Useful Tips For Maintaining Health For Every Day

Content

• Why don't we feel healthy.
• 3 main aspects of health.
• Trinity of the brain.
• Cognitive energy and its conservation.
• neural connections. Creation and strengthening.
• Motivation and reward.
• Top 8 tips to get healthy with healthy habits.

Why don't we feel healthy

Scientific and technological progress cannot be stopped! Pharmacology, medicine, research technologies, treatment methods are developing at a tremendous speed. However, humanity is feeling worse every year. And this can be tracked without resorting to complex health statistics.

Today's millennials - people born at the end of the 20th century - remember that during their childhood it was difficult to find an overweight and obese child in school and kindergarten. It was so unnatural that such a child was often ridiculed by classmates.

Today, in any average class of primary and secondary educational schools, there are many overweight children. Obesity is accompanied by allergies, food intolerances and vision problems.

Turning to official Russian statistics, over the past 20 years, one can track the increase in morbidity associated with the endocrine system, eating disorders and metabolic disorders.

But why, with the development of medicine and new scientific discoveries, are we becoming less and less healthy?

Medicine and pharmacology are primarily aimed at treating an already diagnosed disease. And too little attention is now paid to how this or that disease develops in our body and how to prevent it.

Modern consumer culture, or rather lack of it, also plays its role. The abundance and availability of goods, modern marketing technologies, social networks and television lead society to an uncontrollable desire to get everything at once. People are literally forced to consume foods that are not suitable for a person for normal life. Wear and tear for the sake of obtaining imposed benefits, stress in case of failure to achieve goals ... At the same time, more and more interesting devices appear on the market, which at first glance make our lives easier, but aggravate our health, since almost all of them are aimed at reducing physical activity - the main factor that is responsible for the work of internal organs.

How can we make a difference? What to do right today? Start investing in your own body, and therefore in health. Moreover, these investments do not require large financial costs and are quite affordable, and the effect of such investments gives a feeling of joy from a full and long life.

3 main aspects of health

If we talk about the physiological aspects, we can say that the work of our body has "support points". Violation of one of them can lead to imbalance, stress and the development of health problems.

The three main "pillars" of a healthy body:

• dream;
• food;
• physical activity.

What needs to be done to properly support these "pillars"? It would seem that everything is very simple: give up bad habits and introduce healthy ones. Advice such as sleeping more, drinking enough water, taking 10,000 steps a day, and avoiding sugary and starchy foods seems to have hit the teeth of many. But if it is well known what needs to be done, why hasn't our society become healthy yet? Let's try to figure out how the nature of a habit works.

Trinity of the brain

Our brains are very complex. American neuroscientist Paul McLean put forward the theory of the triune brain. Its essence is as follows: in the process of evolution, the human brain developed gradually, from simple to more complex. With each stage of development, the next "layer" of the brain was superimposed on the previous one, while maintaining the same functions. Thus, the brain of a modern person was formed, consisting of three main “layers”:

• the reptilian brain is the oldest, it is responsible for instincts, that is, for survival. The commands of the reptilian brain tend to override all other parts of the brain, and we have no control over it. It makes us breathe when we hold our breath for a long time, seek food when we are hungry, run or fight when we are in danger;
• The limbic brain is responsible for emotions and habits. It generates neurochemicals. It is responsible for the production of neurotransmitters and hormones. It is the limbic brain that makes us quickly make the right decision in response to an external stimulus or causes an emotional reaction;
• the cerebral cortex, or neocortex, is the modern brain, the highest form of its development. It contains processes that distinguish us from animals, that is, speech, the ability to plan, dream, and intellectual development. This is the only controlled part of the brain, neural connections are formed in it, which allows a person to direct his actions in the right direction so that they meet the needs to the maximum extent.

On the one hand, this mechanism of the brain structure constantly helps us survive and protects us from dangers, on the other hand, it blocks the intentions to change our bad habits, because it perceives all changes as an attack on our own safety.

If you think of the limbic brain and the neocortex figuratively, you can say that the limbic brain is a strong bully, lazy and loser, forcing everyone to fulfill his whims. And the cerebral cortex is a frail but intelligent nerd with good intentions, unable to resist his tough bully opponent.

Cognitive energy and its conservation

However, both the bully brain and the nerd brain have a common task: to store energy and reduce its consumption. So when we decide to start a healthy lifestyle, go jogging in the morning and begin to deny ourselves the pleasure of eating ice cream every day or drinking beer in front of the TV, our limbic brain, trying to accumulate energy, does not agree with this, because ice cream and beer are high in calories. food, and running and movement make you expend energy. But how can this be resisted?

As often happens in life, a strong "bully" is too straightforward and is powerless in front of some tricks of the "nerd".

The nerd, on the other hand, has other ways of conserving cognitive energy in his arsenal: creating and strengthening neural connections formed in the brain to obtain a pattern or habit with which he simplifies the decision-making process. Therein lies his secret weapon.

neural connections. Creation and strengthening

To establish the right habit, we need to create a neural connection in the neocortex and strengthen it by repeating the same action over and over, and then properly reward ourselves.

A neural connection is like a path in a wheat field. If we pass through the field once, we will only take in the wheat, and the path will be invisible. But if we begin to make this route every day, the path will immediately become visible and remain in the field for a long time.

Motivation and reward

In order to make a route and trample a path through our field, it is necessary to understand why we need this path. Where will she take us? What will you get from it?

This will be the motivation.

Motivation can be both external (praise, reward or the desire to avoid punishment) and internal (the desire for self-development, self-determination, belonging to some idea or community, when the process itself is a pleasure).

“Apply” the motivational component to our path. We may trample it because someone has offered us a reward for it. Having trampled it, we will receive, for example, money and lose motivation, we will stop trampling the path, and soon it will overgrow. Or we believe that this path will shorten our way to the house, which will allow us to spend more time at home with our family and bring us positive emotions.

External motivation can be effective in achieving quick results in the short term. Intrinsic motivation has a greater effect in the formation of sustainable habits. Always try to look for the answer to the question "why do I need this?" inside yourself. This will lead you to long term success.

How to find motivation to lose weight? They told in the article.

Having understood the nature of habit formation, we come to specific steps or tips on how to correctly introduce new behavior patterns into our lives and keep them for a long time, making them part of our lifestyle.

Top 8 Tips for Getting Healthy with Healthy Habits

1. Be specific about your intentions

Describing the specific actions of your future habit is an effective way to implement it. We often tell ourselves that we need more sleep in order to recover and avoid stress, and for this we need to go to bed earlier. This problem statement is not specific. It’s better to say to yourself: “For the next 30 days, I will shower at 10:30 sharp, brush my teeth, air out the bedroom, and then at 23:00 I will lie in my bed to wake up at 6 o’clock the next day fresh and ready for new challenges. getting the right amount of sleep.” When people translate their intentions into concrete plans, very often they succeed in introducing new habits. The main thing is to perform the planned actions regularly.

2. Start small

Having made the decision to lead a healthy lifestyle, we are ready for global changes (giving up our usual food, buying an annual gym membership) and we can’t cope with such loads (we don’t get approval from our “bully” - the limbic brain). This leads to the fact that we quickly abandon our venture. Instead of drastic changes, try taking small but daily steps towards your goal. For example, if you used to put three spoons of sugar in your tea or coffee, reduce the amount of sugar by only a quarter of a spoon a week - and in three months you will be able to use no sugar at all. Another tip: try to understand all the negative consequences of eating refined sugar. Obesity, magnesium deficiency (1 molecule of sugar spends 30 mg of magnesium, which is so necessary for residents of the metropolis),

3. Be patient

It takes time to form powerful neural connections. It is said that a habit takes 21 days to form. However, the introduction of a particular habit depends on the ability of the human brain.

Did you know that bamboo sprouts in the ground, forming its root system within five years before growing to a height of more than 20 meters in just 6 weeks?

If we take daily walks with a large number of steps, we will not see a drastic change in appearance, but after some time we will feel a surge of energy and strength due to better saturation of blood cells with oxygen, as well as a decrease in the percentage of subcutaneous adipose tissue.

4. Focus on the process

To establish a habit, we need a goal. The goal is the final destination. But a strong focus on the goal does not make it possible to effectively introduce a habit. So focus on the process.

Having reached the goal, we usually get what we want and stop there.

The goal can be achieved in different ways. For example, you can lose 10 kg in a couple of weeks by simply going on a hunger strike and putting your body in terrible stress.

Having quickly reached the goal, you are likely to return to your usual diet just as quickly and gain weight again.

If you want your ideal weight to be stable, focus on a diet, a complete combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates on your plate, and stop eating pro-inflammatory foods: hydrogenated fats (margarine, palm oil), sugar and fast carbohydrates, alcohol.

5. Believe in yourself

When we set a goal to create a habit, we often just follow a certain program, but deep down we do not believe that it will work. If you start treating yourself not as a person who is trying to do something, but believe that you really are such a person, you will get results. The main focus of change should be on what kind of person you want to become, not what you want to get.

For example, if you want to incorporate sports into your life, prove to yourself that you are an athlete. And you cannot postpone the training process for any reason, because a real athlete who wants to win cannot refuse to train unless he is sick.

Or don't tell yourself, "I'm trying to eat well," but say, "I lead a healthy lifestyle." A person who leads a healthy lifestyle will not run into a diner for a hamburger and soda for a fleeting pleasure.

6. Make it Easy for Good Habits, Hard for Bad Habits

Sometimes the impossibility of introducing a habit is due to its too difficult implementation. For example, the desire to go to the gym disappears due to the long road to it or the unwillingness to stand in line for the simulator.

In this case, purchase dumbbells or a horizontal bar, find a home workout program and train at home without wasting time on the road to the gym.

If you want to stop snacking on fast carbs, cookies, candy and chips, just get rid of them and stop buying them. When you again have a desire to treat yourself to something "forbidden", you simply will not have it at hand.

7. Create an appropriate environment for yourself

If you try to introduce healthy habits in an environment of people who do not accept your desire, it will be difficult for you to complete this process.

Find someone who shares your desire for change and do things together, like going to the gym together. Make a bet or arrange a competition, for example, who can pull up more on the horizontal bar.

If you are thinking of learning how to cook delicious and healthy meals, join a group on social networks where you can follow new trends and share experiences with other people.

8. Reward yourself for success

Remember our "bad guy" - the limbic part of the brain, which is designed to carefully observe the good intentions of the neocortex and resist them? If this “guy” is well rewarded after the action of creating a new habit, with the help of dopamine - the hormone of joy and motivation - he will also be able to calm his ardor and become your ally in creating a strong neural connection, and with it a new habit.

After a quality workout at the gym, reward yourself with a natural protein shake, choosing a banana as your sweetener. This will not only allow you to have fun, but also give your muscles good fuel for further growth. After an evening walk, reward yourself with a relaxing mint tea or magnesium salt bath for 30-40 minutes to prepare your body for quality sleep.

Making yourself and your environment healthy is easy. To do this, you just need to correctly approach the formation of good habits and the eradication of bad ones. Using our tips, you can start joining a healthy lifestyle tomorrow.