What Is A Healthy Lifestyle?
At SierraSil, our vision is to help one or million or more people live healthier and more active lives. This is our joy, and this is what gets us excited – knowing that we’re helping you live a healthy and active lifestyle. In this blog post, we look at the different aspects that come together to support a healthy lifestyle. Now, we don’t want you to get bogged down with yet another blog post that encourages you to eat better, to exercise more, and to improve your sleep habits. Yes, these are all critical components of healthy lifestyle, but we believe there is so much more to you than what you eat, how you move, and when you sleep. At its core, a healthy lifestyle is highly personal and individual. Your healthy lifestyle likely looks very different from the lifestyles of the elite athletes who use SierraSil or even that of our CEO, Michael Bentley. Your healthy lifestyle is one that makes you feel good, happy, and comfortable.
Physical Wellness
Notice how we didn’t simply use the word “exercise” here? The thing is that exercise can be such a loaded word. Pick up a health magazine or browse your favorite health websites, and you’re inundated with advice on how to run farther, to hike more, to squeeze in that extra yoga class, and why CrossFit is the best training option. But here’s the thing – how, when, why, and where you move your body is completely personal. If you’re recovering from knee replacement surgery or are living with osteoarthritis, you’re not about to run five miles. But you might go to a light stretching class, enjoy a walk with friends, or do some chair yoga. We want you to think about your physical wellness. This is your ability to easily get around your home, community, and social activities. You have the ability to walk with ease, to play with your kids, to plan a city tour, etc. This ability to physically move allows you to interact and be part of your community and family. This is very different from hitting the gym three days a week or signing up for a marathon. We want you to have the ability and freedom to move your body without any restrictions on your joint health and mobility. And yes, it would be great if you could get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily and fit in some kind of strength exercises – but it’s also important to recognize that this is not possible for every person. There is no good or bad when it comes to your physical wellness – it is what it is, and we don’t want you beating yourself up because you’re not doing what the magazines and websites say you should be doing. Find what you enjoy and do this.
Creative Opportunities
There is more and more research about the importance of having creative outlets and opportunities. Think of activities such as journaling, drawing, knitting, woodworking, pottery, music, dance, etc. These are the times when you can fully immerse yourself in an activity and really let your mind run free. Your head becomes uncluttered, you’re not thinking about your work deadlines, the latest news headlines, or that lingering to do list. Think of the joy in your children or grandchildren when they show you their recent artwork from school or when they build a giant Lego tower. It’s that feeling of accomplishment – of starting from nothing and creating something that is so important. This feeling of accomplishment that comes with creative opportunities is key to living a healthy lifestyle. The photo you took and have framed on your wall, that scarf you knitted, or the shelf you built – are all reminders that you have so many strengths and dimensions.
Human Connections and Community
In this digital age, it has become so easy to be alone. Yes, you might be texting or chatting with your Facebook friends – but think about the last time you met new people in real life or went out to a community event. The Internet is awesome because it connects us – but it also has the ability to disconnect us from human connections. Instead of picking up the phone and calling your friend, you text. As part of living a healthy lifestyle, it’s important that you have regular human connections and a community where you feel comfortable and safe. This is not a digital community, but a real live human community that can give you the friendship, love, and companionship that we all need.
A Curious and Active Mind
Knowledge is the stuff of life – it empowers you, inspires you, supports you, and encourages you. This is why having a curious and active mind is a key aspect of living a healthy lifestyle. Now, we’re not saying you need to spend your days reading about medieval history – but we do want you to think about what piques your curiosity. This curiosity makes it easier for you to get involved with your community, to meet new people, to explore your creative opportunities, and to be connected.
Quality and Enjoyable Food
Eating food that nourishes you and tastes good is so important. Too many people get caught up in eating as healthy as possible and end up losing the joy in eating and in food. We don’t want you to do this. Yes, we want you to get vegetables and fruit in your daily diet, we want you to think about how much red meat you’re eating, and we want you to make sure you’re supporting your physical activities through nutrition. But this doesn’t mean you need to give up cake, white flour, dairy, sugar, bread, chocolate, etc. Eat the foods you enjoy. Make sure your food is as high quality as you can comfortably afford. Enjoy the cookies but try to get in a vegetable soup for lunch or some fruit with your breakfast. What and how you eat is highly personal – what you enjoy and feels good in your body is likely not the same as your work colleague enjoys. Eat what feels good for you.