The Sunday Mail
Our experts share simple ways to create healthy habits for the new year.
Health is always a priority heading into a new year, but amid the Covid-19 pandemic, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is more important than ever. In a survey asking Americans about their 2022 New Year’s resolutions, one-quarter of the respondents who were making resolutions reported that they set a goal to live healthier. With wellness so front of mind, doctors, nurses and dietitians shared their tips to help create healthy habits.
Exercise regularly
Staying physically fit improves cardiovascular and muscular health and helps fight disease. Exercising also has been shown to reduce stress and improve your overall mood, so try to squeeze in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week, the minimum recommended by the American Heart Association, plus at least two days of muscle-strengthening activities.
“Making a daily commitment to exercise, stretch, meditate, or practice any other form of self-care may help you feel calmer and allow you to reset,” says Maria Biondi, a well-being coach.
Here are some simple ways to break the exercises down into 30-minute increments:
◆ Take at least two 30-minute walks a week at lunchtime or plan some walking meetings.
◆ Do 30 minutes of strength training with a kettlebell or hand weights while watching TV.
◆ Jump rope for 15 minutes when you get up in the morning and again when you get home at night.
◆ Do squats at your desk for 10-minute increments three times per day.
◆ In the winter months, don’t be afraid to brave the cold for your workouts.
Exercising outdoors provides all of the physical benefits that we get from indoor exercise — cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility, and endurance — but we also get many other important benefits.
Just being in the sun increases your body’s creation of vitamin D, which protects you from a host of medical problems.
Eat right
In addition to getting enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains throughout the day, focus on protein in the morning, says Dr Rekha Kumar, an attending endocrinologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Centre and an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Packing your breakfast with protein will keep blood sugar and some “hunger hormones” more stable throughout the day, helping to control your appetite. Egg-white omelets, Greek yoghurt, and protein shakes are examples. Dr Kumar also advises against too much sugar, especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Consuming excess sugar leads to a condition called insulin resistance, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, a fatty liver and cardiovascular disease.
Get enough sleep
The Covid-19 has disrupted many people’s sleep patterns — some have even suffered from what’s known as “coronasomnia” — but it’s critical to keep a regular sleep schedule and get about eight hours of sleep a night, says Dr Daniel Barone, a neurologist and sleep medicine expert at the Centre for Sleep Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Centre and an associate professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
“Having a strong, healthy immune system gives us a little more of a barrier against developing a Covid-19 infection, so it is important to prioritise sleep,” says Dr Barone- NewYork-Presbyterian. — Wires.
