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Easy-to-Adopt Health Tips for Busy Adults

CSI is proud to present this insightful and informative post

written by Julia Mitchell

A healthy lifestyle can help minimize the risk of serious illness and result in a longer lifespan. That doesn’t mean you’re never allowed to eat sweets and have to run five kilometers every day. Many smaller, easy-to-adopt habits can make a big difference to your well-being. The guide below covers some actionable health tips that even busy adults can incorporate into their lives.

Ensure you’re getting enough sleep

Sleep allows your mind and body to rest and recharge. Unfortunately, many adults don’t get the Zs they need. In fact, according to Direct Line Group, one in seven Brits gets dangerously low levels of sleep, reporting that they get less than five hours per night. Aim to get at least seven hours per night. If you have trouble drifting off, it may be time to revamp your sleeping space. Adding black-out curtains and a white noise machine can help.

Make healthy eating and exercise fun

Grandmother with her grandson stirring cake mix in a mixing bowl
Cooking can be fun & stress-free. [picture courtesy of Pexels.com]

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be a drag. The NHS offers recipes that are affordable and delicious for the whole family. They even include lunchbox ideas for the kids. You can also make healthy eating more enjoyable by making cooking something that’s fun instead of a chore. Put on some music or listen to your favorite podcast while you prepare meals. Take a similar approach to exercise: Working out with a friend can make it more fun.

Grab a coffee with a friend

Leading a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have to be complicated. Something as simple as seeing a friend for coffee can be helpful, especially for your mental health. Age UK reveals that strong social connections help to keep our brains healthy as we age and may even minimize the risk of dementia. Maximize the impact by combining healthy activities. For example, grab a friend and prepare a healthy meal or go for a walk together. Make healthy activities social.

Come up with ways to manage stress

Stress can negatively impact your mental health, increasing your risk of everything from depression to anxiety. It’s important to come up with tools to help manage it. For example, you might try a tool like meditation. Other stress management tips include establishing your priorities, reaching out to family or friends, and spending more time in nature. Simply going for a walk outdoors can make a difference.

Create a calming atmosphere at home

Your home is supposed to be your safe space. You definitely don’t want to be stressed here. If you’re at ease within your own four walls, make a change. For example, clutter is shown to be a cause of stress. Help eliminate clutter by digitizing your paperwork. To make the most of your digital document storage and save space on your hard drive, use a PDF merging tool. For example, you can put all your health paperwork into one document. This could help you get organized.

Try tech tools to support your health

A PDF merging tool is just one technology that can enhance your health. There are plenty of other technologies to help, too. For example, fitness apps can help you track your diet and exercise habits. You can also get a step counter, like a Fitbit, to track how much you’re walking. Research suggests that an active lifestyle, even if it’s just a lot of walking, has a big impact on health outcomes. Get those steps in every day, and you’ll improve your health.

Living a healthy life may seem daunting at times. However, if you break it down into small steps, it will get a lot easier. The above guide covers actionable tips that aren’t complicated to implement into everyday life, no matter how busy you are.

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short stories

Wonders never cease for an insomniac who gets some sleep!

Insomnia can be one of the hardest things in life to deal with. We, as humans, require a certain amount of sleep to be able to function during our wakeful hours. Without the proper amount of sleep, our bodies and brains have a hard time keeping up with what is needed to accomplish anything at all. This includes simple things like having a conversation or comprehending directions without being told twice. To those who have never experienced insomnia, this may sound like a funny story. However, for those who know the woes of insomnia, this is no laughing matter.

Person laying in bed with insomnia

Most people have had insomnia at least once in their lifetime and understand how this affects them the following day. For those who have had it a time or two, think of those who live with it constantly. It is understandable that these people are more irritable and sometimes downright mean to the others, who enjoy their eight good hours of sleep. I say eight hours just because that is a rule of thumb. Different people require different amounts of sleep. Some may do fine with four hours, while someone else may require twelve to be at their peak performance. While the majority of people enjoy their four, eight, or twelve hours of restoration, the insomniac would do anything for one or two hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep. 

The insomniac will try anything to get some form of sleep, including taking sleeping medications. The problem with this is that the medications also create other problems, like headaches and drowsiness, which affect us in our wakeful hours. So, all in all, they still have a problem being at their best when they are awake. So, the solution to using medications is really no solution at all. The person taking these over-the-counter medicines is not much better off than not sleeping as much as needed in the first place! If you don’t get enough sleep, you will feel like crap, be irritable, and not be able to perform at a high level in anything. On the other hand, if you take the over-the-counter medications and get some sleep, you will find the effects of headaches, be irritable, and not be able to perform at your best. Are you seeing the problem here? With or without the pills, peak performance cannot be achieved. 

Now, let me explain that I am not a doctor of any sort. (Well, maybe a doctor of self philosophy, ha ha). But I have no degree in what causes insomnia. The only thing on which I am basing the information I am presenting is that, well, I am an insomniac. I live with this affliction almost every day. The few days a month that I get a restful night of sleep (usually once a day out of fourteen) are because my body almost shuts down on me. I become so tired that I can literally fall asleep standing up! I have tried many things to cure my sleeplessness, but to no avail. The one thing I have found is that if I use these over-the-counter drugs, it makes things worse. Yes, I can sleep, but I sleep very restlessly with nightmares and wake up feeling like crap.

Men in line at boot camp are getting yelled at by company commander

I will add here that insomnia is caused by many different things. Veterans (like myself) are more prone to insomnia than those who have never served. I thought on this and found why I personally believe this to be true. Veterans are trained to always be thinking ahead to the next task that must be completed. We were taught to always be ready at any given time for any situation. Our brains must always be tuned into the coming situation, whether we know what’s coming or not. I was a firefighter in the US Navy, and even in my deepest sleep at the time of service, I could be awake and fully functioning in a matter of seconds to do the job I was trained for. This works very well in the military because you have others in the same situation as you, and we lean on each other for help if needed. The problem comes when the airman, sailor, or soldier becomes a civilian, and his or her needs change. No longer do you have the support of many men and women around you, and the need to be ready in a matter of seconds is no longer a part of your life. However, the training to always be thinking ahead is so deeply instilled in the veteran that he or she has a tremendous difficulty getting that part of their brain transformed back to civilian life. To a civilian who hasn’t served, this sounds ridiculous. However, to a veteran, this makes complete sense.

Man getting a good night's sllp

So, how do we get past these sleepless nights? This is a question I wish I knew the answer to. If you know, please inform me. I sure could use that information. The best way that I, personally, have found help through meditation. The times that I can focus on something particular, like a tree or a certain model of a car (mine is the 1969 Ford Mach 1), it helps. I have to put all other things aside. I cannot think of bills, things that need to be fixed around the house, or even family (both good and bad). Once I achieve this task, which seems simple but really isn’t, I can fall asleep. The question then is, “Can I stay asleep and keep the nightmares away?” This I still have not mastered, and so about once every fourteen days, I will fall into a deep sleep and stay that way for anywhere from twelve to sixteen hours. After this time, I feel great for one day, and then it’s back to thirteen more grueling days of insomnia. However, every once in a great while, I will achieve that inner peace and be able to focus on my dream car or that big tree and fall into a relaxing sleep.

For those who deal with insomnia, my heart goes out to you. I wish you the best of luck in breaking whatever pattern is causing your affliction. Hopefully, one day, we will all enjoy night after night of restful sleep. Until next time, have a good night, and remember, we are all in this together.

Dreams can tell us more than we think

     It is very true that dreams pick up on our thoughts throughout the day but what about solving problems that we don’t have the answers to? I am here to say exactly that. Our dreams can give us the answers we are looking for if we just learn to pay attention to them. Our brain is a wonderful tool especially while we are sleeping. With the body at rest, the brain has extra time to work on other things like the solutions we seek during the day.

    Our brain during sleep is much more useful than we give it credit. While the body rest, our brain can actually accomplish work that we don’t allow it during the day. We go to sleep thinking that’s it, sleep, but what if we were to give our brain a job to accomplish while we sleep? We can take a problem that we need the answer to and tell our brain to figure it out while we rest. The trick is to give it to our brain and then forget about it. Don’t make it a struggle or you will not be able to get the rest you need for the other parts of your body. This takes practice and time to set up but once mastered, you will find the answers easily and without the hard thought you have been using up until now.

Lady sleeping

     Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and something you have been working on all of the sudden looked so simple? Then later when you get up for the day, you can’t remember what it was? You are not crazy, your brain just gave you the answer but you didn’t do a simple thing when you received the message. Keep a notebook and pencil beside your bed. When you are awaken, write down what you see while it is fresh and when it’s time to get up, read what you wrote and it will amaze you!

     Now the way to set up your brain to figure out problems at night is to write down the problem in question form and read it to yourself before bed. You are now giving your brain an assignment for the night. Once you have done this, forget about it and let it happen naturally. Some people listen to music as a way to fall asleep. This is great if you do it the correct way not taking focus away from the assignment you have given your brain.  What I mean is the type of music can help or hurt what you are trying to accomplish. Don’t go to bed listening to Rock & Roll or Country music.  I too love these kinds of music but it will take away focus from your brain and it won’t be able to complete its assignment for the night. Instead listening to classical music without words is a much better alternative.

Hands playing piano

     Classical music is a great relaxation type of music to listen to help us sleep. Make sure it is something soothing like piano and with no singing involved. I recommend Chopin if you want to listen to piano. I myself would never listen to this kind of music on a regular basis but for what we are trying to do, it works very well. Listening to rock will keep your heart rate up and keep you from the peaceful sleep we are seeking. Country music tells a story and will keep the brain working with the story it is being told.

Some people use relaxation apps that have things like running water, the ocean with seagulls or forest sounds. These are great for resting but I have found they also lead my brain into coming up with stories to fit the sounds being pumped in. For me if I listen to water trickling, it makes me dream of needing to fix the leak and also that I need to get up and use the restroom. If I listen to the ocean, I have wonderful dreams of being at the ocean but I need to dream of the answer to my problem not walking on the beach. If these work for you, great but I found classical music ( without words ) fits what I’m trying to accomplish during sleep.

     You may find it hard at first to get the answers you seek but this process will help you get on the right path of finding your answers. Once you have mastered this process, you will wonder why you haven’t tried this before and gotten better sleep without the worry. You will also be amazed how well it works.

     I hope some or all of you will try this and let me know how it’s going for you. You can contact me in various ways on my page as well as leaving comments to this post. Take care, get some good sleep, let your worries go and Remember, we are all in this together.