This is the first advice we can give you. If you want to be healthy, watch your diet. The sacrosanct "eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day" is a rule that you must have heard dozens and dozens of times, but there is a reason for it. These fruits and vegetables have a protective role in the prevention of diseases that may appear at age, such as cancers (see also: preventing cancer, tips for a healthy lifestyle), cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes... They also provide the vitamins, minerals and fibers necessary for the proper functioning of the body.
For some doctors and nutritionists, you must even consume 7 or 10 fruits and vegetables a day! You should avoid eating too fat, too sweet or too salty. To help you feed better, it is possible to visit specialists, or to bring your Smartphone: some applications like Yuka, available on Android or iPhone, allow you to consume better by telling you whether a product you can find in large area is too salty, sweet, or stuffed with additives. Simple to use, these applications will make the thing more playful!
2. Practice Regular Physical Activity
There, too, it is surely something that you have often heard. But practicing regular physical activity is essential for your health, and for all ages. A physical activity helps to maintain body and mind, reduce mortality and also prevent the onset of certain diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or being overweight. It also helps to combat stress and sleep better.
No need to be a great sportsman to practice a physical activity. Walking or taking a bike to get to work or avoiding taking the elevator to take the steps are little things of the everyday life that can only do you good. Going to the pool or jogging regularly are also beneficial activities and do not ask for too much time.
The time you need to spend practicing this physical activity depends on your age: you can look at the World Health Organization's advice on this here. "Who defines physical activity as any body movement produced by muscles that requires energy expenditure – which includes movements performed by working, playing, performing household chores, moving and during leisure activities, "says who on its official website.
Good to know: "physical activity" should not be confused with the term ' exercising ', which is a sub-category of more deliberate, structured, repetitive physical activity, and which aims to improve or maintain one or more aspects of fitness.
3. Drink Plenty of Water
Water is essential to our survival. As a reminder, our body is composed of 60 to 70% water. Drinking water makes it possible to maintain a certain physical form (even if it is not enough to be healthy, of course), assures us a good mental form also and has virtues for health that you surely do not suspect. So you have to make sure you have enough water in a day to be on top. Physicians recommend drinking between 1.5 and 2 litres of water per day for an adult. A figure that can be revised upwards in case of strong heats like this summer or if you practise a sport, in order to hydrate you well.
4. Sleep Sufficiently
Do you know that you spend almost 25 years of your life sleeping? That is to say whether sleep has a predominant part in our existence and that it should not be neglected. But with the work, the studies, the family and all the other pressures inherent in daily life, your sleep time is greatly impacted. And that can hurt your health. Lack of sleep can have consequences on your mood, your mental state, your physical condition, can disrupt your metabolism or even increase the risk of developing certain diseases. So many reasons that need to push you to adapt your life rhythm to benefit from enough hours of sleep. According to the American National Sleep Foundation, the number of hours of sleep recommended depends on your elderly. This ranges from 14 to 17 hours per day for newborns at 7 to 8 hours for seniors (+ 65 years). A teenager (14 to 17 years old) will need 8 to 10 hours of sleep, a young adult (18 to 25 years old) from 7 to 9 and one adult (26 to 64 years old) from 7-9 hours of sleep. These are of course indications and then it all depends on the individuals.
5. Avoid Smoking and Drinking Too Much Alcohol
There, too, it may be something that makes sense to you. But to be healthy, cigarettes and tobacco are strongly discouraged. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the world. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the direct cause of 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million during the twentieth century.
Alcohol is another major cause of death: it is associated with 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2016. And if one has long believed that a small glass of wine or a beer from time to time was not so harmful to health, a recent study confirmed that this was not really the case (see also: alcohol is never good for your health).
"The most surprising result is that alcohol consumption, even in small quantities, contributes to global health loss," says research officer Emmanuela Gakidou, Professor of public health at Washington University. "We are accustomed to hearing that one or two glasses of alcoholic beverages are perfect, but the proofs evoke a different situation."
Alcohol and tobacco, the combo to absolutely avoid if you want to stay healthy and that must be banned, even in moderation so!
6. Relax
It may seem simple to say. But sometimes you have to "disconnect" mentally from your daily life and relax. This can go through a relaxing activity, which you can practice alone or in groups (yoga, relaxation...). You empty the mind can only be beneficial to your body, especially if you follow the previous tips!
7. Take Time for Yourself and Do What You Like
There-also, it's simple to say but sometimes difficult to do. For in the tumult of everyday life, between Metro-work-Dodo, it is sometimes difficult to take time for oneself. Not just to relax, as explained above. But to go out, see friends, do an activity (sports, culture...), visit his family... So many important moments for your personal balance.