5 ESSENTIAL MUST HAVES FOR HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND CONFIDENCE
Here are the 5 essential must haves for health, happiness and confidence today and tomorrow!
Surveys tell us that most people want to be happier and healthier.
The added bonus is that achieving health and happiness also leads to confidence, and what’s great is that there are five simple steps and must have’s for you to take to achieve this much coveted health happiness and confidence.
5 ESSENTIAL MUST HAVES FOR HEALTH HAPPINESS AND CONFIDENCE!
1. SLEEP
Sleep is the most important part of every day. Sleep is not a commodity, it cannot be cut back and scrimped on if you want to achieve good physical, emotional and mental health. Sleep is essential in allowing your body to process and heal after the day just gone. You should be aiming to get 7-8 hours sleep per night. This should be good quality sleep that comes from a healthy night time routine. No electronics or screens 30 minutes before you wish to be asleep. Subdued lighting in the bathroom and bedroom. a cool room, black out blinds. Children need a good bedtime routine of bath, book and bed, and adults aren’t all that different. Adults need, ABCD – Away from screens, Bed, Cool, Dark. Happy sleeping leads to a happy start and health start to the next day!
2. FRESH AIR / DAYLIGHT
Everyday you need to spend 15 minutes in the fresh air actually engaged with your surroundings. I don’t mean 15 minutes gathered together as you dash between house, car and buildings, or between trains. I mean spending 15 minutes simply standing or walking outside where you allow yourself to be absorbed into your surroundings. To take it in and actually connect back with yourself by connecting with nature, be it in your garden, a park, walking around your local streets. This is time that isn’t spent dashing from one appointment to another. It is 15 minutes that is spent for the sake of spending 15 minutes. Gift yourself this time, because if you can’t spare 15 minutes just to stand still in take in life then you really need to address how thinly you are spreading yourself everyday. Daylight is essential to changing our brain chemistry and helping our bodies create vitamin D so we need daylight. And it is called DAY-light after all – daily-light. 15 minutes a day that’s all!
3. PURPOSE
Purpose is about having a sense of purpose, a reason to be. All human beings need a sense of purpose or they begin to feel lost and rudder less and that rarely ends well. Your sense of purpose can be something much bigger than you, a lifetime goal, it can be related to work (team challenges, career ambitions) or can be related to your personal life (friends, family, hobbies etc). To find health and happiness you need to have a daily sense of purpose. What is that your day is working towards? There is a saying I love ‘Don’t live the year 70 times a call it a life.’ This captures the need for a sense of purpose. How are you going to use your day to help you get closer to the things you want? How are you going to use your day to help someone else? Who can you notice and say hello to? At the end of your day what will you look back on a think ‘great, I achieved / did that today!’ Health and happiness comes from having a clear sense of purpose. Achieving your daily purpose gives you confidence.
4. REAL FOOD / UNPROCESSED FOOD / CLEAN FOOD
Never has there been more research that confirms the saying ‘You are what you eat’. Real Food is a modern day phrase that can seem annoying and yet what it really refers to is eating happy healthy food. Unprocessed food. If you don’t know exactly what the ingredients are on the packaging, and if there are more than 5 ingredients you probably shouldn’t be consuming it. 2 litres of water today and good balance of fruit, vegetables and protein. If you do want chips or pizza, make them at home its so simple. Want cakes and biscuits, give you self a sense of purpose and try baking them. The ‘cleaner’ your diet, the better you’ll feel. The bacteria in your gut influences how you feel. Your gut sends your brain messages, just like daylight and sunshine does, so the food you eat affects the messages your gut sends out and your brain receives. The greener your food, the cleaner your food, the healthier and happier the message are your brain receives and this is where health and happiness comes from.
5. EXERCISE / MOVE YOUR BODY / INCREASE YOUR HEART RATE
Everyone knows exercise is something we need to improve our health. However whilst we all know we benefit from exercise, not that many of us do it regularly enough. So for step 5 I’m really going to make it small for you. I’m talking about 15 minutes of increasing your heart rate each day. Be it through sex, yoga, stretching, running, HIIT workout, speed walking. Whatever you do, it’s just about giving yourself 15 minutes to simply connect and be with your body. To remember what it feels like to be in your body, and to get out of your head, your mind chatter and get your body moving and your heart working. Increasing your heart rate increases your breathing and the oxygen you breathe out, the more calories you are releasing. Exercise is essential for health, happiness and confidence. Physical, emotional and mental health happiness and confidence.
So there you have it, your 5 essential must haves for health, happiness and confidence today and tomorrow!
Good luck practising these 5 essential must haves and if you need any help with any of these then get in touch and arrange your free ‘meet and greet’ session.
Wishing you a happy and confident day!
Lydia – The Confidence Coach