Happy New Year!
This month Dr. Hagel and I teamed up to help you get started on your post-holiday wellness habits. You can start small (this often works the best) and build in more healthy habits over time as you get more experience with it.
My article will give you an introduction to thinking about how to create healthy habits for your overall lifestyle, which can be applied to any area of your life you want to work on.
Dr. Hagel’s article discusses how to deal with nutrition habits and get back on track after holidays full of eating decadent foods high in sugars, refined grains and unhealthy fats. Outside of turkey and our faithful nutcrackers, we often see the dietary ratio of processed foods and sugar to outweigh our intake of healthy proteins, fats and green vegetables.
4 Steps to Creating your Health Routine in 2018
By Lisa Lin, RMT, HHPR
Establishing health and wellness requires effort, dedication and consistency. In order to make this happen, health promoting activities must be practiced on a regular basis. Exercising once a month or eating a healthy supper once a week is better than nothing, but it isn’t going produce the results you want. A regular, habitual routine will make that happen.
Whenever we experience change or transition in life it throws us out of the familiar and into the unknown – we have no routine, schedule or system during those times. Usually the first things to go are: exercise, healthy nutrition and sleep. Think of times when you experienced this: exams at school, starting a new job, Christmas activities, illness, travel, moving, personal losses, new additions to the family. We adapt, change and adjust in response to each situation. What often happens to our energy and sense of wellbeing during those times? Upside down and depleted. It is part of life that we experience times we can’t plan for and there is a need for flexibility. This article is looking at the other times when we CAN create and participate in a healthy routine. This is key in building health. We can create and improve our health through many means – physical activity, nutrition, social support, learning new activities, sleep, play and mindfulness to name a few.
And I know you’ve got this ability within you, no matter how dubious you are feeling at the moment!
The Magical 4 Steps To Creating A Healthy Lifestyle Routine
1. Ask yourself what you value most about health. Why do you want to make changes?
2. Prioritize what you want. START SMALL. PICK ONE THING.
3. Schedule it in (realistically, don’t set yourself up for perfection here)
4. Check in with yourself after a period of time and be aware of how this activity has benefited you.
Here is an example from my life, following those 4 specific steps:
1. I value the power of my mind in making a huge impact on my health. I want to be able to think clearly and use my intelligence. I want to learn to still the mental chatter of my busy days.
2. I want to start meditating 5 minutes a day. With an app on my phone to keep my mind focused instead of it wandering off. A friend emailed me a link to short meditation routines I could use.
3. I will do this in the evenings after I put the kids to bed and the house is quiet. I am committing to 4-6x per week,then will reevaluate after 2 to 4 weeks to see if I want to continue.
4. I did notice that life seemed a bit more zen and I was more mindful of my emotions and triggers. I will keep this habit in place and see how it grows over time.
Health and Wellness Calgary
Need some support to get you going and help you come up with your own plan for health? Come see us at Docere Wellness Centre and we can help you along as much or as little as you need. In a massage appointment, during the initial intake and after the massage session I provide recommendations and answer questions about health promoting lifestyles customized to a person’s needs. For those who are super keen and want to talk about it during the massage I am always there for that too. If you need additional resources and education outside of my scope of practice, I can provide guidance on where to find more information or refer you to a different practitioner who can meet those needs.
Think simple and consistent routines for making your health happen in this new year of 2018!
Do you have plans in getting more healthier this year? Book your session today with Docere Wellness Centre!