Written by: Lynne Wadsworth, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Now that the warmer weather is on its way, we feel that sense of excitement, anticipation, and a feeling of wanting to reconnect and renew.
As with many of us at this time you year, you may be considering changing your lifestyle so you can live a more disease-free and healthy life. For many of us, especially as we age, this becomes our 1 focus in life.
For some, the warmer weather may cause a little trepidation as spring arrives and the pollen wreaks havoc on the immune system. It can totally knock some people “out for the count.”
Whatever situation you find yourself in as the warmth of spring arrives, I think we all could agree that we want that healthy life. We certainly don’t want to have to manage sickness or disease.
You may know that changing your diet and exercise routine are part of that – wanting a healthier YOU, and boosting your immunity. After that, you may be drawing a blank.
There are some daily healthy habits you can start doing to keep you illness-free and upgrade your health.
I want to share a few of the habits that you may not have considered, or may not even think about. Maybe, you think you can't apply these small habits to your life to experience better health. But honestly, they can be a game-changer for us.
Meditate
You may think that meditation sounds odd for a daily habit that reduces illness. To be honest, for many years, I thought that the whole mediation thing was a little ‘woo-woo. But the truth is, it can be as simple and natural as you want it to be
And the great news is that meditation can have a direct connection to your overall health.
Meditation can be done in many forms, but the most important thing is that it helps your body to slow down. It helps you to focus on root issues and find ways to handle those issues so they don't get out of hand. It allows you to calm down from daily issues such as problems with your children, work, or just things that are upsetting you. It is a time to reflect and to focus on your overall emotional health.
When you don't deal with these emotional and mental issues, you cause your body to become tense and stressed. This tension and stress can increase your blood pressure, cause headaches, and lead to your immune system breaking down. Simple daily meditation habits can help reduce that and increase your chances of an illness-free lifestyle.
Journaling
It took me quite some time to get on board with this one.
Journaling maybe the word you hear that immediately makes you cringe. It does bring to mind the idea of daily journal entries that are tedious. But as I learned, the truth is, you can journal in a number of fashions, including video journaling. The reason journaling works to help keep illness at bay is because of what journaling is supposed to do. It has a direct connection to stress levels and can reveal stress-inducing instances and people that you may not have even thought of as being an issue.
For example, if you are feeling anxiety and you have worked through the normal checklist of suspects, journaling can help you narrow down the others. By working through a journaling process on a daily basis, you will find yourself able to rant, able to release stress, and able to figure out what may be causing undue stress so you can remove it.
Reduced stress means a calmer body and mind, which means your body works at a more efficient level and your immune system is healthy and able to fight off illness.
I have even used my journal in the past to write letters to my mother after she passed. I was so filled with grief and despair that when my friend suggested I do this, I did so reticently but expectantly. It helped me so much to pour out my feeling to her in those letters, and helped me feel connected again as I worked through my grief. It lifted me out of my depressed state back to normalcy.
Hydration
Wow! You might be asking. How can something as simple as hydration make a difference? You’d be surprised.
While you may have a great meditation, journaling, workout routine, and diet routine those aren’t the only components to your healthy lifestyle.
You may think that you’ve got it all figured out because you’re doing these other things so well, but if you are still getting sick, you may be missing the biggest link to reducing that illness.
If your hydration is off, you could be causing stress within your body and organ system. Your body needs water to work properly and efficiently ‒ and no, juicing doesn’t cover it.
If you have everything else covered and you’re still getting ill, try to increase your water intake. You can do this with several methods, including gallon jug marking and apps that are designed to remind you to drink water. You can even make it as simple as setting a reminder on your phone to drink your water.
By applying these habits to your daily routine, you will start to notice that your immune system seems to be stronger and you seem to get sick at a reduced rate.
Keep in mind that a lot of the healthy habits you take on have nothing to do with eating or supplements and more to do with keeping your mind and emotions as healthy as everything else.
During the pandemic, many of us have sought ways to boost our immunity. Whether you are “immune-compromised” or you’re just wanting to lessen your odds of getting sick ‒ and especially contracting COVID ‒ these are some of the simpler options for you to try to incorporate into your daily lifestyle.
Never underestimate the value and importance of these important but simple elements of your healthy life. A healthy life is a happy life. So remember those important pieces that connect us even more deeply mind~body~spirit.
If you need some help in getting the healthy balance and increased immunity, plus adding some small steps to reach your big health goals this spring, I’d love to chat.
Email me at lynne@holistic-healthandwellness.com and schedule your HEALTHY YOU focus session with me today. This is a free call and by the end of it, you’ll have some Next Step Strategies, A free tool or 2 to get you started and a simple Action Plan to set you up for success with your health. I’m here to help.
Lynne Wadsworth, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Lynne Wadsworth is the owner and founder of Holistic Health & Wellness, LLC. and an AADP Certified Holistic Health practitioner who earned her certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York. She is also a Certified Wellness Cooking Instructor. After being a "professional yo-yo dieter" for most of her life which led to disease, sickness and daily migraines, Lynne decided enough was enough and went on to create her own strategies to dramatically decrease her migraines, learning to ditch the "diet mentality, enhance her energy exponentially, easy lifestyle changes that lead to permanent healthy lifestyle changes, while making these solutions easy for her clients. Lynne’s area of expertise involves working with women who are tired of the changes they see and experience on a daily basis leading to fatigue, weight gain, inflammation and less than optimal health. She helps them achieve a higher level of health, allowing them to experience more energy, less belly bloat, fewer mood swings, headaches, sugar cravings, and weight loss. She believes that living in health and wellness takes in many areas of our lives and approaches her work holistically - not just with diet and healthy eating. She has dedicated her life to helping her clients make permanent changes with easy-to-incorporate simple steps to health, while helping others unleash the true miracle of life within their own body. She is also an author of two books on migraine prevention as well as being host to the Living Life Naturally podcast, educating on the power of a natural, healthy life. She has been a blogger on CureJoy, earned Top Honors in the Health Coaching Field with International Association of Top Professional (as seen on ABC, NBC, Fox and CW), Outstanding Professional of the Year for The International Society of Business Leaders and Professional of the Year at NAPW.
