As soon as I stepped in to my 30’s, life just happened. 30’s are busy, you are engaged and occupied with something or the other. You may have kids, career, marriage to look after. However in this daily bustling, somewhere down the line your health gets neglected. Healthier eating habits , regular workouts, maintaining healthy weight, de-stressing can help you lead a disease free life ahead. In this article I have rounded up a list of top 9 health and fitness trends to remain robust in your 30’s.
1. Stay physically active by prioritizing exercise
I understand that including exercise as a part of our daily habit can be a struggle to many of us. Your work schedule takes up a lot of your time so it’s hard to generate the energy and motivation required to exercise. But if you start exercising regularly, you’ll be more efficient at your work and will feel good. You can simply start by making exercise an appointment & feeding it in your calendar, cater to your likes and dislikes, make it social, boost your activity levels throughout the day, set a goal and track your progress. You can also reward yourself once you achieve the goal.
2.Maintain healthy weight
Loosing excess body weight can improve blood sugar, blood pressure levels and mobility. Moreover a Sustainable body weight may help you improve your self confidence, quality of life & dealing with depressive symptoms. So if you’re in your 30s and wondering where to start from, firstly try and switch to healthy nutritious eating habits, increase your fruit and vegetable intake, say “no” to fat diets. Get clear on what motivates you to loose weight, is it the slim waist? Energy? Mental health? better sleep? Once you have identified that, note them down to get a bigger picture of your goals and get started.
3. Schedule your annual physical and mental screening
We all know that early diagnosis of a medical condition is important for its successful treatment. Some of the common health problems like Diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure can start in your body anytime. You might be showing the early signs of depression like loss of appetite, chain of depressive thoughts, lack of sleep and so on that you have been ignoring for quite a while now. So it’s time to talk to your doctor and start with those screenings and testing’s. However for women it is also important to be up to date with their Pap smears, immunization, breast examinations from time to time.
4. Eat well, drink well
As you are growing up, you need to make smart food choices for your health. Here’s a simple rule for healthy eating – Eat more plants, be mindful of the amount of sugar in your dishes and consume healthy fats. Nowadays the nutritionists seems to focus more on protein and carbs, fats and vitamins, so if you want you can consult one for yourself. However the best things you can add to your diet are fruits and vegetables for a healthy artery and to reduce the chances of heart diseases. Having said that, alcohol consumption must be reduced if you are approaching your third decade and looking for better sleep, more energy and a healthy body.
5. Get enough sleep
Sleep deprivation can have significant impacts on your health like hormonal imbalances, weight gain, or increase in chronic pain. It also affects your work life and social life. Hence one must spend time in your 30s building strong sleep skills. Learn techniques to fall asleep within 30 minutes of hitting the pillow. Try yoga and meditation to induce relaxation and thus inducing sleep. Take all possible action to make sure you get enough sleep and be sure to consult a doctor if you think you might have a sleep disorder.
6. Find your stress buster
Learn to manage stress and anxiety in your 30s, cause if you fail, it can lead to serious health issues. As the Stress is responsible for nearly 77% of our illness, finding the stress busters are important keys to your healthy and happy life. So just go on that trip, get connected to your loved ones, maintain those friendships, get indulged into reading, try cooking different recipes, make a painting, water a plant daily, learn some new skills or more.
7. Take care of your bones and skin
In your 30s it is important that you do everything possible to maintain strong healthy bones and protect your skin. Try to include plenty of calcium in your diet and get adequate amount of vitamin D for your bones. Wherever you live, it’s important to wear sunscreen to protect your skin from too much sun exposure because even a small amount of UV light have significant effects over time. Apart from that, not smoking, drinking moderate amount of alcohol and exercising regularly are some of the common best practices for healthy bones and skin.
8. Master your time
Your 30’s are when your career might really take off and you might be already having kids and a marriage. Due to this, Striking a right balance between your home life and work life is critical. But with proper time management skills you can achieve it easily. Take a time assessment test in your 30s to check how much time you are spending on the electronic devices or gadgets and which ones you immediately need to eliminate in order to be more efficient. Plan and set your own deadlines, stop procrastinating, avoid distractions, meditate regularly. Make an effort now to master your time to lead a stress free life.
9. Know your family health history
No one is going to take care of your health on your behalf. Therefore it’s essential for you to know and understand your medical history, risk factors and your medications. It is important to keep a track of diseases that you are at risk of developing genetically. Set up a system to keep a track of certain information for eg. at what age your “XYZ” family member got diagnosed and get yourself checked for the same disease when you are around that age or early is much preferable.
Frequently asked questions:
1.What do you mean by health and wellness?
A. World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity (illness). WHO defines wellness as “the optimal state of health of individual and groups, and wellness is expressed as “a positive approach to living.”
2. How to improve health and wellness?
A. Get more sleep, drink more water, workout, meditate, set goals, wake up early, smile more, go outdoors, get organized, consume more omega-3s (salmon, tuna, nuts, flax seeds, hemp seeds, and leafy greens) are some of the easy ways to improve health and wellness.
3. How to become health and wellness coach in India?
A. To become a wellness coach, you either need a bachelor’s degree from a vocational school such as dietetics, public health, nutrition, or health education or you can also find various health and wellness certification training programs which are available online.
4. How are health and wellness related?
A. Health refers to physical, mental, and social well-being; wellness aims to enhance well-being. Health is a state of being and wellness is a positive approach to living.
