Recently, I’ve found myself at a well-being crossroad. Maybe you have too.
On one side, New Better Ways to take care of myself tease my curiosity. On the other, What’s Known to Work appeals with its unencumbered ordinariness.
I’m still straddling the fork. (You too?)
In the meantime, here are 10 lesser known things you can do to create a healthy lifestyle, some Known to Work, others New Better Ways. You decide what’s right for you.
10 Practical Health and Wellness Tips
1. Eat and sleep well
Okay, this is a well-known tip. But it’s so important, we can’t leave it off the list, so let’s get it out of the way.
Eating healthfully affects your entire being. Consuming whole foods, preferably mostly plant-based, is good for you mentally, physically and even emotionally. Think beans, grains, fruits, veggies and good-for-you oils such as olive oil, sesame oil and avocado oil.
It also means eating enough food, as in, not depriving yourself.
“Very low calorie diets limit vitamins and minerals, making it impossible to meet the daily requirements,” says Katie Breazeale, RD, a registered dietitian based in Texas.
Then there’s sleep: Don’t get enough of it, and you’ll go crazy and damage everything from your heart to your brain. There’s a reason sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
2. Get out of bed slowly
Alarm clocks are awful. In an ideal world, you’d wake up on your own time, so to speak.
You’re not meant to be jarred into wakefulness every morning, and if you’re yanked from a deep-sleep phase, you’ll be groggy, explains sleep researcher and expert Matthew Walker of UC Berkeley. Snoozing for 10-minute clips isn’t great either. If you must snooze, 45 minutes is better for waking during a more appropriate part of your sleep cycle, according to Walker.
Alarm or not, a slow acceleration toward full wakefulness is good, so don’t bolt from bed. Give yourself a few minutes to transition, maybe using the time to stretch gently, breathe intentionally or think of a few things you’re thankful for.
3. Be in (or near) nature
Interacting with the natural world makes every human feel better. Nature offers soft fascination, a state that recalibrates you. It happens when you look at the sky or listen to birdsong, for example.
If you live on a bucolic stretch of land, you can easily tick off this tip. Otherwise, make an effort to get outside somewhere you can touch plants or the earth, skin to surface. Even being near plants while inside your home helps, if that’s your only option.
4. Have treats (sometimes bundled with “chores” — yes that sounds weird)
You give your pet and kiddo treats. You need them too. Make sure you do something to treat yourself every day, even if it’s as simple as having 10 uninterrupted minutes to do whatever you want.
Coupling treats with habits you yearn to adopt means you get a twofer out of the deal. That’s backed by research, which behavioral scientist and University of Pennsylvania professor Katy Milkman lays out in her book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.
Milkman calls it “temptation bundling.” Here’s a classic example: listening to your favorite podcast or audiobook only while you exercise. You’ll be psyched to hear what happens with each episode — but you can’t find out unless you’re exercising.
5. Prioritize yourself (the right way)
Some people already prioritize themselves, but in an unhealthy way: They’re selfish. I’m going to assume you’re not, reader, and that you might even fall into the category of those who take on too much.
“I’ve been looking at self-care as an act of community care,” says Alex Elle, author of How We Heal: Uncover Your Power and Set Yourself Free. “Putting myself on the back burner does not serve my family. I have to be on the top of my list so that I can pour into my partner, pour into my children, pour into my work.”
And self-care is straightforward, despite what social media suggests.
“Often people think of self-care as an elaborate performance,” Elle says. “It’s like, no — sometimes it’s just washing your face.”
6. Delete something from your to-do list
Unless you’re obstinate or lazy, you probably agree to more than you want to. So pick something or someone to say no to, and say no frequently enough to understand you’re setting boundaries. Love is limitless, but resources are not, including your time.
7. Maintain a daily ritual
Your daily ritual doesn’t have to be a new line on your to-do list (we just deleted something, after all!).
My daily ritual is making morning coffee — a method that involves an expensive kettle with calibrated heat settings, a gorgeous hand grinder and a scale to weigh the proper ratio of coffee beans to water for my pour-over method.
A friend has a simpler morning ritual. She adds heated milk to her prepared hot tea because she notices an uptick in richness that way. One extra but easy step builds significance into what would otherwise be an unremarkable way to start her day.
8. Play
Adults need play too. I wrote a whole piece on this. Play can be as simple as doodling or joking with your roommate. Life carries seriousness when you’re older, but it’s not the whole story.
9. Floss
For the better stretch of my youth, including my early 20s, I didn’t floss. I have no idea why, but I can’t recall my parents or dentists from back in the day telling me to, so maybe that’s to blame.
Or perhaps times have changed. You can’t leave a dentist office now without a hygienist giving you a mini box of floss.
Whatever the history, at some point I came to understand how helpful flossing is to oral and overall health and how easy it is to do.
10. Find pre-sleep stillness
The worst time to contemplate the day that just ended or what’s coming up next is when your head hits the pillow. It’s a blueprint for insomnia. Yet, the quiet moments before sleep, when you’re finally away from stimulation, present the perfect environment for a swirl of thoughts to hit.
So set aside 10 to 20 minutes — though even 5 can help — a short while before bedtime to be still. Let your thoughts bubble up then, so you can free yourself for sleep.
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