Live Right!

Making time for physical activity in your daily routine as well as eating a healthy, well-balanced diet are necessary to living a healthier life. In conjunction with these two notions, taking time for yourself, relaxing, reducing stress, organizing your life and getting adequate sleep are essential to a healthier life.

Take time for yourself

Each day you should take some time for yourself and do something you enjoy. This could be a variety of things including reading a book, working in the yard, pampering yourself, listening to your favorite music, taking a walk, etc. Even if you only have 15-30 minutes to devote to yourself, make sure you work this time into your schedule. The most important person is you, and this will help you live a happy and healthy life.

Reduce stress

Stress can lead to an unhealthy life and should therefore be avoided. There are many stress relieving techniques to help you decrease stress. Some examples include: yoga, meditation, positive thinking, laughter and breathing techniques. Visit the Mayo Clinic's article on positive thinking as a way to reduce stress. For stress relief strategies visit holisticmed.com.

Organize your life

Time management is an important factor in making sure your life is organized, and it helps to reduce stress. Use a daily planner for meetings, appointments, commitments, exercise and anything else that is important to you.

Putting physical activity and time for yourself in to your daily planner will help to ensure that you perform these activities each day. If these are in your daily plan you are more likely to not schedule anything else that would conflict with this time, and the result will help you maintain a happy, healthy and stress free life.

Get adequate sleep

Make sure that you get enough sleep each night (recommended 7-8 hours depending on the individual). Make sure you are getting quality/uninterrupted sleep, and that you avoid leaving the television on when going to bed so that this sleep is not interrupted.