In a world where businesses and advanced technology reign, people have to seek ways to maintain their good health in order to continue to function properly in the competitive world. As businesses flourished, people involuntarily and unknowingly become stressful because they have to keep up with the pace of businessmen who manages the economic system and stimulates the economic growth of various regions.
As technology advances, people are getting more and attracted and attached to gadgets or electronic devices that give them convenience, leading them to unhealthy lifestyle. And as people become conscious of competitive skills, can their body keep up with the modern jobs that demands work excessively? In this age, each one needs habits to keep oneself healthy.
People work not to pay medications or hospitalizations but to provide their daily needs. Jobs are not chosen to make doctors and nurses wealthy but to make people earn their own living. Although we are bound in keeping up the different competitions, we are not bound to work like machines. What people fail to understand is that working hard does not mean working smart.
Overworking the human body to the point we can no longer function properly is one of the bad habits of people in the contemporary society. We might be working hard to please our bosses but does it reflect with good outcomes? We might not know that all our efforts are actually wasted because we only play hard but not play smart. Because we only play hard, we become unaware of negative effects that we give to our body.
There are times that our body wouldn’t able to keep up with the demands of our job which is why we should be considerate more of what our body could handle. Our health is much more important than work since we couldn’t respond properly to our job with an unhealthy body. Jobs these days stress our body more, leaving us without awareness. There are a lot of means to maintain good health without depending on artificial treatments so here are some recommended top five habits to keep oneself healthy.
Drinking Tea. There are several teas to drink for a healthy living but green teas have been the most popular beverage to keep oneself healthy. It is already general information that green tea helps in weight loss but it does not simply stop there. It also boosts our immune system and helps in improving cognitive skills such as memory and concentration. In addition, teas help in calming the mood and maintaining the skin young-looking as it slows down the aging process which is why drinking teas is my top five habits to keep oneself healthy.
Since I was child, I been drinking tea not for health reasons but simply because it suits my taste. Black tea was my first tea, with the mix of brown sugar to suit my taste as a child. As years passed, my taste buds have only been seeking for teas (green and mint teas frequently) without sugar, and I was unaware of the benefits it was giving me as I drink it most of the time – I seldom get sick and people see me as young adult ranging from age 21 to 24, even though I will be turning 31 this year.
The best time to drink teas, especially those with higher percent of caffeine such as black (approximately 30%) and green teas (15 to 20%), is in the morning as it improves your mood before engaging to work. Mint teas are best to drink before going to sleep as it relaxes the body more than other teas, which is why these teas are also good to drink during anxious times. However, this isn’t the only habit to keep oneself healthy.
Exercising. This infamous activity comes in number four. Most people already knew and understood what this activity could do to our body, especially about handling stress. Stress is perhaps the number one factor why we get common illness such as colds, fever or flu. In order to prevent excessive stress to emerge, exercising at least two or three times a week for 30 minutes to one hour is one of the habits to keep oneself healthy.
The most efficient exercise as recommended by researchers recently is the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). It’s said to be the most effective in weight loss but it is also beneficial in terms of cardiovascular fitness and metabolic effects. Not everyone could hit the gym because of time and money issues, but they could grab their shoes and sprint anywhere they want to get those muscles on the go. Since exercising could also help one perspire, it keeps the body healthier by getting rid of those toxins within and at the same time, produces natural oil that gives the skin a healthy glow.
It has been my habit to play basketball as my activity for de-stressing since High School. Every time I play, I was not aware that it was one of my habits that keep me away from illness for several years now. My last hospitalization was when I was in Primary School and I started participating in the women’s basketball varsity in second year high school in which I was unaware that I was keeping myself healthy throughout the years. And just recently, I found out that basketball training is also a HIIT that provides me good health.
Eating Good Food. What we frequently eat defines our health but jobs these days demand a lot from our skills that eventually consume most of our time, leaving us no choice but to buy processed or ready-to-eat foods. We all know that these foods have fewer nutrients but we simply buy what is already available since we need to satisfy our stomach in order to work properly in a busy community. Top three on the list of habits to keep oneself healthy is to eat good food.
If one does not have time to meticulously prepare food, especially those with vegetables, then I suggest one should boil and eat eggs – my favorite habit to keep oneself healthy. Eggs are rich in nutrients that boost our immune system and recent study shows that they actually lower bad cholesterol, which invalidates past researches. They also have enough nutrients to satisfy our body that lessen our cravings for more food, keeping our body in shape. Recently, boiled-egg diet has been popular for those who want to lose weight and also those who want to maintain their figure. It’s best to eat two in the morning and one in evening.
Fish are also easy to cook since it only needs few minutes in the pan to become tender and overcooking it would make its texture elastic. It also has good cholesterol that prevents cardiovascular diseases, keeping our heart healthy. Sautéing fish would be the best way to cook in order to conserve time and energy. It could be paired with lettuce or any green vegetables that do not need cooking so that more nutrients would be added other than protein.
Listening to Music. Top two has something to do with music. People might find this surprising but listening to music is one of the habits to keep oneself healthy. Because we live in a demanding world that gives us stress most of the time, listening to music is one of the ways to mitigate the release of stress hormones. Most people are unconscious of the signs and symptoms of stress which is why they will simply continue working, leaving stress to take over their body and eventually yielding negative effects. What’s interesting about music is that it’s not only pleasing to the ears but also pleasing to our health.
Music helps in the production of happy hormones which sends the body a vibrant mood. Maintaining a good temper supports in our work process in a demanding institution. A music, entitled Weightless and composed by Marconi Union, is said to be therapeutic by neuroscientists since it reduces anxiety by up to 65%. Most classical music could also calm the nervous system. Other researches show that increasing the volume of this kind of music could improve one’s mood so when something doesn’t feel right while you are working, pick up your mp3 player for a while and indulge yourself in the music world where you can feel at ease before you start properly working again.
In my case, I like listening to music but what I really love is playing musical instruments, which is more beneficial. Other than it improves mood, memory and concentration, it also supports in properly responding to physical work like doing minutes during meetings – listening while jotting down which is a kind of multitasking. I never thought until now that playing musical instruments could keep myself healthy and at the same time, improve my multitasking skills.
Sleeping Enough. And the number one spot goes to sleep. People know that enough sleep is needed to regenerate and rejuvenate the body so that it could properly function for the next day’s demanding work. However, most people tend to forget (again) the importance of sleep because they always make excuses that they needed to finish their responsibilities in their workplace. The problem perhaps lies in their time management but whatever the reason, sleep is one of the important habits to keep oneself healthy. Getting enough sleep depends on an individual’s age like seven to nine hours for young adults.
When I was a working student, I was frequently managing my time properly so that I could get enough sleep to recharge for the next day. However, there were also times that I felt like mismanaging my time by not doing responsibilities ahead of time such as writing a thesis. When it was almost deadline, I had to work, study for major exams and write the thesis at the same time, which sacrificed my sleep hours. Every next day, I usually spaced-out (lacked focus and concentration), forgot the things that I should have done for the day, and showed clumsiness at work. Eventually, I had signs – dry skin, sore throat and headache – that my body was going to pick up illness. I was thankful that I paid attention to what my body was telling me so I relived getting enough sleep every night. Indeed, it was a lesson to me that sleeping enough should be prioritized as one of the habits to keep oneself healthy.
People are subconsciously aware of what they needed to do to keep themselves healthy but due to life’s pressure, it is inevitable to practice those good habits. The top five habits to keep oneself healthy mentioned above are perhaps not the best, but they are certainly efficient. When the time comes that you aren’t feeling well, it’s time to consider the sign and symptoms of stress, and check this list of good habits that you think you might have missed executing.