Timeless Strategies for Good Health

It can be easy to get caught up in new or different "health hacks" for good health and wellness. Let's calm ourselves down and tap into timeless wellness strategies instead. These will help with any health goal you have... weight loss, brain fog, joint pain, and insomnia. 

In this episode, I (Heidi) share basic, free ways that you can improve your health today. 

Take Aways

Here's the list of strategies discussed today.  

• Getting 10-15 minutes of sunlight every day
• Moving your body.
• Laughing
• Being in nature
• Getting outside in the morning
• Getting fresh air
• Being hydrated
• Journaling
• Creating something with your hands
• Feeling grateful
• Eat vegetables, whole foods, and as much home cooked as possible
• Limit the amount of blue light you're exposed to
• Take vitamins
• Hum
• Prioritize sleep
• Take warm baths, use a hot tub, or visit a spa
• Spending time with others
• Take a breath when you're overwhelmed
• Manage stress
• Have routines, but hold onto them loosely
• Read before bed
• Declutter
• Track your menstrual cycle
• Lift your legs and rest them on the wall while you lie on your back

Article referenced in this episode: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/a64317392/free-health-wellness-habits/

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Transcript

Episode 87: Timeless Strategies for Good Health

[00:00:00] Hello, this is the Living Well with PMDD podcast. I'm your host, Heidi Bradford, certified life coach, mom of five and PMDD Survivor. Happy to have you here. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered health advice.

Hello, welcome to today's show. Let's dive in. Today I want to share with you some timeless ways to help our health.

There is something that you can do today to improve your health. And it's something that won't take too long. It doesn't use too much energy. My sister once told me that, when she feels overwhelmed about who she can help or what she can do today to make a difference, she pulls it back to what's one [00:01:00] thing I can do? I can smile at someone.

I think that kind of energy and that kind of mindset can really help with our health goals as well, because I do think health goals are really important. Just like almost any area of our life it's the direction that matters, right? If we've put ourselves on a path toward good health, that's more important than where we are right now.

I know that it is really easy to get distracted by anything new or different, um, in the health space, and otherwise it happens to me and sometimes we'll even drop our current good habits to try something else.

But the point here is there are timeless health strategies, things that have been proven over time by science and by people's experience that these will benefit you. [00:02:00] Why do we want to go to the new and the different, and the thing that costs a thousand dollars that promises to fix us or, or to fix that one problem that's really bothering us.

The answer is simple. There is an answer to that. I'm not saying that rhetorically. It's because of our mind, part of our brain wants efficiency. Also we like new things. It's, it's fun, it's interesting. There's a little bit of ooh about it. Also psychologically, it can be easier to try something new than to keep doing something that's been working, but we just aren't getting the result fast enough.

Recognize that. Recognize, I've heard it called shiny object syndrome. Recognize when you're being distracted to something and then decide if you want to indulge in that distraction.

Okay. These are the free things. Timeless, [00:03:00] free, basics.

Sunlight, getting 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight every day, even on a cloudy day.

Moving your body. Are you taking a short walk? Are you walking up and down your stairs or maybe just through your house, or getting together with friends? Doing something involving movement.

Laughing. Isn't that interesting? That laughing is good for us.

Being in nature. Along with this one, as I was prepping this, I found that there's evidence of being outside in the morning within an hour of when you wake up. Let me read this to you. This is from Women's Health Magazine, " exposing yourself to natural light within the first hour of waking helps to regulate your circadian rhythm. [00:04:00] It helps to improve sleep quality and boosts mood too. Just 10 to 15 minutes of outdoor light can reset your sleep- Wake cycle, support melatonin production at night and enhance focus during the day.

Getting outside in the morning also has the added benefit of reducing stress through connecting with nature, whether that is listening to Birdsong, being in green spaces and inhaling. Ides, which are natural chemical compounds released by trees and plants. Studies show that being in nature reduces stress hormones, supports immune health and overall wellbeing. 

That's just awesome. Let's do that for ourself. Let's make that a priority.

Getting fresh air. Opening your windows and letting fresh air in. That's beneficial.

Being hydrated, drinking enough water.

Journaling. [00:05:00] Writing down, um, how you're feeling, your struggles, even the kind of scheduling stuff we do. Anything goes, downs, ups. Even an outline of your day. Journaling is a form of expression and it is good for us to do.

Being involved in some sort of creating with your hands has been shown to be beneficial to our health.

Feeling grateful. You can have a gratitude journal, but you don't have to. You can sit in gratitude and think about things that you are grateful for, or you can have a practice of saying a few things at night in the morning. Maybe three things that you're grateful for. You can do this with your family. Have everyone share something that they're grateful for that day.

Okay. [00:06:00] Let's get back to our list and give you some more ideas. You want to eat vegetables and whole foods. Ideally, most of your meals are homemade or home cooked.

Limit the amount of blue light you are exposed to, so that's from your screens. Also, try to, um, turn off any screens within two hours of bedtime.

Take vitamins. If we just can't get the food that we need to get the amount of vitamins that we need or the variety and have a vitamin. People have been doing it for a long time and it's been shown to be, um, good.

Okay. This one is fun. This is also from that women's health article. To hum. " Humming activates the vagus nerve, which stimulates relaxation and can be done anywhere. Let your lips [00:07:00] gently close and hum steadily while feeling the vibration in your throat and chest.

Try it out when driving or sitting for your morning commute." I love this. Isn't it fun? This is a basic free thing that you can do without spending money that comes with this body that we were given. As I think about this, I realize there are meditations and things that utilize humming, so that's probably why.

Okay. Prioritizing sleep. Shoot for at least six hours every night. There is some evidence of the hours before midnight being more helpful. Don't get too in your head about that, but good to know, right?

Taking warm baths. Getting in a hot tub or using a spa. That can really relax us and help our body.[00:08:00] 

Belonging and spending time with others and having a good community. This could be your church community, it could be friends, it could be family.

We saw with COVID the impact that not being able to get together with people that negative impact. We really need people and we are relationally based at the very root of us.

So make sure to take time to be with people.

back to our list. Take a break when you are spiraling or feeling overwhelmed or even just for no reason at all. Take a break, take a breath.

Um, managing stress and knowing your stress response is really good. We need stress. We need some resistance in our lives to be able [00:09:00] to grow and to be healthy. Work is good for us to a point. Burnout is not good and not fun. Most of us will experience it, um, at some point. Be kind to yourself in that time. Give yourself time to come out of that. You can look up strategies for burnout, but hold on, that's what I say and pull back. Get back to basics. These things that we're talking about can be really good for that as well.

Okay. Routines. Having routines is good for us. However. We also need to be able to hold those routines loosely. When we get into routines and it's really normal. You're not weird if this is you, but being pulled out of them either because of sickness or some [00:10:00] emergency or even just life. Things change. There's a tendency toward feeling resentment. Either resentment towards the person that's asking something of you, or resentment to yourself for not setting boundaries around it, or not telling yourself no to this other commitment. , Recognize that and see how you can get back to your routine, but also fulfill this responsibility that you have.

Reading before bed... one of those timeless classic health habits. Good. Do it. Don't scroll. We know that reading is much better for us than scrolling before bed. And if you have a lamp, that can be helpful because then you don't have to get back outta bed. Right. Just a lamp on a nightstand. And then you can just turn it off and float into dreamland.

[00:11:00] Decluttering. It's just a basic thing that having our environment free of clutter or even just less clutter is good.

Tracking. Tracking your cycle and making adjustments based on it. This is your menstrual cycle or if you are going through menopause or are through menopause, you still have a cycle. You can look into that more, but there's still times where you're going to have higher productivity and lower productivity. More creative, less creative. A time to really go and do and do, and a time to relax and reflect and kind of indulge in the moment.

Let me see. Oh, there was one more from this article I thought was fun. "Lift your legs. Legs up on the wall pose. Vi Vita Ani. It's a simple [00:12:00] inversion that supports burnout and mental fatigue by signaling to the body to slow down and rest. It's done as described. Lie on your back and raise your legs up wall for support. It's an easy and gentle yoga pose that can be easily done in the comfort of your home. "

This is a really good way to start off the new year, right? Just do one. One thing, make one change, and hold onto that one change for the next 15 days. And if that doesn't sound fun because I like doing things that are fun, and you probably do too, then choose one thing to try each day and just cycle through them.

It would be amazing if we could do all of these things every day, but it's okay to not do everything every day. We also forget, right? Like that just happens. We just forget sometimes. [00:13:00] So still be human. Live life and be happy with who we are while trying to improve a little bit and be, um, even a little bit better. There's that 1% growth principle of if we just change just 1%, it will over time make a a big difference. I'm gonna end there. Hope you have a great week.

Thanks so much for listening to the Living Well with PMDD podcast. To learn more about life coaching with me, visit my website Heidi, H-E-I-D-I, bradford coaching.com. Until next time, keep hoping, keep loving, and remember that you are not alone.