Everyone wants to be fit and healthy, and most people understand the things that they have to do — such as getting exercise and eating well — if they’re going to be at their healthiest best. Yet, while those things are of course important, there are more factors that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. And they’re not all so obvious — indeed, many can be considered overlooked. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at a few health aspects that you may not have thought of before.

Sitting Too Much

If it were somehow possible for you to have an arm-wrestling match with one of your ancient ancestors, then you would probably lose, since they would be much stronger than you are. Why? Because they were using their bodies all day, every day, whereas we spend much of our day completely sedentary. Sitting down too much has been linked with a whole host of long-term health issues, so it’s really important that you’re getting up and going for a walk at various points throughout the day. You can take things even further by cycling or walking (at least some of the way) to work.

Too Much Time Indoors

Another thing that our ancestors would find strange is how much time we spend indoors. It’s important that we protect ourselves from the elements, sure, but we probably don’t need to be inside the majority of the day. It’s certainly not good for our health. Spending time in the outdoors can be terrific for your physical fitness, but that’s not all — it’s also fantastic for your mental health, too. Indeed, studies have shown that spending two hours in nature a week (either all at once or in short chunks) can have a profoundly positive impact on symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Body Hormone Imbalance

You could feel like you’re doing most things related to your health and fitness correctly, yet still not feel as good as you could do. Why? It’s all down to your body’s hormone imbalance. If you’re suffering from things like sleep disorders, brain fog, skin conditions, fatigue, or tummy problems, then there’s a chance that you need to get your hormones in balance. You can do this by doing things like increasing your protein intake, increasing the amount of exercise you get, and switching from the pill to IUD contraception. Once you’ve got them in balance, you’ll begin to notice an improvement. 

False Friend Foods

If you’ve taken the time to eat well, then you’d hope that things would move in the right direction. However, this may not be the case — there are plenty of foods that we think of healthy, but which actually aren’t. If you’re eating wheat bread, snacking on trail mix or dried fruit, or topping your salads with store-bought dressing, then you’re probably not eating as well as you could be. Also, be sure to pay attention to your portion sizes — it’s good to eat healthy foods, but not if you’re eating a mountain of it!