person’s overall outlook.

Practice General Self-Care

General self-care includes all the other daily habits that one can cultivate for a long-term, happy life.

Brushing and flossing daily, plus showering and washing your hands well will provide better wellness results than most other simple habits.

Good dental hygiene remain cornerstone habit of anyone concerned with their long-term well-being. Usually this means flossing, brushing and visiting a good dentist about twice a year.

Washing one’s hands results in better well-being and is a simple practice with great results. Relative to most things, it’s a great habit to develop. Yes, there are exceptions, but everything has an exception.

Some other self-care examples include:

General personal hygiene
Wash your hands well!
Dressing in a way that suits you
Taking time for reflection and goal-planning
Organising your environment and life
Taking time to do nothing – on purpose!

Overcome addictions

Especially to drugs and cigarettes.

Practice Common Sense

Since learning more about wellness lifestyle living and personal development, I’ve come across tons of great ideas. But one thing seems to be missing on many occasions.

Use Common Sense!

It’s almost like the elephant in the room that everyone notices but no one mentions. Not because most people don’t want to ignore certain ideas, but because some things might be “so obvious” that most people just assume everyone already knows them.

Either you already practice these habits, or you know you don’t. If you do, then you probably take them for granted. If you don’t, you probably realize it already and are sick of people reminding you. Of course, you might not realize that you’re not practicing these habits (what you don’t know that you don’t know)

Since most people already know that they are bad habits, they can be slightly annoying to talk about. One of my friends used to yell at everyone that they should quit smoking but he recently gave up the struggle. He just walks away now.

I admit some of these habits might come off as a bit of a rant. But it’s hard to see people behaving in certain ways that, at least on the surface, that seem to not be in their best interests, or mine, if I’m their general proximity – like smoking.

But, it’s good a reminder for myself (and maybe you, too). So here are some unhealthy habits to kick ASAP:

Don’t text while driving or walking

This one is a pet peeve. I see people walking across the street without looking while texting. I wish the best for them, but this is a case of just don’t do it! Unless you’re an ER doctor getting an emergency medical call or the next 007, you can probably stand on the sidewalk and reply.

And the same goes for texting and driving. Most people can’t text and drive well, and it puts everyone on the road in an extremely dangerous situation.

Drive Defensively

Everyone talks about BPA and lots of other toxins in our environment, but one of the biggest threats to modern wellness must be the moving automobile. In most cases, thousands of pounds hurling down highways pose greater threats to out well-being and good vibes than plastic water bottles.

Yet I am still way more anxious about drinking out of plastic bottles than driving a car. Even if the vehicle in the next lane is a semi-truck with a driver that just left happy hour. It’s partially psychological.

Practice Situational Awareness

However, it’s probably not that big of a deal in many places. You can put your headphones on and walk around most neighborhoods just fine. But, if you live in the jungle, watch out for snakes. And if you live in the concrete jungle, watch out for some people and big steel boxes with wheels.

Limit exposure to cigarette smoke

No one really likes the smell of cigarette smoke, but it’s also pretty much a fact that cigarettes will mess you up. It’s still probably not as dangerous as walking across the street while texting without looking, but best case scenario – look both ways and don’t light up.

Other Ideas and Conclusions

Two other wellness practices to consider integrating into your daily life: expressing gratitude and prayer/meditation.

Express Gratitude

Expressing gratitude helps one to focus on and feel thankful for the good things in one’s life! You don’t have to necessarily say anything out loud. Some possibilities: give thanks to the beautiful things, experiences, people, places, or anything else that means something in your life.

While it’s not a cure-all, many people do find that expressing gratitude helps them to see and feel the world in a better light!

Prayer and Meditation

Prayer and meditation are also both wonderful practices enjoyed by billions of people.

Hope these ideas help! Best wishes on your wellness journey!

Do you have any ideas or comments? Please send a message. Thanks!

Credits

Additional Resources

What is Wellness? Learn the 8 Dimensions of Wellness – Emotional, Environmental, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Social, Spiritual, and Occupational.