How to Set Yourself Up for Success With Your Physical Health

You only get one body, which has to last you for life. How can you extend its performance, adding years to your existence and filling them with more joy instead of aches and pains?

The specifics of how to manage your health are unique to you. However, some maintenance tasks are the same for all humans.

What should you focus on as the year draws to a close and you prepare for a fresh start? Here’s how to set yourself up for success in your physical health.

1. Stay Active

You might have heard gym rats quip, “sitting is the new smoking.” While sedentary behavior isn’t quite as bad as putting toxins into your body, it can still subtract more than a year from your life expectancy when it becomes habitual.

Furthermore, inactivity decreases your range of motion over time as your muscles grow weaker and connective tissues tighter. The result? You struggle to perform your daily routine, making it more likely that you’ll need a higher level of care as you age, becoming less independent.

The World Health Organization recommends between 30 and 60 minutes of physical activity each day, but it need not take the form of a lengthy gym workout, unless that’s your preference. You can also find plenty of apps and YouTube channels featuring shorter workouts of 10 to 15 minutes that you can squeeze in during a break. Activities like vigorous house cleaning and gardening also count toward your quota.

2. Focus on Food Choices

Everything you put in your body affects your health, including your food. However, you might be one of the many people who get stuck in the mindset of diets as deprivation. It’s too easy to succumb to binge consumption if you declare certain foods permanently off-limits.

Instead, focus on making better food choices. Perhaps the best thing you can do for your health is step up your meal prep game to focus on whole foods close to their natural forms and reduce your reliance on ultra-processed convenience meals. When you get in the kitchen, consider how you can make the healthiest food decisions for that meal instead of labeling some items “treats” and others “virtuous.” Substitutions can go a long way toward improving your overall nutritional intake and bettering your health:

White, all-purpose flour: This stuff absorbs quickly, leading to glucose spikes and more hunger. Plus, it isn’t good for your pancreas, creating even more blood sugar problems. Instead, use whole grain or ancient grain flour or chickpea or almond flour for gluten-free baking.
Red meat: This stuff ups your colorectal cancer risk in excess, so substitute a mix of mushrooms, lentils and hemp seeds for burgers and rely more on fish and poultry if you eat meat.
Sugary snacks: Do you have a sweet tooth? Too much sugar isn’t good for your teeth or your diabetes risk. Instead, choose dark chocolate or satisfy yourself with healthier alternatives to ice cream, like frozen yogurt with fruit. You’ll get plenty of probiotics and antioxidants instead of empty calories.

3. Develop a Positive Support System

Your mental health matters as much as your physical health. Indeed, one affects the other, and it’s neither secret nor surprising that many people with chronic illnesses often have anxiety and depression, too. In the words of spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh, what happens in the body affects the mind, and what happens in the mind affects the body.

Therefore, nurture your support system or work on creating one if you don’t have uplifting people on whom you can rely. Where can you look? Here are some ideas for building a positive social network:

Seek online and in-person support groups: You can find support groups for nearly every life crisis and chronic illness. Your local free ad paper and Google are great places to look. The Mighty has a directory for those with various health conditions, and SAMHSA offers mental health and addiction listings.
Volunteer with a cause you support: You can make friends through volunteering. Giving without the expectation of return shows your character and helps you connect with people who share your mission.
Know when to let go: You might spend more time than you like with negative people because you don’t want them (or you) to feel lonely. However, spending time with people who find the problem in every solution leaves less for your uplifters. You don’t have to be nasty and cut people off, but quietly exit stage left on those who only want to cause unnecessary drama.

4. Practice Self-Care Daily

Far too many people consider self-care indulgent. However, the World Health Organization defines it as any activities that promote health and help you manage existing conditions. More importantly, it’s a little reminder that you matter.

Practice self-care daily. It might look like little more than putting 30 minutes in your planner for a workout and taking the time to brush your teeth and hair and wash your face before bed. However, it’s crucial to your total well-being.

5. Establish a Sleep Schedule

Sleep is vital to health. Missing too much shuteye causes a host of adverse health symptoms like weight gain, and even one night of bad rest increases your accident risk.

Your best bet is a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Sticking to the same bed and wake-up time helps train your circadian rhythms so that you naturally start feeling tired around the same time each day. Make your bedroom conducive by banning electronics and investing in soundproofing or a white noise machine if you have noisy roommates or a snoring spouse.