Living Life to the Fullest: Top Tips to Be Happier in a Healthier Heartbeat

Most people don’t live a healthy life, but not because they don’t want to be healthy. It’s because they think it’s time-consuming. But, is it really? What you might not know is that it doesn’t take much to improve your life.

Eat Primally

Did you know that eating healthy isn’t really that difficult? There is some new research that shows that eating a diet comprised of whole foods is one of the healthiest ways to eat. Common sense dictates that we should be eating foods that we (as humans) have eaten for most of our history on earth. This means foods we’ve evolved to eat. Studies show that foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, organ meats, some muscle meats, fish, and eggs are best for our health.

Fortunately, most of these types of foods are easy to find, and they’re relatively inexpensive.

Stay Hydrated

Water is essential for life, but most people don’t get enough of it. It makes up two-thirds of the body and it is responsible for a variety of functions throughout the body. It’s a solvent, carrier for nutrients, helps regulate body temperature, and helps detox the body of harmful substances. Maintaining hydration can have a profound effect on your health and energy levels.
Make sure that you drink enough water to keep your urine a pale yellow (straw yellow) color. And, make sure you’re taking in enough electrolytes throughout the day to keep your body’s energy levels up and your body hydrated. Most people don’t realize that they need at least 64 ounces of water each day, 4 to 5 grams of potassium, 400mg of magnesium, 2 to 2.3 grams of chloride, 2400 mg of sodium, and other vital nutrients to make sure that you stay hydrated.

Get Plenty Of Sunlight

Most people don’t get enough sunlight. We live in a culture that’s afraid of it. We believe we’ll increase our risk of cancer by going out in the sun. But, that’s simply not true. There is a risk of cancer if you get a sunburn. But, your body has multiple defense mechanisms that minimize this risk.

When you expose your skin to the sun, your body makes more melanin, which is a natural pigment in your body. The sun’s UVA rays then oxidizes this pigment, which is what results in a darker tan. UVB rays also help you tan, but their function is to convert cholesterol in your skin into vitamin D. During this process, sulphur is also oxidized. Combined, your body makes vitamin D3-sulfate.

This vitamin D helps your body in a variety of different ways. Not only is vitamin D important for calcium transport, it helps protect your body against a variety of diseases by modulating both the innate and adaptive immune systems.

It is responsible for helping build the protective mucosal barrier in your gut, which helps decrease the risk of an infection and controls pathogenic bacteria in your gut. Finally, vitamin D helps protect you against vitamin A toxicity.

While it’s relatively easy to get sun in the summer, you should try to get it in the winter, too. If you’re chronically low in vitamin D, you may be more susceptible to illness and disease. Companies, like SPERTI, sell UVB lamps, which can help you supplement your vitamin D intake during winter months.

Vitamin D oral supplements might help, but no commercial preparation contains the natural vitamin D3-sulfate form, which only occurs when UV rays oxidize sulphur in your skin.

Most people who stay indoors all day long, or have sedentary jobs, don’t get enough sunlight. For people who are moving, or in the process of moving, it might make sense to view Entwistle Green properties and make sure that they buy or rent a new place that gets a lot of sun or has easy access to the outdoors.

Get More Sleep

Getting more sleep is important. Sleep has the ability to balance out hormone levels, restore physical and mental energy, and getting optimal sleep can even help you lose weight and is linked to a reduced risk of chronic disease and improved longevity.

If you’re not getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night, start by going to bed earlier. Stop working and using the computer when the sun goes down, or at least minimize electronics use at night. If you can’t, or won’t, do this, you can buy blue-blocking sunglasses to wear at night. Blue light, like the kind emitted from electronic LED screens, has been shown to suppress melatonin levels — a hormone responsible for letting you fall asleep.

Alejandro Park is an energetic individual who is living life to the fullest, and encouraging others to do the same in his articles which appear around the web.