What are the top most important things you do for your health?

[Pen89ox]

I know this is more of a discussion than an advice board, and to be fair I’m interested it from a discussion perspective too but being fully truthful, I am looking for ideas. So what are your top 1/2/3 things you do for your physical/mental health? Do you eat certain foods? Take certain supplements? Do a certain exercise? See a certain type of specialist e.g. Osteopath? Acupuncture?

I’m totally blown away by Google suggestions. For the past 18 months since returning to work full time after mat leave I’ve felt like a shadow of my former self in many ways (was fine on mat leave - it seemed to coincide with returning to work/covid vaccines/getting covid). To keep it brief as possible, psoriasis that hadn’t bothered me for 7 years prior has come back with a vengeance, any virus that hits the house floors me whilst my partner doesn’t do so much as one sneeze, I have muscle and joint aches, skin very dull, anxiety pretty bad. I’m just in general run down. Had two blood tests in last 18 months and both fine. Energy levels fine (considering busy life), it’s just a lot of minor stuff but seems to worsen as winter draws in. I don’t drink or smoke (anymore) and take a multivitamin, eat minimal processed foods etc.

So now I’m looking at what I can do to help myself and totally looking for recommendations, if anyone has any before I spend money on random stuff that might not work.

Get outside every day
Sleep at least eight hours per night
Eat home cooked food
Drink loads of water
Don't smoke
Don't take drugs

Yoga - I’m struggling with sleep due to menopause so do one aimed at sleep every night. On YouTube, only takes 15 minutes

Walk every day

Eat mainly veges for dinner and lunch most days

Cold water swimming for stress relief and immune system

While I am overweight, one thing I do is use a personal trainer twice a week. I use her for motivation - I used to workout to videos and go to the gym in my 20s and 30s/40s, but I found I needed more pushing as I got older. We do a combination of kettlebells and pilates. I also walk. What I really need to do is halve my wine consumption and eat better!

Swim regularly
Non smoker
Make regular time for real true friends for mental health chat and fun too.

Get enough sleep

Floss teeth to keep plaque at bay

Walk outside in nature

Eat unprocessed foods as much as poss

No alcohol. No hangovers, no next day jitters, just calm.
Eat a bit less than you think you need and keep it as simple and as unprocessed as possible.
Do the 16/8 eating plan. Eat what you like during the window and fast outside of it. I'm so used to it now that it is normal for me, exceptions made for bad days, birthdays, weddings, holidays of course! It brought me out of pre diabetes within a couple of months. Result.
No smoking. Vape if you must, that won't harm you like cigs.
Walk more than you think you need. At least 5k steps a day for five or six days in the week. More if you can, but no need to kill yourself either. Movement and fresh air are great for the soul.
Those are the things I do, but I am no angel or saint either.

REST! I have a 2 year old and work 4 days a week. I have really noticed how important adequate rest is for my health. Both actively resting (mediation, yoga) and just switch off and unwind time. And trying to get sleep where I can.

I also walk the dog and make sure I maintain some social hobbies.

Sleep
Private healthcare
Long walks
Hug my children
Voluntary work
Long baths

Need to

Eat better
Lose half a stone
Do some weight bearing exercise
Sort out my marriage.

Take daily probiotics & spirulina supplement.
exercise, get outdoors, swim in the sea ☺️
eat until 75% full, not stuffed full.
sun cream daily on face
minimise ultra processed food
eat loads of colours- fruits& veg

Exercise for me is no 1. Different types,like yoga,weights,swimming,high intensity workouts.
Then what you eat. Make it best quality ,masses of different types of fruit and veg,like 30 different types a week,no junk good,mi imal alchol,sugar etc. I rarely do this myself continuously, but always notice how crap I fee after say a week of not eating that well.
Then being organised ie get washing done and put away,keep on top.of admin etc.helps me feel.less frazzled.

Have you had Covid recently? Or a Coeliac test? Looking at your list of symptoms the first thing I'd try would be a low histamine or GF diet to see if it made a difference?

DH is all aches and pains if he eats gluten rich foods, as is DS (though he's just over 2 years of having Long Covid so that's the least of his problems). DS takes daily probiotics, multi vitamin, Vit D and a antihistamine but it's rest that is best for his health.

At the moment I'm anaemic so I take 2 iron tablets a day. I go for a 30-50 minute walk every day but am dark skinned so I take Vit D in the winter.

I rarely eat red meat (maybe once every couple of months), don't smoke or take drugs. Meals are mostly home made with lots of fruit and veg. No soft drinks though I do drink alcohol. No excessive salt or processed meats. Both my parents have kidney problems so I'm determined not the end up the same.

Maintain a healthy weight
Eat a well balanced diet of healthy food, as little as possible processed, deep fried etc. Focus on cholesterol-beneficial foods.
Exercise, enough to raise heart rate and get out of breath. Cardio and strength training- various.

I am almost never ill.

My Mum eradicated her psoriasis patches with neat aloe Vera gel.

1 Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep! I refuse to sit up and watch crap on TV “just because!” I’d rather be in bed getting sleep. I’ve always been a big sleeper though

2 Walking the dog twice a day. I’m lucky I live beside the sea so am down on the beach or in the off lead park every day. I meet other doggy friends so it’s a chance for me to socialise too as I work from home full time

3 Music. I am a huge music fan and my Spotify account is my sanity. I have earphones permanently attached to my ears!

Exercise, take vitamins, eat nutritious meals, try to get enough sunshine, go in nature, sleep enough

-Meditation (there’s a guided one on Netflix which is easy to follow)
-Acupuncture
-very limited alcohol
-probiotics/ multi vitamins/ b12 supplements
-cutting out junk and eating more fruit/veg
-spending more time in nature

Nothing really ... but I take time to relax, enjoy my life, have a positive attitude and don't stress about being unhealthy .

Get your BMI within a normal range.
don’t smoke.
don’t be vegan (you cannot get all essential vitamins and minerals from a vegan diet)
don’t eat much processed food
take vitamins D between October and June
do exercise which raises your heart rate three times a week

Swimming - it feels a little like meditation because of the breathing. It calms my brain the whole day afterwards and sometimes into next day
Walking
Eat more whole foods and less processed foods
Go out with friends even when I don't feel like it
Problem solve at work
Watch good movies
Things I know would help but struggle with:
Sleep
Relax
Read

So I try to-

lift weights 3x a week
not drink too much alcohol ( this is a work in progress)
get 7-8 hours sleep
keep my weight down

I alternate yoga or interval training for 20 mins every morning (don't always do it on days I go to the office - usually twice a week)

Go to the gym twice a week for 45-60 mins each time.

I have a 'bike desk' and use it for medium-strain pedalling when I'm WFH and have meetings when I just need to listen in, or if no suitable meetings, then while watching telly. I try to use at least 3 times a week for 40 mins each time.

Eat fruit chopped into cereal/overnight oats every morning

Generally avoid driving short distances and walk instead.

I'm nearly 45 and not very sporty, flexible or fitter than average, but it all helps me maintain reasonable health I think. Anyone without health problems should be able to manage what I do physically - I appreciate it is harder logistically with littler kids than mine or if you don't have a partner, though.

Exercise - weights and cardio. Have also just started a flexibility program once a week as I realised I might be reasonably fit, but I’m not as flexible as I once was. It’s actually quite calming when I do it, with a meditation at the end, which was surprisingly ok. I didn’t think it the meditation would be for me, but I’m giving it a go for the time being.

Walk the dogs and listen to music/podcast/audible. Or just use it as thinking time.

I try to eat healthy and maintain a good weight.

Don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol a lot.

Only supplement as necessary.

Learned to say: no, that doesn’t work for me. Game changer that one.

I think it’s trial and error to find what works for you. But also you must find ‘something’ in whatever you do, ie, only do exercise you enjoy or you’ll resent doing it. I used to run, but stopped enjoying it so swapped to mainly gym instead.

Spend time doing what makes your heart sing.
Move your body every day.
Don’t smoke
Cultivate friendships and nurture relationships.
Limit alcohol
Get enough sleep.
Don’t obsess about your weight. Overwhelmingly diets fail. Think about being strong rather than thin.
Talk to yourself like you would talk to a friend. Why are we so damming of ourselves with self talk?

Exercise. Mostly weights, but every other day (combined with an active job) for strength, mobility, daylight, something to do instead of sit at home eating and mental wellbeing.

Good food, very few highly processed things or high in sugar. No fasting, cutting out food groups beyond the ones I have to for medical reasons or resigning myself to something I don't particularly like because it's marketed as being 'healthier'

And the main one - injecting 150mg of biologic medication for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis every fortnight.

I have recently helped a friend celebrate her 50th birthday and it has been shocking to me how many women of that age (my age!) have such poor health. Within the group about half could manage a three mile walk at a steady pace (it’s actually very slow!). So many who have lost tone and flexibility through lack of exercise. Also the alcohol consumption. (No-one smokes).

Hormone dysfunction is definitely a factor a nd having to be your own thyroid specialist seems almost common.

so all the stuff mentioned here is true, but poor health can just happen to you regardless.

@FreudayNight post hit home with me. I do minimal exercise and drink when I want. When I went to Dubrovnik I struggled to do the 5000 city wall steps. When I took ds1 to visit Durham Uni, I struggled with how severely hilly the Uni was as we went around many different depts.