At the start of a new decade comes fresh objectives for personal improvement, including a healthier lifestyle. Here are twenty practical health suggestions to get you started on the path to a healthier lifestyle.
Consume a Balanced Diet: Consume a variety of foods, including fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Each day, adults should consume at least five servings (400g) of fruit and vegetables. You may increase your fruit and vegetable consumption by adding vegetables to all of your meals, snacking on fresh fruit and vegetables, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, and eating them in season.
Consume Less Salt and Sugar: The majority of individuals obtain sodium via salt. Reduce your daily salt intake to 5g, or roughly one teaspoon.
Reduce Consumption of Harmful Fats: The World Health Organization recommends limiting saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy consumption, trans fats to fewer than 1% of total energy intake, and unsaturated fats as a substitute for both saturated and trans fats.
Avoid Harmful Alcohol Use: Consuming alcohol can result in a variety of health issues, including mental and behavioral disorders, including alcoholism.
Avoid Smoking: Tobacco kills not just direct smokers, but also non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke.
Be physically active: Physical activity is defined as any movement of the body caused by skeletal muscles that involve an expenditure of energy. This comprises physical activity and activities performed while working, playing, performing domestic duties, traveling, and partaking in recreational activities.
Regularly Check Your Blood Pressure: Hypertension, or abnormally high blood pressure, is referred to be a “silent killer.” This is because many people who have hypertension are unaware of the condition, as it often manifests without symptoms.
Test for HIV, Hepatitis B, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and Tuberculosis: Self-testing is critical for determining your health status, particularly when it comes to HIV, hepatitis B, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and tuberculosis (TB).
Vaccination: Vaccination is one of the most efficient methods of illness prevention. Vaccines operate in conjunction with your body’s natural defenses to provide protection against illnesses such as cervical cancer, cholera, diphtheria, hepatitis B, influenza, measles, mumps, pneumonia, polio, rubella, tetanus, typhoid, and yellow fever.
Protect Your Sexual Health: Taking care of your sexual health is critical for your entire health and well-being. Prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis by engaging in safe sex.
When Coughing or Sneezing, Cover Your Mouth: Diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, and TB are spread via the air. When infected individual coughs or sneezes, infectious pathogens can spread via airborne droplets.
Prevent Mosquito Bites: There are some easy steps you may take to protect yourself and your family against mosquito-borne illnesses. If you’re traveling to a region known to have mosquito-borne diseases, see a physician to determine if you should receive a vaccination to prevent diseases such as Japanese encephalitis and yellow fever, or whether you should take antimalarial medications.
You may also help avoid road accidents by according to traffic rules, such as wearing a seatbelt as an adult and a child restraint as a child, wearing a helmet while riding a motorbike or bicycle, not drinking and driving, and not using a cell phone while driving.
Consume Only Safe Water: Improper water consumption can result in the spread of water-borne illnesses such as cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. At least 2 billion people worldwide consume water that has been polluted with excrement.
Breastfeed Babies from 0 to 2 Years and Beyond: Breastfeeding is the optimal approach to supply newborns and babies with optimal nourishment. Breastfeeding should begin within one hour after delivery, according to the WHO. Breastfeeding is critical for the baby’s health throughout the first six months of life.
If you’re feeling depressed, speak with someone you trust: Depression is a prevalent condition that affects approximately 260 million individuals globally. Depression can appear in a variety of ways, but it may leave you feeling hopeless or unworthy, or it may cause you to obsess over unpleasant and unsettling thoughts or an overpowering sensation of suffering.
Antibiotics Should Be Taken Only as Prescribed: Antibiotic resistance is one of our generation’s greatest public health risks. When antibiotics lose their effectiveness, bacterial infections become more difficult to treat, resulting in increased medical expenditures, hospital stays, and death.
Hand Hygiene is Essential: Hand hygiene is critical for everyone, not just health care professionals. Keeping your hands clean can help reduce the spread of contagious diseases.
Properly Prepare Your Food: Unsafe food containing pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical compounds is responsible for over 200 illnesses ranging from diarrhea to cancer. When purchasing food in a market or supermarket, inspect the labels or the real product to confirm that it is safe to consume.
Maintain Regular Check-Ups: Routine check-ups can aid in the detection of potential health concerns. Health experts can assist in identifying and diagnosing health problems early on, improving your chances of treatment and cure.