Small but significant healthy daily habits

[hallesmelly]

I'm in a rut at the moment in mind and body. Feeling anxious and not happy with my appearance or general health.

I need to make changes but I know there's no point trying to totally overhaul my life all at once because it will be overwhelming and I'll just fail.

So I'm thinking of trying to gradually introduce small but significant everyday habits to my routine. This week I'll try and get out everyday for a walk even if it's cold. I'll just get myself and the baby wrapped up and we'll go. Also need to give up booze totally but perhaps the wrong time of year for that one!

What else do you do as part of a healthy lifestyle?

Some great ideas here thank you all. The water thing is a brilliant one. I'm terrible for forgetting to have a drink. Like pp it can sometimes get to 4/5pm and I'll realise I've only had a coffee all day. I will try and have a big glass of water as soon as I get up. How hard can it be?

Vitamin d is a good idea too. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so bleh at the moment. I have recently started taking propranolol for my anxiety and I really thought it was going to be some sort of miracle pill that cured me overnight. It hasn't worked like that and I'm feeling pretty down and defeated about it all.

Switch to decaf, swapped wine for cider (don’t laugh!), took vitamins.

I've been doing daily yoga for the last couple of months. And I feel so good for it! I do Yoga with Adriene so it's totally flexible. I do it when my DC is napping.

She's got the 30 day series in January, which would be a good time to start.

Drink a litre of water every morning before my cup of tea!

Keep going with your propranolol. It took three weeks to work with me, but that was absolutely amazing. Be patient!

I do calf raises when I boil the kettle in the morning .

I do squats before I dry my hair.

Started on 5 a day each and now am up to 30 a day .

My legs are looking great and I find walking up hills easier as my leg muscles in better shape.

5 a day is easy and makes you feel like you are looking after yourself.

Use the time while the kettle boils and while you brush your teeth to do squats or calf raises.

@Rainbowqueeen snap 😂

This year, I’ve used a habit tracker app with phone reminders to prompt me to take vitamins in the morning, and floss my teeth at night, and for the first time ever (after many previous attempts to get into a routine with both) I feel like they’re now ingrained and automatic.

Vitamin-wise, I take a multi vitamin+iron, evening primrose oil, and have recently added a specific skin/hair/nail supplement, and feel much better - previously my iron levels were always low.

Over the last month, I’ve started overhauling the diet, and agree with a PP about changing one meal at a time. I bought a food flask so I can take soup/leftovers to work for lunch, and get out of the rut of sandwich/crisps/fruit that never actually left me feeling satisfied.

a few things that work for me :

Go to bed early , wake up early

A cup of water first thing

a limit on screen /phone time
exercise

Eat more fruit/vegetables

find something that brings you joy , and do it ! I heard someone once say that if you don’t have anything that brings you joy , think about what brought you joy as a child .

5-10 minutes of yoga/ stretching to activate/ wake your body for the day.

Yoga with Uliana has a good selection of short videos that are seated or standing so you don't have to make much space- just enough to stand with legs apart or sit, not a whole body square! (I like Adriene for longer practices)

I hit a low point when DS1 was 1 at this time of the year. I hadn't had a good sleep in 18m and his napping routine consumed much of the daylight. I'd end up just bundling him into a snow suit and the buggy without the palaver of "getting ready for the day" and going for a walk, getting some daylight and movement was a good mood raiser.
Daylight is very important, especially at this time of year and 5-10 mins can make a big difference.

If I make my bed in the morning it feels like a nice treat to get into at night.

Half hour yoga three times weekly at home.

Gteen juicing alternate days with Nutri Ninja.

When I drink water and have an apple before breakfast for some reason it nudges my body and mind into a healthier day, I don’t know why! Also would recommend vitamin d. Best of luck op!!

Make your bed

Wipe worktops in the kitchen

Never leave a room empty handed (learned this in hospitality but carries over to domestic life)

Drink more water

Put washing away straight away

I do 'press ups' against the worktop while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil.

I stand on one leg while cleaning my teeth.

I eat 3 good meals a day but try not to snack between meals.

I use the Three Good Things app every night to record my wins of the day (can highly recommend it for improving mood).

This was my answer too 😏

Yoga works fine for many, but if you suffer with anxiety, you may want something a bit more energetic. I highly recommend HIIT workouts (try Growingannanas on YouTube) and working out with dumbbells. Have a look at Caroline Girvan - she has absolutely brilliant weight and resistance based workout programmes. Very important as we age, particularly during the menopause, when bone loss intensifies.

Never walk up the stairs without taking something that needs to go up with me.

10min swift workout right after I wake up. Pint of water with it.

Face massage in the evening. Double winner with being good for skin AND relaxing so good for mind.

Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins. Even with good diet, still need D and multi on top.

Variety.

A variety of fruits and veg.
A variety of breakfasts - wholemeal toast, porridge with dried fruit
Vegetarian a couple of times a week
Fish sometimes rather than meat
Different exercise, walking yes, but maybe a bit of yoga when LO is a sleep, or weights

And plenty of sleep

James Clear's book 'Atomic Habits' is really good about creating new habits. As well as habit stacking (mentioned above, linking a new habit to an established one), something that I found effective was how you think about yourself. It's hard to act against your own view of you. If you believe you're someone who (me, for eg) eats crap and takes no exercise, that's hard to change. If you change your mindset and tell yourself that you're someone who makes healthy choices, and makes the time to cook good food, or exercise, then in time NOT doing it becomes acting against your belief about yourself and is hard to do.

Badly explained, the book is better. I'm just about to head to the gym. It works!

Alcohol definitely won’t be helping, maybe make it a NY resolution to give it up for good. I don’t miss drinking. I have an odd glass now, I previously drank 3/4 bottles on a weekend, easily. It made me feel rubbish and solved nothing.

I second water and vitamins, getting out daily is good, using good skin creams helps and a daily shower will make you feel better about yourself

Listen to Michael Moseley's Just One Thing podcast, he talks about one daily habit (obviously builds up to many!) to improve your life. E.g squats are the most useful exercise you can do, dark chocolate is a great replacement for snacks, standing on one leg to improve balance, morning walks to improve sleep etc. Most are easy to incorporate

Following because I feel completely the same.

I've started to cut back on the booze during the week, was speaking to a friend at the weekend who has cut back to only Saturday evenings now and feels so much better for it, so am aspiring to do the same.

I know everyone says they'll turn over a new leaf in January, but definitely once I get Christmas out of the way I'm going to do something productive with the morning I have off when the kids are in school. Do a class at the leisure centre or a spa session at the leisure centre every other week (I already pay for it in our family membership 🙈)

I've started a daily multivitamin too, makes me feel like I'm doing something positive.

Definitely looking for inspiration though as I need to do something!