Whether you do charity work, love to garden, redecorate your home or use your time to help your family, there is something far more important. That’s taking care of your health. Your best project will always be you, or at least it should be. Too many people put aside fitness, because they feel they’re being selfish using their time to make their life better. The reverse is actually true. If you don’t do your best to have a healthy lifestyle, it’s actually a selfish act. Not only could it result in illness, where you can’t help others, it also could require other people taking their time to help you. While you’ll look and feel better, fitness isn’t all about vanity. It’s about good common sense.
Exercising on a regular basis stay healthier.
Exercise is extremely beneficial to keep your body functioning at its best. One study showed that for every minute of exercise, you gained seven minutes of a healthy life. While these are just statistics, there are so many studies that prove exercising helps you maintain good health and none that show it’s unhealthy that you can’t ignore them. Not only does exercise help prevent diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and yes, even some forms of cancer, it also has been shown to be as effective for slowing bone loss of osteoporosis as some medications. The only side effects are more energy, better weight control and a toned fit body.
Eating healthy is part of the program
Do you grab quick snacks on the run? Do you skip meals because you’re too busy to eat and then binge on sugary treats later? Is fast food the only food you have time to eat? If you answered yes to all of these questions, you’re like millions of people in this country. Either work, family or both take their time and there’s none left over to sit prepare and sit down to a healthy meal. Luckily, there’s a solution. Learning to eat healthy means you can eat almost anywhere, but need to make smart choices in the foods you select. It may take a little extra time at the end of the day to prepare healthy snacks, but it’s well worth the effort and if you’ve started a workout program, you’ll have the extra energy to do it. If you’re a mother, the people who often put their needs last, learning to cook healthy not only boosts the potential for your good health, but the health of your family, too.
Feeling good about yourself provides a good mental state for helping others.
When you take care of your own needs, it’s a step toward appreciating yourself. Loving yourself may sound foreign or narcissistic, but it’s not. Loving yourself is a positive thing. It’s not saying you’re better than anyone else, but saying you are important enough to be treated with respect and kindness. That kindness and respect should start with your own self treatment. The first thing that many people notice when they start a fitness program is that their self-image improves. That’s a start. Once you feel you’re worthy, others will show you the same respect.
Exercise burns off the hormones created by stress. As every busy person can attest, life is filled with stressors. A vigorous workout can burn off the hormones created by stress that can create health issues.
Getting a good night’s sleep is important too. If you lay awake at night worrying about everyone’s needs, exercise can help. Not only does exercise burn off stress hormones and replace them with ones that make you feel good, it helps you sleep better at night, too.
Studies show that people who smile a lot are healthier. Taking care of yourself is validation that you’re a good person and that’s something to smile about, plus when you workout regularly, your body sends “happy hormones” to your system that makes smiling easier.
Your posture improves when you workout and you’ll feel better. Both give you a boost of energy that you can use to help others.