Improving your life doesn’t necessarily take an overnight influx of wealth, such as winning the lottery or inheriting a million-dollar business from a distant relative. You can work towards improving different aspects of your life one small habit at a time. Doing so isn’t just more realistic, but it’s also a more sustainable approach to bettering your quality of life. Here are five things to do today or tomorrow when you wake up:
Practice Deep Breathing
Today, most people use ineffective muscle groups to breathe, instead of using the diaphragm to fill their lungs to full capacity. Relaxation techniques including deep breathing and yoga are scientifically proven to improve physical and mental health. Even a mere 15 minutes of deliberate, deep inhaling and exhaling can have significant health benefits including improving your energy and mood levels, slowing down your heart rate and blood pressure, and helps reduce anxiety by calming down the nervous system. What’s great about deep breathing exercises is that you can do it pretty much anywhere, whether you’re at work or on the bus, plus there’s no additional effort or cost involved so people can do it more consistently.
Practice Prudent Money Management
Stress takes many forms, but more commonly it takes the form of money or lack thereof. Practicing prudent money management techniques can improve your life by reducing stress levels and opening up more opportunities for you and your family. Budgeting is an age-old practice that you should subscribe to, carefully listing monthly expenses and income and constantly reviewing your balance sheets and bank statements to make sure you’re allocating money in the right places. Invest any extra money you don’t immediately need into stocks, bonds, ETFs, and other dividend-paying assets. Use financial products, like auto title loans, wisely.
Sleep More
More productivity and output doesn’t have to come with overtime hours and late nights in front of your computer screen as the price. In fact, there are more studies supporting the fact that getting more high quality sleep leads to higher quality output at work. Inadequate rest doesn’t just come with the cost of fatigue and bad skin. It also leads to more serious health complications including heart disease and obesity. Your body needs adequate sleep to be able to repair itself. During sleep, your mind also goes through a process known as “consolidation”, which improves memory retention of the knowledge and skills you picked up while awake. If those aren’t enough reasons to sleep more, a study back in 2010 reveals that there were more deaths in people aged 50 to 79 who only got five hours or less of sleep as opposed to those who got over six hours of rest a day.
Spend Time With Family
Spending time with family, friends, and people you truly care about is part of a healthy lifestyle. It’s important for you to find an hour or two from your busy day to talk with family members or catch up with friends. Social engagement is linked to a stronger immune system, particularly for older people, and helps fight depression. That being said, avoid people who you feel uncomfortable being around in and who stress you out.
Learn to Say “No”
Saying “yes” to everything can be a curse. Unfortunately, it’s a curse that many people suffer from. Saying “no” is a lot more difficult since people have the tendency to want to please others. Learn to say “no” to parties or social gatherings you don’t want to attend. Say “no” to favors that you’re too physically and mentally exhausted to grant. Saying “no” will free you up to do things that are actually important to you.
Final Thoughts
Changing your life for the better doesn’t come in one fell swoop. It’s deliberate and consistent effort applied to the right set of habits. Try to incorporate the five habits mentioned above to your day-to-day routine.
