What Exactly Are the Benefits of Healthy Habits?

We hear it all the time; be sure to create those healthy habits! But what exactly are the benefits of healthy habits? Afterall, healthy habits are extremely hard to develop because they require a complete shift in mindset and re-understanding of years of programming. However, if you’re ready and willing to commit to the sacrifices needed to better your health, then the benefits of rewiring your way of thinking can have life changing implications. Here are five key benefits of creating healthy habits. 

Controls Weight

First off, healthy habits help control weight. For example, creating the habits of eating right and exercising regularly can help you avoid excess weight gain, while helping maintain a healthy weight. In fact, if weight-loss is your goal, according to the Mayo Clinic, being physically active is essential to reaching those weight-loss goals. And even if weight-loss is not your personal goal, regular exercise also improves cardiovascular health, boosts your immune system, and increases overall energy levels.

Two simple healthy exercise habits are 1) working your way towards 10,000 steps a day 2) working your way to 2-3 days of moderate physical activity a week.  

Improves Mood

Cultivating healthy habits even plays a part in your mood. The Mayo Clinic shows us that performing physical activity results in the production of endorphins. What are endorphins? Well, endorphins are chemicals in the brain that make us feel happier, as well as more relaxed. The happier and more relaxed we are the better our mood; and the better our mood, the better quality of life we will experience daily.

Healthy habits have also been linked to boosted confidence, increased self-esteem, decreased stress levels, and improved cognitive function.

Combats Diseases

One of the most important outcomes of creating healthy habits is that they can help prevent certain health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. By keeping our cholesterol and blood pressure within a safe range we can decrease our risk of cardiovascular diseases. Diabetes can also be combated with healthy habits by maintaining proper eating habits and controlling weight.

Boosts Energy

By creating healthy eating, physical activity, and sleeping habits we are giving our body everything it needs to function optimally and yield more energy. When we create a healthy eating habit of consuming a balanced goal specific diet, our body receives all the fuel needed to give us maximum energy levels. The healthy habit of physical exercise increases our energy by delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout our body, which causes our cardiovascular system to function more efficiently.

Despite being one of the most overlooked daily activities, sleep is one of the most important functions of our body. When we sleep, we allow our body to do a complete factory reset from the day, which allows the body to build new cells/tissues, fight viruses, build muscle, among many other things. Further, poor sleep habits can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and lower your life expectancy. However, creating a proper sleep routine and getting the proper amount of sleep needed can result in increased mood, energy levels, and cognitive function.

Improves longevity 

When performing healthy habits, you boost both your lifespan and healthspan. Your lifespan is the total number of years we live, while your healthspan is how many of those years we remain healthy and free from disease. By creating and following healthy eating habits, as well as performing moderate daily physical activity, you increase your lifespan, but more importantly, you increase your healthspan, which will result in a healthier happier quality of life as we age.

Conclusion

While bad habits may be hard to kick, replacing them with healthy habits have far too many benefits to ignore! Creating a healthy lifestyle starts with your habits. By improving your habits you’re also taking back control of your health, weight, and mental health. These new habits are even assisting in increasing your mood and energy levels, while simultaneously reducing the risk of certain diseases. These are the actual benefits of healthy habits, and they are waiting for you!