Creating healthy habits helps with mental health and wellbeing.

Deep down inside we all want to live that ‘healthy’ life so we can feel good and look good.

In today’s day and age though it can be a challenge with the ever-increasing to-do lists, domestic duties, turning up to your job, children’s commitments etc… the list goes on, right?

How the hell am I supposed to fit in some me-time?

Why do I even need healthy habits?

When will I have time to focus on and introduce these new healthy habits?

Where do I start?

Think of the positives that will come from creating healthy habits.

Here are some areas of good habits

• healthy diet and exercise
• healthy sleep habits
• healthy relationships
• assertive communication
• work-life balance
• time management
• stress management
• relaxation and mindfulness

Now it’s time to prioritise and break this thing down. From the list above choose 3 area’s that you most need to work on. Write the first area down and list a few bad habits you have surrounding this area.

For example…

Sleep habits:

BAD
Drinking coffee after dinner whilst working on the laptop until all hours of the night and then being too tired to wash your face and brush your teeth and waking up tired and grumpy after a restless night’s sleep.

GOOD
– Stop drinking caffeine after 3pm.

– Set an alarm whilst doing your work (start at 7pm and set your alarm for 9pm, turn laptop off. Bonus, because you set an alarm and you only have limited time it may increase your productivity).

– After you’ve switched your laptop off, head to the bathroom and either take a shower or wash your face and brush your teeth.

– Now you are done and can unwind for sleep time by either reading for 30 minutes, doing some gentle stretching or meditating.

Imagine the difference of your duration and quality of sleep from changing your bad night-time habits to good ones.

You’ll wake up feeling so much better, you might find you have a more productive day and the list of many more positive outcomes will continue from changing a few little things.

According to research, it takes 21 days to fully form a new habit, as 21 days is the time required for new neuropathways to be fully formed in your brain.

In closing, a habit is something that is routine to you and that you repeat, often without knowing it.

You and only you have the power to change your life.

Anything in life worth having is worth working for.

Make the changes and reap the rewards!