My sincere apologies!

My sincere apologies! ....... for not introducing you to my program earlier.☺

Good morning to all, and a whoop whoop to Friday.

 

On today's plate - Principles of a healthy active lifestyle

what is a healthy active lifestyle?

Physical Activity

Physical activity can be a lifesaver – literally. Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that you accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, in bouts of 10 minutes or more. Moderate intensity activities include brisk walking or bike riding. Vigorous intensity may mean jogging or crossfit. To derive the most benefit, spread your activity out over several days of the week. By doing so, you can dramatically lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Regular activity also helps prevent and control risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer and obesity. Adding more activity to your daily life may also reduce stress levels, increase energy, improve sleep and digestion. Because physical activity makes you feel better about yourself, you're more likely to make healthy lifestyle choices and avoid unhealthy ones such as smoking, overeating or drinking too much alcohol.

Benefits may begin within the first week of regular activity. For example, your blood pressure may start to come down, and you could start to feel more energetic and relaxed. After three months, you may experience better health, improved posture and balance, stronger muscles and bones, more confidence and a more positive outlook on life.

Get Enough Sleep

I know, this is so much easier said than done.

There aren’t enough hours in the day, and it can seem impossible to find the time to get the extra hour or two of sleep that you probably need.

How you feel during your waking hours hinges greatly on how well you sleep. Similarly, the cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine. Your sleep schedule, bedtime habits, and day-to-day lifestyle choices can make an enormous difference to the quality of your nightly rest. The following tips will help you optimize your sleep so you can be productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day long.

• Set a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night. Choose a time when you normally feel tired, so that you don’t toss and turn. Try not to break this routine on weekends when it may be tempting to stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, help your body adjust by making the change in small daily increments, such as 15 minutes earlier or later each day.
• Wake up at the same time every day. If you’re getting enough sleep, you should wake up naturally without an alarm. If you need an alarm clock to wake up on time, you may need to set an earlier bedtime. As with your bedtime, try to maintain your regular wake-time even on weekends.
• Nap to make up for lost sleep. If you need to make up for a few lost hours, opt for a daytime nap rather than sleeping late. This strategy allows you to pay off your sleep debt without disturbing your natural sleep-wake rhythm, which often backfires in insomnia and throws you off for days.
• Be smart about napping. While taking a nap can be a great way to recharge, especially for older adults, it can make insomnia worse. If insomnia is a problem for you, consider eliminating napping. If you must nap, do it in the early afternoon, and limit it to thirty minutes.
• Fight after-dinner drowsiness. If you find yourself getting sleepy way before your bedtime, get off the couch and do something mildly stimulating to avoid falling asleep, such as washing the dishes, calling a friend, or getting clothes ready for the next day. If you give in to the drowsiness, you may wake up later in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

Myths and Facts about Sleep

Myth 1: Getting just one hour less sleep per night won’t affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day, but losing even one hour of sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly. It also compromises your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.

Myth 2: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by one–two hours per day at best. Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.

Myth 3: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. The quantity of sleep you get is important, sure, but it's the quality of your sleep that you really have to pay attention to. Some people sleep eight or nine hours a night but don’t feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.

Myth 4: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Furthermore, sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings.

Everything In Moderation

The final principle of a healthy lifestyle is moderation.

Find balance in your life. Almost anything you do is acceptable, so long as it is in moderation.

The classic example here is with alcohol consumption. Enjoying a drink or two is fine, but when you are drinking a six pack every night you have a problem.

But moderation doesn’t just apply to drugs, alcohol, and vices.

Spending too much time working out, obsessing over what you eat, and working 80 hour weeks are all unhealthy.

Too much moderation itself is also a problem. If you go out and binge drink on a Friday night, or you go a week without working out, or you eat a full bar of dark chocolate (mmmm….), don’t beat yourself up.

It’s ok to let yourself go…occasionally.

Everything in moderation, even moderation. 

Conclusion

A healthy lifestyle need not be complicated.

The principles above are both simple and a very workable guide to being healthy.

You are more than welcome to do more than this if you want, but these principles will go a long way towards keeping you healthy.

Before ending this article, there is one point that absolutely must be mentioned.

While you may have goals that include looking better by gaining muscle or losing fat, what is truly important is your health.

Be at peace with how you look. Nobody is perfect, and that is ok. What really matters is living a healthy lifestyle, and looking better is just a side benefit of good health.

For any questions or additional information, feel free to inbox me at FitSpot24@gmail.com or comment with your mail address and I will get back to you.

Have a blessed Friday and one super awesome weekend.