Tips for daily personal health improvement

Tips for daily personal health improvement
Keep your body and mind in great shape by following a few basic steps each day to protect health and prevent illness.


If you would like to enjoy better health and a stronger body, there are several things you can do each day that will take little time but render great results. Make minor changes like these to improve your quality of life without coming to depend exclusively on a doctor or medication.

1. Drink pure water. Whether you drink water from a well or the city pipeline, find out whether it is safe and wholesome. The county health department can issue a simple test that will find out if your water contains contaminants like mercury or lead, pollution from local industry, runoff from farmlands, or bacteria and viruses that can cause illness. Even if your water contains only a small amount of these things, over time they can build up in your body to create health problems. If your water is harmful, get a home faucet purifier (about $16.99) that will purify drinking and cooking water for about a month or two, depending on the number of people using it.



2. Exercise daily. Even thirty minutes of activity several times a week can slow the aging process and help to protect your body against numerous illnesses, including heart disease and cancer. When you are sitting in front of the television, tap your feet to keep moving or lift your feet to knee level and lower them several times to improve circulation in your legs. While talking on the telephone, you can pace back and forth to expend calories.


3. Eat healthy. Try to get two fruits and three vegetables daily as a minimum plan; opt for 4 fruits and five veggies as you get used to a plant-based diet. Fresh is better, although processed or cooked foods may suffice. Reduce the amount of fat that you eat and increase fiber intake. Avoid fast food, and when dining in restaurants, take half your ample-sized meal home for the next day. Include lots of deeply-colored produce, like blueberries, red peppers, tomatoes, and broccoli.


4. Pop a vitamin with minerals each day. Check with your doctor for the right kind for you, and never take more than the recommended daily dose, as some nutrients can be toxic when taken in large amounts. Your doctor may want to give you occasional B-vitamin injections, or simply recommend a pill or chewable tablet. Ask him or her about herbs like black cohash or milk thistle that may help to cleanse the body or reduce inflammation.


5. Keep in touch. Call a relative or friend to gab on the phone a few minutes each day. Or email someone a couple times weekly to share news or ideas. Medical studies show that people who are connected to other folks are more likely to get healthy and stay well than those who live the life of a loner. Write a note or send a card to let someone know you care, and you may receive some, too.


Simple changes like these can make a difference in your physical and mental health, and in the lives of others you influence. Start now to add a richer dimension to your daily existence.