Feeling Balanced: Health

January 22, 2021

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balanced living health, healthy living, sleep exercise stress healthy eating, balanced life categories health.

The Balanced Life Assessment tool has you rate yourself in 6 different areas of your life to see how satisfied you are. Health is one component of that, but it’s a very important piece. Being healthy is made up so many different areas. If you exercise all the time but are not getting any sleep or are stressed out with your job, you still won’t feel healthy. You can eat well, but if you sit on the couch all day binge-watching Netflix, you probably won’t feel your best.

Feeling balanced in the area of health in your life means having energy, feeling rested, and overall feeling well. If you are dealing with an illness or medical condition, please consult your physician. But if you are otherwise healthy and want to take charge of your life in the area of health, here are a few areas you might choose to work on.

Exercise
Healthy Eating
Sleep
Water
Mental Health

Exercise
- Exercise has so many benefits to our health – including less stress, anxiety and depression.
- Why should I exercise?
Healthy Eating
- There are so many different diets and ideas about what we should eat. It can be hard to keep up on the latest recommendations. For me, I feel my best when I eat more whole foods and less processed foods.
- Think about how you feel after eating – is the food you eat making you feel better (more energy?) or worse (stomach-ache, tired?).
- Determine if you are happy in the area of healthy eating or not. If you are not happy in this area, decide how you can make a change.
Sleep
- Good, quality sleep is so important for our bodies and our health.
- If you are feeling tired, anxious and cranky throughout the day, you might want to check out your sleep patterns and start tracking how much sleep you are actually getting.
- Make it a priority to get better, restful sleep – not just having to live on caffeine and power naps to get through each day.
Water
- Drinking water is important for your health.
- Drinking water can help control calories and make our skin look more youthful (among other things).
- How satisfied are you when it comes to how much water you drink in a day? If you are reaching for Diet Coke or an afternoon coffee all day instead of water, you might want to think about adding some water in to your routine and see how you feel.
Mental Health
- How is your mental health? Right now with COVID, so many people are feeling isolated and lonely, which is definitely not great for our mental health.
- Check in with yourself in this area. Do something that makes you happy and feel good just for you. (Self-care is so important!)
- If you need additional support, there are so many resources available. We don’t have to go through this life alone. Find someone to talk to and get the help you need.

Action Steps/Goals

Here are some sample action steps or goals you can take if you want to work on the area of health in your life. These are just a few ideas that I came up with that I am trying to work on for myself. And don’t feel like you have to do them all at once! I find it helpful to focus on two goals at a time, or I tend to get overwhelmed and don’t do anything. Let me know in the comments if you have goals or action steps you are working on.

Join a gym (or buy an online workout program like BeachBody On Demand).
Commit to working out/walking 4 times/week.
Start a food diary – keep track of what you eat and how you feel afterwards.
Make a meal plan for the week – know what you are going to make for dinner instead of waiting until it’s dinnertime and ordering take-out.
Go to bed at the same time every night.
Turn off your screens/phone 30 minutes before bed-time, and do something calming before bed, like read a book (not the news).
Get a water bottle that has marks on it and keep track of how much water you are drinking throughout the day.
Limit the amount of soda and coffee you are drinking, and add in more water throughout your day.
Meditate/practice deep breathing for 10 minutes each morning when you wake up.

Are you satisfied in the area of health in your life? Let me know in the comments! What are some areas you are great at? What would you like to work on?