10 Healthy Habits To Start Doing Today That Will Improve Your Life

Last Updated on March 1, 2023 by Lori Geurin

Want an easy way to start adding healthy habits into your life? In this comprehensive post, I’ll teach you 10 healthy habits to start doing today.

No pressure to do them all. Simply choose a few you’d like to try. Let’s begin with a short definition.

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What are healthy habits?

A healthy habit is any behavior that can improve your health and wellness.

The small changes you make may not seem to make much difference at first. But when you start including more of these simple habits, they add to a healthier lifestyle.

Don’t worry about making a huge change overnight. Try to take it one simple step at a time.

Or, think of it as improving your life with one tiny habit. One day at a time. One habit at a time.

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10 Healthy Habits To Do Everyday

Here’s a list of healthy habits to start doing on the daily.

1. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Walking decreases blood pressure and strengthens bones. Losing body fat, cardio perks, and improving your heart health are some benefits of walking.

So opt for taking the stairs whenever possible to enjoy all these benefits.

Learn more about the excellent benefits of walking!

Here are over 100 fitness motivation quotes to inspire you to work out.

2. Find healthy substitutions for unhealthy foods.

Good foods are a must if you want to take care of your health. Prepare your own meals as often as possible.

Eating well doesn’t have to be complicated. You can prep healthy meals in a flash. All you need are wholesome, natural food ingredients.

Here are 10 fast and healthy sheet pan meals.

Try to shop mainly from the produce section to ensure you’re getting your fruits and veggies.

Check out these 35 healthy food swaps.

Get my simple weekly meal planner + access to my entire resource library!

3. Drink a minimum of 8 8-ounce glasses of water.

Water helps cleanse the body, strengthens the immune system, and helps manage your weight.

Replacing high-calorie drinks with water can help you lose and maintain weight and keep you hydrated. It’s hard to start new healthy habits when you’re low on water.

Staying hydrated can help keep your brain from thinking you’re hungry. When you need a glass of water, the part of your brain that controls hunger and thirst can get confused and make you feel hungry. Keeping a bottle of water handy will make you fill up and help you feel less bloated.

Related: 9 Surprising Health Benefits Of Drinking Lemon Water

4. Eat more leafy greens.

The CDC says we aren’t eating enough vegetables and fruits. Most Americans don’t meet the daily vegetable intake recommendation. And we’re not doing much better with our fruit consumption. According to the report, only 12% of Americans eat fruit daily.

Adding lettuce to your meals will add water and vitamins. At just 20 calories per serving, the fiber in lettuce can help you fill up. Dark green and reddish-colored lettuces are the most healthy. Even the pale iceberg lettuce has water, fiber, and folate.

5. Do at least 25 squats each day.

As you get older, your muscles lose strength and become smaller. They might become less supple and stiff. Changes to your joints can cause you to lose tissue elasticity, leading to tight muscles.

Doing squats helps keep your muscles strong and toned. It’s an excellent exercise for mobility and balance and can be done anywhere.

Learn how to do the perfect squat by watching this video.

https://youtu.be/aPYCiuiB4PA

Here are some more of the benefits of doing squats.

Whenever I microwave something, I do squats while waiting for the food to heat up. You could also do them during commercial breaks while watching your favorite show. Or whenever you like!

Take your time when you do squats. Taking small steps and increasing your reps gradually increases the likelihood of lasting change.

Your body and mind can benefit from being physically active. It keeps your weight in control, reduces stress, boosts your mood, and gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Related: 20 Benefits Of Kettlebell Workouts And How To Do Kettlebell Swings

6. Go to bed earlier.

Night owls, please listen up! A good night’s sleep is essential.

A study found that getting 8 and a half hours of sleep each night reduced cravings for junk food by 62 percent and decreased appetite by 14 percent.

How can you reach that amount? Keeping your bedroom for sleeping is one of the things you can do. This will help your body know when it’s time to sleep, not watch TV or scroll through emails on your phone.

Related: 16 Quick Tips To Help You Sleep Better Tonight

7. If you work at a desk all day, alternate between sitting, standing, and walking.

Have you heard about the dangers of sitting all day? It’s also not great to stand all day (even though standing desks have some benefits).

So mix it up between sitting, standing, and walking.

Standing Vs. Sitting

For every hour you sit, get up, and walk around. Multiple health issues have been linked to sitting for long periods.

You may be sitting in one spot for a long time at work. You can set a timer to do a walk every hour. This can help keep your body and mind alert and prevent the adverse effects of sitting too long.

This leads me to the following health tip…

8. Take a 30-minute walk.

Or break it up and go on 2 15-minute or 3 10-minute walks. Whatever works best for you.

Walking decreases blood pressure and strengthens bones. Walking is an excellent choice if you don’t like exercising but still want to get the benefits!

It helps your physical well-being as you’re staying active. It’s great for emptying your mind, breathing fresh air, and feeling more alive.

Plus, the idea of walking more and driving less is simple. Walking burns calories.

But, wait a minute, there’s more!

A study found that if you have diabetes or are overweight, taking a short walk after a meal can help lower your blood sugar levels by 12 percent.

And not only that, but walking allows you to clear your mind, enjoy looser-fitting jeans and save gas money.

So, take 30 minutes to walk every day. Engage in moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes per week. One way to remember this is to engage in physical activity for at least 30 minutes daily.

9. Drink carbonated water instead of soda.

Drinking regular or diet soda isn’t good for you. But you probably already knew that. According to research, the brain reacts to artificial sweeteners like it does to sweets.

Wondering why drinking soda is bad for you?

It’s a primary driver of obesity. We’re talking about sugar instead of fast food here.

Need more convincing? Here are 20 reasons why sugar is bad for your health.

In a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, people who ate up to 21 percent of their calories from added sugar were 38 percent more likely to die from heart disease than people who only ate 8 percent of calories from sugar.

So, it’s recommended that you limit your intake of this inflammatory ingredient to no more than 10 grams of sugar.

Drinking carbonated sparkling water is a suitable replacement for sugary sodas. The carbonation gives you a similar feel to a bubbly soda.

Related: Sparkling Advice to Kick Your Soda Habit

10. Practice having good posture.

Improving your posture has several benefits. Here are a few good posture benefits from Healthline.

• less low back pain
• a stronger core
• more self-confidence
• less wear on the joints
• less pain from TMJ (temperomandibular joint)
• more lung capacity
• improved form when you work out
• improved digestion
• a slimmer appearance
• better circulation
• more energy

Try these stretches to improve posture.

What is a clean, healthy diet?

A sustainable diet is one of the most essential healthy habits. It’s a good idea to eliminate sugars and flour-based products as much as possible. Olive oil and avocados are high-quality fats.

Don’t forget to eat leafy green vegetables and healthy fruit. Put seafood, poultry, and eggs in your diet.

It is possible to make permanent changes to your diet through small steps, such as eating salad for lunch. Fad diets just can’t achieve the long-term changes you will see.

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Health Challenges For Creating Healthy Habits

Have you ever tried a health and wellness challenge? If so, you know how powerful they can be for helping you create healthy habits.

Several months ago, I started a push-up challenge because I wanted to strengthen my arms.

Even though I’ll admit I don’t like doing push-ups (I’d rather do squats any day of the week), it’s been good for me because now my arms are much stronger.

The challenge was super simple (besides the part where I was doing the push-ups). What I mean is that the challenge started out slowly and increased the number of daily push-ups by only 1.

The first day of the 30-day challenge had me doing 10 push-ups a day (yes, I did them from my knees. No shame in that.) And, yes, they were hard, but we all have to start somewhere, and I’d avoided doing push-ups for long enough.

By adding 1 push-up to the daily total, by the end of the 30 days, I could do about 40 push-ups. Now I’m in the habit of doing them every night before I go to bed. It’s just part of my routine, and I don’t feel right unless I’ve done my push-ups. (This sounds so weird as I’m typing it.)

Challenges like this give you a win because you don’t have to do all the things from the beginning.

Plus, health and wellness challenges help you create healthy habits.

There are all kinds of challenges out there. Here are Twenty 30-day challenge ideas and a social media detox challenge I created.

You can get the FREE printable calendar that goes with the social media detox challenge here.

Is It Ever Too Late to Start Healthy Habits?

Living a longer and healthier life is possible if you practice healthy habits. If you start small, you can significantly reduce your chances of developing a chronic disease or dying early compared to those who only practice healthy habits.

You can build positive activities into your life. Even if you’re older or have bad habits, you can introduce small changes into what you do.

Sure, breaking bad habits may be challenging, but it’s all worth it when you get into your new healthy routine. Even though these changes may take a while, give yourself grace and focus on each tiny step.

If you can get into practicing healthy habits, you won’t regret your decision to make the effort.

You have to be patient and take small steps one day at a time.

Making healthy habits a part of your life can help motivate your family and friends to adopt a healthier lifestyle. It will increase your chances of success and deepen your relationship as you get to know each other better through your healthy routines.

Getting In The Habit Of Practicing Healthy Habits

Setting the proper environment is a part of creating good habits. You may be setting yourself up for failure if you vow to eat better, but your partner doesn’t understand your health goals.

If you can’t talk them into joining you in your health endeavors, set healthy boundaries and let them know about your health plans.

If you can help your loved ones understand how important it is to you, they may even choose to join you in your pursuit of better health. This will increase your chances of success and deepen your relationship as you continue to improve your health and life.

But, even if they’re not on board with making changes with you, you can find a walking group, attend cooking classes, or participate in online health forums to help keep you on track.

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Promoting healthy habits is the way to go.

There’s a lot that goes into forming and keeping healthy habits. Your likelihood of making healthy choices increases when you start small and choose habits that are easy to stick to.

Don’t guilt yourself when you make a mistake because you’re forming healthy habits, so give yourself plenty of time.

Printable Habit Tracker

Check out our printable Habit Tracker to help you stay on track with your health and fitness goals, creating powerful habits to transform your life!

Simple Health Habits

Alright, there you have it! There are 10 healthy habits to start incorporating into your daily life.

But, before I go, I’d like to add one more. It’s something that’s helped me get rid of cravings, eliminate reactive hypoglycemia symptoms and lose 30 pounds.

If you haven’t tried intermittent fasting, you can start getting all the fasting benefits now. Also, you may want to learn about clean fasting to improve your results.

Get my FREE Intermittent Fasting eBook. It’s perfect for beginners!

What are some of your favorite healthy habits?