4 Ways To Be Kind To Yourself and Your Body
When you think about being kind to yourself, you often think about treating yourself to things you like and not putting too much pressure on yourself in life. However, did you know that one of the kindest things you can do for yourself is to look after your body? While many people spend their younger years abusing their bodies with the wrong foods and drinking too much alcohol, they don’t see the effects this has until years later. However, if you do look after your body, even when you don’t feel like you have to, you will soon start to feel and look better than ever, and it’s a feeling better than any food or drink could ever give you. So, what can you do for yourself as a gift to your body?
Stop smoking
Are you seriously still smoking in 2020? Cigarettes increase your risk for heart disease (which accounts for 35 to 40 percent of all smoking-related deaths), emphysema, cancer, stroke, asthma, lung infections, and dementia. Do you need any more of a reason?
Drink More Water and Less Alcohol
If your mouth is dry and you are feeling tired then you could be dehydrated. Your body cannot function without water and it not only helps maintain your body’s temperature but it also reduces high blood pressure, fights fatigue, eliminates digestive disorders, and slows the aging process. Not only this, but drinking water can also help with weight loss. When it comes to alcohol, not only is this empty calories and usually full of sugar, there are the bad food choices you make when drunk and the hangover the next day too. You could end up paying for one night out in more ways than one, and is it really worth it? Not to mention the possibility of addiction, which, if you look at American Addiction Centers reviews, you’ll find that it’s something that can happen to anyone, and it can happen easily, but it’s not something that is easy to overcome.
While no one is saying that you shouldn’t enjoy yourself, just remember to take it easy and not to abuse your body. Ask yourself, do your weekends revolve around alcohol? Do you need alcohol to have a good time? If you’re answering yes to these questions, you are on the verge of alcohol abuse. It’s okay to have a drink every now and then - maybe with a meal or when the weather’s nice. But, if you are constantly getting blackout drunk every Friday and Saturday, you’re going overboard. Thankfully, you can get support through an online sober community to talk to others in a similar position to you. Sometimes, opening up and admitting that you have a problem is the easiest way to combat it. So, think about why you feel the need to drink, then cut down on unnecessary drinking and add more water to your diet instead.
Meditate
Meditation may seem like a fad and something that will be fashionable for a bit, but if you look into it, you’ll find that it boasts some serious health benefits, and in reality, it’s not hard to see why. Regularly taking 10-20 minutes to unwind and focus on yourself helps to reduce stress, will help you to sleep better, lower your blood pressure, improve your immunity, and improve your cardiovascular function. Give it a go!
Sleep
Sleep makes or breaks a healthy lifestyle, so if you are one of those people who spend a load of time and effort eating right and working out but then you don’t get enough sleep, then your efforts will not be as effective as they could, and your physique will be harder to maintain. Insufficient sleep disrupts your brain’s ability to flush toxins from your body and can, therefore, impair brain function.
