When you think about your health what comes to mind? Do you think about your body, your mind, or your spirit? Holistic health practices address all three parts and take into account how one area impacts the others. When you make an effort to improve holistic health, you make improvements to your whole self for better wellbeing.
Tend to Your Sleep
To improve holistic health, tend to your sleep hygiene, or how you prepare for bed. Getting a good night’s sleep supports your mind, body, and spirit by optimizing brain function, improving mood, supporting exercise and nutrition choices, and boosting energy levels. Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night, keep your room cool and dark, and eliminate the use of electronics at least one hour before bed. If you have trouble falling asleep, get out of bed and read or mediate until you feel more tired. These adjustments to your sleep routine help improve holistic health.
Eat mindfully
Another important shift you can make to improve holistic health is to change how you eat before you change what you eat. Eating slowly and mindfully supports better nutritional choices as you begin to recognize the nuances of food flavors, textures, and overall quality of your food. Slow eating helps improve holistic health by improving digestion, preventing overeating, supporting a healthy weight, and providing greater satisfaction with your meal.
Spend time outdoors
In the United States, adults spend more than 90% of their lives indoors. In an effort to improve holistic health, an intentional shift toward spending more time outdoors supports your physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Time in nature helps reduce blood pressure, reduces allergies and respiratory issues, boosts mood and energy, increases gratitude, and helps improve focus. Prioritizing time outdoors is a significant way for you to improve holistic health.
Practice Yoga
Cardio and strength training have their place in a healthy exercise habit. In contrast, yoga is sometimes overlooked yet is essential to improve holistic health. This active recovery practice elongates your muscles, quiets your mind, and makes your body more resilient for more strenuous exercise. Yoga is not only good for your body but also reduces stress and supports a clearer mind by reminding you to breathe and be present in your daily life.
Meditate or Pray
Incorporating meditation or prayer into your daily routine is a good way to improve holistic health. Taking time to be still and tune out the distractions and chaos are important ways to reduce stress, be thankful, and focus on the things that matter most to you. Meditation is often prescribed as a complementary treatment to traditional medical care and is a common recommendation to improve holistic health.
Serve others
The feel good benefits of doing something for someone else can’t be overlooked as a way to improve holistic health. Moving beyond ourselves and serving others has an impact on our physical health, emotional wellbeing, and spiritual growth. When the intention is to help others, the benefits of serving others results in a longer life span by lowering blood pressure, risk of stroke, and premature death. Volunteering is an impactful contributor to improve holistic health.
Which of our top 6 tips to improve holistic health will you try? We’d love to hear how it goes and what other practices have helped you improve holistic health!
