Everyone needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A lot of people may know what to do, and practice to achieve their goals. But do you know there are don’ts that can boost your health? These are things that you should avoid to be healthy. Below are 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle.
Don’t Ignore Tooth Alignment
Oral hygiene is one of the crucial health needs, and not overlooking your teeth tops in that list of the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle. Some elements that can be harmful to your teeth are the excessive consumption of sugar. This can cause tooth decay and weight gain that isn’t healthy.
You may also have misalignment of your teeth, which can cause complications to oral health. This simply means the upper and lower teeth are aligned abnormally. Causes of misalignment could be injury, using bottle feeding for too long when young, and cleft lip, among other causes.
Some types of tooth misalignment include open bite, underbite, overbite, and crowded teeth.
When this occurs, depending on the state of the misalignment, braces treatment is commonly used to align the teeth. This teeth alignment is beneficial to your health because;
- Inhibits tooth decay
- Injuries to your mouth are reduced
- Jawbones get strengthened
- Your chewing is greatly improved
- Breathing is made easier
- Cavities are reduced
Don’t Let Your Trauma Define You
Did you know you risk overeating when you are sad, stressed, and emotional? This overeating can cause obesity or other health-related complications. You become more depressed because of overeating. One of the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle is to avoid eating when in a traumatized state.
One of the major triggers of depression is trauma. Trauma can be caused by fatal accidents, being abused either at home or at work, death of a loved one, and being assaulted sexually or physically. Having neurofeedback trauma therapy will help in combating such a state, which in turn will help in your control of food intake.
Don’t Hold Tension in Your Body
Whenever our bodies are subjected to stress, due to pain or injury, the muscles tense up, in a bid to fight back that stress. The muscles will relax once that tension is over. The 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle requires that you aid your body in releasing tension by fighting stress, depression, or whatever cause of muscle or body tension.
Prolonged or chronic tension in the body caused by stress has negative effects on you. It can lead to migraine and musculoskeletal pain, as well as affecting thoughts and behavior.
In the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle, avoid unchecked stress because of the harmful effects it has.
Some ways of combating tension in the body are relaxation and activities that release stress. Therapy can also be helpful. You should get therapy from an acupuncture doctor who will help a lot in relieving the pains that bring stress to muscles.
Don’t Let Your Hearing Deteriorate
A healthy lifestyle includes caring for your hearing organs. In the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle, not checking the ears, and general hearing hygiene may steal your ability to hear, especially as you age. Practice good habits that will help retain your hearing ability. Some of these habits are;
- Exercise
- Eating a diet that is rich in omega-3 like salmon fish, broccoli, spinach etc
- Observing sound hygiene by protecting your ears from extreme noise that may damage your hearing organs
- Having quality sleep, which reduces the risk of apnea, which can cause hearing problems
In case of a loss of hearing due to damage to the hair cell, one may use hearing aids to help improve hearing. Hearing aids make you not dependent on others. The hearing aids price depends on quality, features, and professional care. The hearing aids cost between $ 1000 to $ 5000 on average.
Don’t Skip Dentist Appointments
Oral hygiene is greatly linked to general health. Poor oral health can cause tooth decay, gum diseases, and the spread of bacteria to other body parts and this may lead to other diseases. Some of the good oral habits that would guarantee oral hygiene include;
- Brushing
- Flossing
- Avoiding sugary foods, because the bacteria found in the mouth feed on sugar
- Increase the intake of vitamins and minerals like phosphorus and calcium. These help in making your teeth stronger and healthy
- Drinking a lot of water, which helps by washing away good particles, and keeping the mouth wet
- Visiting dentist for checkups and services like tooth cleaning, treatments of mouth-related diseases
One of the crucial 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle includes caution against missing that appointment with your dentist.
Don’t Neglect Your Loved Ones
As you get on with a good healthy lifestyle, you won’t like to see your loved ones’ health deteriorate. However, it can be difficult to talk them into a healthy lifestyle, especially if they show a lack of interest in it.
You need to be smart on how to initiate such talks. You can do this by first creating an atmosphere conducive for the talk, like when out for a walk. You may need to start by stating the observations you’ve made about their body changes. Some of the steps you can take to help your loved ones in the journey to a healthy lifestyle include;
- Making it fun
- Joining them in the exercises
- Use of incentives to keep them moving
- Be a good listener to their concerns
- Avoid being pushy
- Offer moderated advice/guidance
- For the elderly, you can join them for medical care visits, or help them when taking their medications while at home, lest they overdose or miss a day’s dose
You may provide elderly care services for the aged loved ones at home, by offering services like transport, house maintenance, medical care, and personal hygiene.
Don’t Be Selfish Around Your Kids
Selfishness is cancerous to anyone. It tends to make one abandon others and only consider the best interests of oneself. As a parent, one of the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle is to NEVER be selfish around your children, as this could have a negative impact on them and you.
Signs of being selfish are having one-sided efforts, being manipulative, being materialistic, having no empathy, and being too controlling. Some of the unhealthy consequences of selfishness include damage to mental health, making one easy prey for addictions, hurting others, damage to reputation, and loneliness. These are bad for your kid. Further dangers of selfish parents towards kids are;
- The kid’s self-esteem and confidence get lower. This may make them turn into drug and substance abusers, and thoughts of suicide
- kids get overworked
- They get emotionally malnourished
- The kid may tend to care about themselves only
Taking your child to child care agencies will help them get away from your selfishness, as you fight it. At the agencies, your child will develop well emotionally and socially.
Don’t Live in a Dry Household
A house is not simply for shelter and security, it’s a home where families, friends, and relatives come to have great moments together. The state of a house can greatly contribute to the health of the occupants. A dry house lacks moist air, and this dry air can cause respiratory discomfort, dry skin, asthma, sore throat, irritation of the eyes, and dehydration.
Some factors that contribute to dry housing are;
- When a house is poorly insulated, the dry air can easily be pulled in. This would affect the quality of indoor air
- When doors and windows are open, and the weather outside is cold, this can cause dry air because when it enters the house, it greatly reduces the level of humidity in the house
During the winter seasons, the use of dehumidifiers in your house would help your house minimize dryness. One of the frequently forgotten tips among the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle is the state of the house.
Don’t Amplify Your Anxiety
Sometimes people experience anxiety. This is when one gets greatly worried about something or a situation. But when it’s too much, it can lead to physical stress, or affect mental health, which isn’t good for the body. Some symptoms of anxiety include headache, insomnia, increased heart rate, indigestion, trembling, sweating, and difficulty sleeping. In most cases, women are more prone to anxiety disorders.
You need to check on your anxiety so that it doesn’t get worse. Some ways of reducing it include:
- Try socializing
- Exercise
- Therapy
- Use of crystals for anxiety and stress
- Reading
- Journaling
In the daily lifestyle, one of the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle is to not let that anxiety deprive you of your happiness.
Don’t Refuse Love to an Animal
According to various studies, there are a lot of health benefits when a person has a good relationship with his/her pets. These benefits include decreased blood pressure, reduced anxiety, minimizing feelings of loneliness, and creating opportunities for exercise and other physical activities. All that is needed for the pets is to provide them with good shelter, food, and clean water.
Nonetheless, it’s good to keep your pets clean and healthy too, to avoid chances of disease spreading between you and your pets. Take them to a vet hospital for checkups or treatment of any disease. Not taking the healthcare needs of your pet is one of the 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle you should never ignore.
Don’t Take Excessive Alcohol
It’s an undisputed fact that excessive consumption of alcohol is harmful to one’s health. What’s recommended is moderation. Some health problems that may result from excessive consumption of alcohol include addiction, cancer, liver disease, and high blood pressure.
Don’t Smoke
Smoking is one of the worst habits for your health. It can lead to the development of various health problems, some fatal, others irreversible. Some of them include;
- Heart diseases
- Diabetes
- Tuberculosis
- Arthritis
- Cancer
In the United States, there are 480,000 deaths due to smoking per year. This means every day, 1,300 people die due to smoking. If you have never smoked, don’t even think of starting. If you are already a smoker, you can quit, though it may not be easy. Below are some tips to help you quit smoking:
- Keep your mouth busy chewing something else to avoid the craving for tobacco. You can chew sugarless gum
- Do exercises to help distract you from tobacco cravings. Go for a walk, jog, do push ups
- Some people use smoking to counter stress. In this case, devise a different way of countering that to replace smoking
- Go out and socialize with people who can help you quit smoking, like a member of a support group
Don’t be Unforgiving on Yourself
In the practice of a daily healthy lifestyle, you feel great when you progress well, achieving your set goals. But there could be days when things don’t go as expected. Accept the outcome even if negative, refresh, and start again or move on. Avoid being hard on yourself, forcing things to happen. This is mostly the case for perfectionists. A good healthy lifestyle is one where you allow your body to do or carry what it can.
Don’t Settle for Laziness
Being lazy normally entails lacking the goodwill and energy to do a particular activity. It is not wanting to use any effort. What causes laziness!? Here are some causes;
- Medical conditions like diabetes, anemia, etc
- Doing the same activity repeatedly every day causes monotony
- Trying to multitask when you can’t
- Not getting adequate sleep can make your brain feel tired and dull
To fight laziness, and be proactive in your healthy lifestyle, consider the following;
- Avoid multitasking and instead concentrate on one task
- Meet set deadlines for various tasks. Postponing or procrastinating will only add more work which may make you stressed
- Being realistic about what you can and cannot do, and dwell on what you can. This keeps you more motivated
Don’t Avoid Breakfast
It is said, the most important meal of the day is breakfast. A healthy lifestyle, therefore, would require you to start your day with one because it’s beneficial to your health. Breakfast helps in improving the level of energy, weight management, and improved concentration.
The best breakfast foods are ones that have nutrients that can provide energy, making you feel full. This prevents cases of overeating during the day. Some foods that you can use for a healthy breakfast are;
- Eggs
- Dairy products
- Nuts
- Bananas
- Berries, etc
A healthy lifestyle is vital for your general health, and knowing what to avoid is key. Use the above 15 don’ts to a healthy lifestyle, and you are assured of better health and well-being.
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