Free wellness
There will always be a reason why NOT to prioritize your health. Common excuses come down to a lack of time and money. Yet, the fundamentals of a healthy lifestyle do not require either. So ditch the expensive products, classes, appointments, and procedures and focus on building sustainable habits you can start today! Here are 10 tips you can begin incorporating daily that promote health, wellbeing, and are entirely FREE:
1. Daily meditation
A consistent and effective meditation practice does not require 20 minutes of uninterrupted silence. You can receive the benefits of meditation by focusing on moments of deep breathing to help you ground and reset. If you have an apple watch, they incorporate a breathing practice that can send you reminders in the middle of the day to stop and breathe. My favorite app for meditation is Insight Timer (entirely free and has numerous meditations only minutes long).
2. Daily movement
Although going to the gym, for a run, or attending a workout class are great, daily movement can be much simpler. Just make an effort to move your body! Doing chores around the house, parking in a parking space farther from the entrance, stretching when you wake up, actually walking around the grocery store instead of ordering your groceries are all examples of daily movement.
3. Time in nature
Although this habit does include the word “time,” a way to incorporate immersion in nature throughout the day is finding daily activities that can be completed outside. If you WFH, find a coffee shop with outdoor tables or take your work call as you walk through the park. Instead of running on the treadmill, get outside!!
4. Sun exposure within 30 minutes of waking
Going back to our roots, we can utilize light to hack our bodies circadian rhythm (our sleep and wake cycle). Getting unprotected and direct sunlight upon waking helps the body regulate hormones to promote alertness and productivity, while also setting our internal clock to support quality sleep.
5. Dimming light and no blue light before bed
Decreasing cortisol levels and increasing melatonin starts with the dimming lights about an hour before bed. No blue light can be challenging, so start with wearing blue light glasses at night. I would recommend working towards turning off your phone 20-30 minutes before bed. Spend time reading or talking to your partner instead!
6. Grounding
The process of grounding is connecting your bare feet to the Earth. This can be standing or walking on sand, rock, or grass. Grounding has numerous scientifically supported benefits including intaking negative ions from the Earth's natural charge. This intake supports energy production, immunity, fights inflammation, and potentially stabilizes disease causing free radicals. (If curious- more on grounding https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/#:~:text=Grounding%20or%20earthing%20refers%20to,or%20with%20various%20grounding%20systems. )
7. CHEWING your food
With tips 7 and 8, you can throw out your bloat pills and digestive aids. Promoting easy digestion is really that simple! Our digestive process begins in the mouth when enzyme salivary amylase begins to break down our food. In order to begin the process of easeful digestion, we have to take our time actually chewing and breaking down our food before it even enters our digestive tract.
8. Order you eat your food
The order food is eaten not only aids digestion but also promotes optimal glucose levels. Simply eat in this order: greens first (salad, vegetables, etc.), protein (meat, tofu, etc.), and LASTLY carbohydrates (potatoes, bread, etc.). Hence why dessert is designed to be after your meal! Mid day cookies versus post dinner cookies may seem the same but they actually have very different impacts on your body!
9. Mental breaks
As I guaranteed when starting this list, giving yourself effective mental breaks requires very little time. Start by trying to stand up from your desk every hour on the hour. Take 10 minutes to eat your midday sandwich outside instead of in front of a computer screen or your phone. Even taking advantage of performing the bodily necessity of going to the bathroom gives yourself an opportunity for a mental break!
10. Gratitude practice
Don’t overcomplicate this. Gratitude is a mindset that you can strengthen overtime. I love psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen’s approach to programming his brain to have a great day- simply having the first thing you say to yourself in the morning before your feet even hit the ground, “today is going to be a great day.” Even if you don’t believe it, your subconscious is listening!
The best part about the simplicity of these habits is you can do them simultaneously. For example, when you let your dog out in the morning - stand outside (barefooted), take 3 deep breaths, and spend a moment soaking in the environment around you saying internally or externally “today is going to be a great day.” You have incorporated sun exposure, nature. grounding, meditation, and gratitude practice for the cost of -
Time: 3-5 minutes
Price: $0.00
Advantage of investment: Your health and happiness!
Another advantage of these simple “hacks” is that you may already be doing them! This goes to show our body intuitively knows how to support our health and vitality. It also goes to show that leading a healthy lifestyle isn’t far off from where you are now! It doesn’t require drastic change, excessive time, or money. Just small steps everyday to support the overarching goal of health and happiness.
I hope this serves as inspiration leading into the weekend!!! Happy 4th everyone!!
