Do you want or need to improve your health – instantly?
Without health, our memories and all physical possessions accumulated in life up to this point mean nothing.
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” -World Health Organization, 1948
Your health is the foundation of everything else in your life. Without good health, nothing else is worth having or experiencing.
Today I want to look at ten easy ways to instantly improve your health. We’re not talking about two-hour gym workouts, uncomfortable fasting, juicing vegetables all day, or getting ten hours of sleep each night.
We’re going to cover ten painless ways to improve your health right now. Today.
It’s not going to kill you to incorporate these things into your life. Most people simply avoid the following 10 tips because they’re afraid that improving health requires too much work; they end up spending more time looking for excuses instead of proactive solutions to an easily attainable superhuman level of being.
Table of Contents
10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Health
#1. Drink More Water
How easy is it to drink water?
Apparently, not easy enough. Most people eschew H2O in favor of carbonated or sugary drinks, coffee, and booze.
One of the first things you can do to improve your health today is drink more water.
Don’t stress if you don’t have a water filter (yet). It’s more important to drink the tap water if that’s all you’ve got, than worry about potential impurities.
Your body is made up of between 50% and 75% water, and requires water for almost every function. A lot of the headaches, aches and pains, and minor problems we suffer from are caused by dehydration. You should drink enough water each day to be urinating clear or nearly clear each time you relieve yourself.
Consider taking an empty thermos into work and refilling it at the water fountain throughout the day. Carry it around with you and get in the habit of drinking before you’re thirsty.
You’ll be AMAZED at how good you feel when you’re adequately hydrated.
#2. Stop Smoking
Are you really STILL smoking, in this day and age? It’s finally become taboo to burn stogies. If you are in fact a cigarette smoker, you might require more help than this article can provide;
Recently, the CDC stated,
“Tobacco use is the number one most preventable cause of disease and death in the United States.” –CDC.gov
At the very least try to pursue alternatives to smoking, e.g., homeopathic medicine, meditation, nicotine patches and gums.
There are almost 50 million smokers in the United States, today. A lot of people are under the very false impression that smoking only causes lung cancer, but it causes all sorts of cancer, along with COPD, stroke, and heart disease.
#3. Improve What You Eat
The CDC also claims obesity rates are still on the rise. Obesity is now considered a very costly and profitable epidemic.
Hundreds of billions of dollars per year are spent on obesity-related complications, prevention and treatment.
Obesity increases the risk of several serious diseases. There’s a major deception being perpetuated and enabled, and my buddy Kusha Karvandi blows the whistle in this article.
Every single meal I eat has the 3 macronutrients (nutrients needed in greater amounts); carbohydrate, protein & fat. On top of this, I make sure to eat a variety of colors since the color of the plant is an indication of the nutrients it’s dense with.
This is how your food choices should look:
- Local
- Organic
- Grass fed
- Free range
- Wide variety of colors
- Unprocessed, whole foods
Check out the top 10 unhealthy health foods to avoid… #3 and #6 blew my mind when I first found out.
#4. Improve How You Eat
Eating habits can be quite detrimental or beneficial to our health. The foods we eat and when we eat them play a major role in our live. The food we eat play an especially significant role in determining the level of our health and overall fitness.
If you want to maintain healthy weight, high levels of energy and a positive state of wellbeing it’s critical to develop and follow healthy eating habits.
How we eat is nearly as crucial as what we eat. For me, meal timing has proven to be especially important because it teaches my body to expect food and primes my metabolism and digestion for their respective roles in the breakdown and absorption of nutrients.
This is how to prepare your food:
- Cook on low heat (destroys certain micro and macronutrients)
- Never pre-slice and store (reduces nutrient density)
- Stay hydrated up to meals (helps with nutrient assimilation)
- Don’t drink for an hour after a meal (dilutes stomach acid)
- Don’t cook with extra virgin olive oil (high heat makes it toxic) – use coconut, walnut or regular olive oil.
Here are my top 3 food additives to avoid.
#5. Exercise
Consistent exercise is difficult for many modern humans because of strange lifestyle choices from work and sitting all day to eating crap food that zap our energy and motivation.
Exercise is more than just burning calories and losing weight. Exercise is extremely beneficial for your health and longevity. You don’t have to go too hard in the gym. All you need to do is be consistent with actually getting some form of exercise. If you think about it that way, it’s much easier to follow through with the commitment. Of course, if you can exercise some intensity, that’s doing a lot more for you.
Here are the lowest impact (least damaging) and most functionally effective exercises to do regularly:
- TRX
- Kettlebell work
- Walking daily
- Hiking
- Sprinting
- Swimming
- Road-biking
- Mountain-biking
#6. De-Stress
Americans are very stressed, and they’re getting sicker because they don’t know how to cope with the stress. Stress management should be a huge priority in your life. Try to look at your life holistically and look for ways to simplify it.
Here are the easiest ways to destress:
- Avoid stressful people and situations
- Go for at least a 30 minute walk
- Spend time barefoot in nature
- Spend time in nature
- Turn your phone off
- Breathe deep
- Sleep more (8-9 hours nightly)
- Meditate
- Have sex
If stress and anxiety is a major concern for you, I’ve found Pure Calm (a strong homeopathic remedy) works incredibly well at keeping me level and in a balanced mental state.
#7. Improve Your Sleep
Sleep is where we recover, recharge and prepare for tomorrow. It’s also where we process the events of today. One day of poor sleep can have a negative affect on your entire week is not addressed.
Lack of sleep results in acne, headaches, weight gain, lower productivity, increased anxiety, sexual impotence, erectile dysfunction, increased irritability and weakened immune system.
Try to get at the very least seven hours of sleep every night. The ideal amount of time for a vast majority of humans is 8-9 hours nightly.
If you struggle to fall or stay asleep here are some tips to help you:
- Watch less TV throughout the day. Turn off the tv an hour before bed
- Use a wake to light alarm clock to wake up at the same time each day
- Go for at least a 30 minute walk every evening
- Eat 2 kiwi fruit an hour before bed
- Black our your bedroom windows
- Sleep with socks on
- Wear ear plugs.
Here are 8 habits you should kick if you want a good night’s sleep.
#8. Open A Window
Opening a window is one of the easiest things you can do to improve the air quality of your home while improving the quality of your human microbiome (the good bugs living inside you). Ensuring that windows are opened regularly and that other sources of ventilation such as air ducts are free from obstructions encourages air flow and reduces pollutants within your home.
Here are 10 additional ways to improve the air quality inside your home.
#9. Stretch In the Morning & Before Bed
You don’t have to be a yoga expert to stretch a little. When you’re lying back in bed, just grab your toes and pull down. This will boost your circulation after you’ve been sitting for hours on end at your day job.
My 10 favorite stretches to reduce pain:
- Cobra Pose
- Child’s Pose
- Hip Stretch
- Piriformis Stretch
- Hamstring Stretch
- Quad Stretch
- Side Stretch
- Seated Twist
- Hip Circles
You can learn more about these stretches here.
#10. Wash Your Hands, Sheets & Pillow Cases
Dust mites are a bigger trigger for your allergies, and they love to hang out right in your bed. Get your sheets and pillowcases dry cleaned regularly and launder them in hot water every week.
Keeping your hands clean is one of the most important steps to take while avoiding illness and spreading germs. Many diseases and ailments are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean water.
There you have it, my 10 ways to instantly improve your health.
If you think I left something out, or have any questions, drop a line in the comments section below.
Health by choice, not by chance.
-David Aston
Great post. It really covers every foundational area. A lack of water, sleep, exercise, nutritious foods and an abundance of stress cause the majority of our health issues. Thanks for sharing your tips on how to improve these major areas of our lives.
Thanks for the feedback Paul :)
All of the points are very much common sense, yet most of us (myself included) neglect to perform to most simple of tasks to ensure longevity and well-being.