7 Vital Health Requirements

The level of your health is no mystery, it’s determined greatly by your everyday lifestyle.  Putting things into perspective however always, and certainly, leads us to 7 of the most important things YOU can do to improve and insure your health, energy, and vitality.  As a Health Coach, it’s always been important to me to help my patients and clients make “lifetime, lifestyle changes” rather than load up on vitamins, minerals and supplements…trying to find weight loss solutions, and optimal health through taking daily pills.  Here are some helpful things to think about:

1. Sunlight:  Did you know that sunlight is a vital nutrient? Well it is. It helps our bodies function in many ways. Two important ways are: a) our skin produces vitamin D when in the presence of sunlight, a vitamin essential for absorbing calcium. b) the pineal gland, a small gland in the brain, is affected by sunlight and helps our bodies regulate sleep patterns. If you are taking calcium supplements or are using supplements like melatonin, maybe you are just low on sunlight! 

2. Exercise:  All of know that exercise is a good part of any health regimen. I recommend walking 30 minutes to an hour at least three times per week. The benefits are innumerable, but here are a few:  a) helps to move the lymphatic fluid throughout your body which carries important nutrients to your body tissues and walking also helps to remove unwanted waste products and chemicals. b) stimulates metabolism for hours, even days after you have exercised. 

3. Rest:  You might be thinking about sleep, but sleep is only part of rest. Hopefully you are a getting sufficient amount sleep and you feel rested upon awakening.  Remember that rest is also the time spent away from repetitive and/or stressful activities. 

4. Positive mental attitude:  Your attitude is your altitude!  Make your days GREAT.  Only you have control of how your days are spent.  All the prominent self-improvement gurus will tell you, if life is giving you a hard time, deal with it and don’t let it get you down so low that you’re depressed.  We all have to accept that life is not perfect, but we can create our responses to all of those little things that get us down. 

5. Food:  I am extremely interested in diet and nutrition.  Some simple guidelines to optimal health through nutritional intake are;  eat regular size meals, eat plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and grains, avoid or eliminate processed foods and sugar, do not eat too close to bed-time, and keep your blood sugar regulated properly. 

6. Water:  One of our most important nutrients, and we can live only a few days without it.  It’s vital for almost all of life’s processes including digestion, circulation, and nervous and immune system function. Drink as close to one quart of fresh, clean water per fifty pounds of body weight per day.  I recommend reverse osmosis water, it is inexpensive, tastes great and really helps your body work properly. 

7. Air:  Something we all have to work on here in Phoenix with all of the pollution.  Walking in the morning before all of the cars and traffic gets started is helpful in getting fresh air.  Bring plants into your house and at work if you can, they breathe in the carbon dioxide we breath out, and they give off fresh oxygen which helps us feel more alert and allows us to live healthy.  We can only live a few minutes without air, so try to make the air quality you breath the best it can be.  How you breathe is also important.  Shallow breathing from the chest is how most of us breath.  But it is not the best way. Try breathing 25 breaths in the morning, afternoon and evening from your stomach, it can help increase energy and reduce stress tremendously.