Hey and welcome back to another healthy habits that changed my life video, which is part of my new healthy habits and self care series
I will link the playlist right here if you want to check it out.
And today I share five more healthy habits that helped me to feel my best mentally, physically and emotionally.
And these are all very simple easy things you can do that
do not require anything fancy or expensive. And today I will talk about diet
Self care and just general lifestyle habits, let's begin.
Alright, let's start with a kind of weird one.
But I really like it myself, and I was actually very
surprised at how good this feels when I first started doing it, because I did not expect it at all.
And it's actually a very simple yoga pose called legs up the wall or viparita karani.
I learned this as a yoga pose.
But it is easy to do with your regular clothes on, so you don't have to change or get out a yoga mat or anything.
You can do this everywhere as long as you have access to a wall and
preferably a clean floor.
I learned about the health benefits that are associated with this pose, because I found it very interesting.
And to be honest, I don't really know whether they are scientifically proven or not.
I don't know if they have done research to prove them.
But I do know that I experienced these benefits myself. And that is why I do it, usually maybe two times a week.
So how it works is you lie down on the floor and you kind of shimmy against it, and
put your legs up. And you can have your legs up straight or with a bend if your hamstrings are a bit tight, or
you can have them wider for a different stretch or even in a butterfly position.
And you just kind of lay there for usually about 10 minutes.
This pose is super simple
most people will be able to do it at home. And you can also use a
small pillow to prop up the hips a little, that feels really nice.
Here are some of the health benefits that are associated with this pose. Again
I don't know if they are super scientific or not. But I do know that I experienced these myself personally.
So legs up the wall increases blood and circulation, and relieves tired legs.
Especially after sitting or standing for a long time.
It improves flexibility of hamstrings, hips and groin, and helps with lower back pain.
It helps to reduce swelling of feet and legs and it reduces stress and it is very calming for the nervous system.
Especially when combined with slowing down your breath.
When I put my legs up the wall
I noticed that they start to feel more rested and less heavy. And it's also just a really
relaxing thing to do. And for me also
my hamstrings are quite short and very prone to injuries. And I have had hamstring injuries in the past.
So this pose helps me to stretch out my legs and my hamstrings in a very soft safe way, without forcing it.
So if you want to, try it out sometime and see what you think and let me know your experiences.
Next healthy habit that I want to share with you is that I started adding some fruits to my breakfast and veggies to my lunch.
Now, of course if you prefer can also be the other way around, but for me this works best.
So instead of just having some yogurt for example as breakfast
I put some fruit in there. And instead of just having a sandwich for lunch
I add some greens and maybe a sliced up cucumber or bell pepper or maybe add a small salad, etc.
it can be tricky to make sure that you're always eating enough fruits and vegetables throughout the day. And
for me
I was used to eating fruits
basically only as a snack in between meals. And then
vegetables basically only with dinner. And if you do it this way
it can be quite tricky to make sure you're eating enough of them, especially with the vegetables.
So let's say that I am making a pasta for example. I do always put some vegetables in there
but if that's all that you're having, it's kind of tricky to make the recommended daily amount of
vegetables that way. So it really helps to add them to other meals of the day as well.
We all know that fruits and vegetables are super healthy. We know that they are loaded with
vitamins and minerals and fiber and we should be eating them every day for these things.
But I also noticed that adding some veggies to my lunch really helps me with staying full and saturated for longer and
It helps me with digestion and it's also just really yummy.
So I try to always have at least some fruits and vegetables in my home ready to go.
So I can add them to my meals. And also, fruits
they add some sweetness to my day, and I noticed that I'm now less prone to get
like chocolate cravings, or things like that, now I just prefer to eat some strawberries if I want something sweet.
Next healthy have it you might think is kind of duh, but it's really important.
And that is that I made my sleep more of a priority. And I really adopted that early to bed, early to rise lifestyle.
Sleep plays a vital role to your health. Be it mental health, physical health, or general well-being. And
getting enough of quality sleep at the right times can greatly impact how you feel throughout the day.
Yet a lot of people don't put too much thought in our sleep patterns, and they prioritize other things like staying up late to watch
Netflix or scroll on their phone. There are more benefits to getting proper sleep than I could possibly mention in this video.
So I will just give a few highlights here. A good night's sleep
improves learning and new pathways are formed in the brain to help remember information.
Sleep helps you to pay attention, make decisions, solve problems, and be creative.
It helps to control emotions and decrease mood swings, cope with change and lower the chances of depression and anxiety. And
quality sleep also plays a vital role in our physical health. Such as the health of our heart and blood vessels
Regulating our hormones, boosting our immune system, and supporting healthy growth and development.
I'm sure maybe some of you have heard this tip before.
But I do notice that not a lot of people actually turn sleep into a priority in their life.
And of course if you have small kids in the house
I know that sleep is almost always an issue and there's not that much that you can do about it
But even if you could make some really small changes
I know that that can at least help a little bit. And for me, I do notice when I started doing this one
I do feel a lot better.
Some of the changes I've made to make sleep a priority are introducing a sleep schedule
Going to bed and waking up roughly at the same time every day. No screens before bed
Adopting an evening routine, and reading before sleeping, making sure my room is dark and
turning the lighting down during the evening to prepare my mind for bedtime. If you guys are interested in a more in-depth
Healthy habits for a better sleep video, please
let me know in the comments. Because I have a lot more to share about this. And I also have a video
about why I don't participate in that waking up at 5 a.m trend
I will link it for you right here
If you want to check it out. Next healthy habit has been incredibly important for me and it is one that I am still
very consciously working on every day and that is mental energy management.
Basically what this means is, to be mindful of managing your energy levels throughout the day, to have perfect balance between
optimum productivity and making sure your energy doesn't get depleted.
Now I know a thing or two about having my energy levels depleted, because I have experienced a pretty severe burnout myself a
few years ago that took me a really long time to recover from.
For me, it didn't have that much to do with work stress or stress related things at all.
I just let my energy levels get so low that they didn't recharge anymore. And for me, being a highly sensitive person
I know that a lot of stimuli drain my battery more strongly probably than the average person.
So I also know that I need to take even more care than the average person as
annoying as that is sometimes. I like to think of mental energy as kind of a battery because it does have a maximum
capacity, and it is a finite resource. And our battery
recharges when we either rest or do something really fun that gets us excited. And
we use it up and then it goes down again.
So the trick to mental energy management is to make sure that you are aware of your battery
throughout the day.
So you know when to recharge, and when you can use it up a little bit more. All that
so that we can be productive and keep working and achieving results
While at the same time not letting it get so depleted that it doesn't really recharge anymore.
Some things you can do to manage your mental energy levels are
Cutting out distractions when you want to focus on work, and being actively engaged in what you are doing.
taking frequent small breaks
exercise
Planning and scheduling, and therefore relieving your mind of needing to remember everything.
No multitasking. And making the choice to mentally engage when it matters and disengage when it doesn't, because it is
impossible to be fully engaged mentally the whole day every day.
An important thing here that I want to mention, is that when you're taking those frequent small breaks
Make sure that they're actually breaks. So which means for example no screens
No watching a YouTube video or scrolling through social media, because those things still work with your brain.
So they're not really restorative.
So instead I choose to maybe stand near a window, drink a glass of water a cup of tea or do something completely
different so that I leave my brain alone for a while.
Now there are more things you can do. So again if you guys are interested in hearing more
please let me know so that I can make a in-depth video about how to manage your mental energy levels better.
Lastly, this healthy habit is also quite easy. But so few people actually do this on a regular basis
At least from what I've seen, and that is to be very intentional and aware of
the effect that something will have on your body
before eating or drinking it. And then making the choice to either do it or not. So let me explain what I mean.
I know that eating fries that are not natural and have a lot of additives and them will give me a stomach ache.
But I used to eat them anyway.
Whenever I crave them. And I knew that coffee would give me mood swings, but I used to drink it anyway.
And I knew that sugar would make me hungry, yet I would eat it anyway.
Not all the time of course, but you see what I mean. And for the last couple of years
I just don't really find it to be worth it anymore. So before I eat or drink something, I always ask myself first
How will this make me feel afterwards?
And am I okay with that? And then I choose to either eat or drink it or not.
But I always ask myself the question first. And this really helps me to make good
healthy diet choices most of the time. And it also depends on other
circumstances and my mood for example.
I know that I can have caffeine if I haven't had it before during the day, and also if I have just eaten
something, and if I don't combine it with sugar.
Then I know that it's fine.
But if I have not eaten anything for the last 3-4 hours, and someone asks me
Do you want to go get a cup of coffee with a piece of cake? So caffeine with sugar, I know
that it will make me feel horrible for the next 3-4 hours.
So then I don't do it. And of course alcohol
I do enjoy drinking alcohol occasionally, and I can kind of guess beforehand how it will make me feel.
So for example, if I'm already kind of tired and I decide to have a glass of wine with dinner.
I know that it will probably make me even more tired, and possibly even give me a headache.
Whereas sometimes I can have like an IPA or two
maybe even three
Well three is a bit much but you know what I'm saying, or even a glass of whisky or something, and I'm totally fine.
So there's an important difference.
What I've come to learn, is nothing that tastes good for a few minutes is worth feeling lousy over for the next 3-4 hours.
So always asking myself the question
How will this make my body feel afterwards, really helps me to make healthy conscious food choices.
This video is part of my healthy habits and self-care series.
So if you want more, check out these videos right here. Subscribe to the channel
Questions comments conversations down below, and as always have an amazing day, and I will see you again soon. Bye. Bye
