Simple Tips For Living A Healthy Life In 2022

Illustration (Rui Dias/Pexels)

JAKARTA - When it comes to New Year's resolutions, eating healthy and staying fit are the two most popular things. A survey that asked Americans about their resolutions for the New Year's 2022, as reported by Healthmatters, Tuesday, January 18, revealed that a quarter of respondents made a resolution to live a healthier life.

It is undeniable, every year there is always a desire in each person to do better things than the previous year, especially in terms of taking care of the health of the body. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has opened our eyes more about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle more than ever.

To make it easier to make healthy living resolutions this year, here are simple ways you can apply to be healthier in 2022:

Exercising Regularly

Exercise keeps the body physically fit, improves cardiovascular and muscle health, as well as helps fight disease. Exercising has also been shown to reduce stress and improve overall mood. So try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week.

“Making a daily commitment to exercise, stretch, meditate, or practice another form of self-care can help you feel calmer and allow you to reset yourself,” says Maria Biondi, RDN, CDN, wellness coach at NYPBeHealthy in New York-Presbyterian Queens. .

Eat Right

"In addition to getting enough fruit, vegetables, and whole grains throughout the day, focus on protein in the morning," says Dr. Rekha B. Kumar, endocrinologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Replace your breakfast with protein that can maintain blood sugar, this will help some of the hunger hormones work more stable throughout the day. In other words, it will help control your appetite.

Dr Kumar also suggests cutting back on sugar, especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Consuming excess sugar causes a condition called insulin resistance. It is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, leading to fatty liver and cardiovascular disease. Insulin resistance has also been linked to cirrhosis, neuropathy, kidney disease, generalized inflammation, and cancer.

Eating a healthy diet lowers blood cholesterol levels, and reduces the risk of chronic diseases, including major killers such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and obesity.

One easy-to-follow diet to avoid red meat is the Mediterranean diet. This is a plant-based low-carb diet full of healthy fats like nuts and seeds. This lifestyle is clinically proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. Don't forget to drink enough water to keep your body well hydrated.

Sleep Enough

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many people's sleep patterns. Some of them even suffer from what is known as coronasomnia or Covid-somnia. It is very important to maintain a regular sleep schedule and get about eight hours of sleep each night. "Having a strong and healthy immune system gives us a bit more of a barrier to developing a COVID infection, so it's important to prioritize sleep," says Dr. Daniel Barone, a neurologist and sleep medicine expert at the Center for Sleep Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine.

He also suggests setting regular bedtime and waking times, avoiding caffeine later in the day, turning off electronics before bed, limiting social media use, exercising regularly, avoiding naps, cutting back on alcohol, and watching for possible signs of sleep apnea.