HEALTHY HABITS: 10 daily habits that changed my life (science-backed)

Good daily habits can make such a big difference to your overall health and your life. In this video, I'm going to share 10 daily habits that have changed my life in many different ways. If you're interested, keep watching. For today's video, we're going to talk about 10 daily habits that have made a really big difference to my life in different areas such as physical health, emotional health, and brain health. Before we dive in, I wanted to say a few things so you know the context. The first thing is these daily habits have been the result of gradual habit forming over the last five years. It's not something that happened overnight. It is difficult to form habits and it does take time. The second thing, although these habits are daily habits, I don't put pressure on myself to do them every day, especially when things get too busy or things are too overwhelming. Sometimes things slide a little and that's okay. When you're making lifestyle changes, it's not about perfection. It's about doing what you can. And generally, I do try to do these habits at least three to five times a week in the times that I'm really stressed out because I feel that they do help me stay on track and they do help reduce stress. Anyway, enough with the introduction. Let's get into the habits. The first daily habit is I drink a glass of water as soon as I get up. Well, not as soon as I get up. I brush my teeth, I go to the bathroom, and then I have a glass of water. I find that this has made a big difference to energy levels in the morning. When we're sleeping, we're not taking in any water and when we wake up, we can be mildly dehydrated. And when we're dehydrated, our fatigue levels go up. There is some science behind this. I will put it in the description box. So a good thing to do is start your morning by getting enough hydration. I drink a glass of filtered water. If I feel like it, I'll add some lemon to it. I don't always do that and it's usually at room temperature but if you like warm water, that can work too. It really is about personal preference but drinking some water in the morning is a great thing to do for your energy levels. Number two, I meditate for 10 minutes every day. I used to be very skeptical about meditation when I first started. I didn't really believe in it. I didn't think that there was science behind it but there is actually quite a bit of science. It can do things like reduce anxiety. It can help you improve your immune function. It can help reduce pain. There's a lot that it can do. I have a few links in the description box but for me, the biggest change is mental clarity and I feel much more calm. I am not naturally a calm person. I may appear calm on YouTube but I am not naturally a calm person. Meditation, years of meditation has gotten me to this point and I really do think that there are a lot of benefits to trying it out. Now if you're a beginner, meditation can seem very daunting and I have two tips to provide. So the first one is try to just be very open about meditation in the beginning. The first 10 to 15 sessions for me were very difficult. I didn't know what I was doing and I felt overwhelmed and I felt like I was doing it the wrong way. It wasn't until the 15th or 16th session that I really got into it and I started to see the benefits. So give it time. The second thing is if you are starting out, try guided meditation versus meditation where you're just doing it on your own. Guided meditation can really help you stay on track and can really guide you through the process. I use an app called Calm. I highly recommend it. I love it. There is also another app called Headspace which you could try out. Number three, I go for a brisk walk outdoors every day. Now I have to say that I live in Canada so a brisk walk outdoors every day does not happen year-round. It doesn't happen in the winter. But for the rest of the year, I do try to get outside because I find it's such a big mood booster to get some fresh air, to get some sunlight and to be out in greenery. And there are studies that show that exposure to greenery is good for your health. As usual, everything's in the description box. Now for me, the brisk walk is not just a mood booster. It's also the way I get exercise. I'm not a gym person. I have never been a gym person. I just don't enjoy it. Kudos to the people who enjoy the gym. I would love to do that but I just can't. I don't like it. So for me, getting exercise has to be something that's part of my lifestyle. And I love going out for a walk so I've started to make my walks my exercise. Now the World Health Organization recommends that we get about 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular activity a week or 75 minutes of cardiovascular activity. A walk can count if your heart rate is high enough. So when I'm walking, I test my heart rate. I have an app on my phone. Samsung Health is the app that I use. And my heart rate's usually between the moderate and vigorous zone. So my walk actually counts as a workout. It counts as moderate activity. So that's how I get my 150 minutes of exercise per week through my walk. Number four. In addition to the walk, I exercise. So the walk is great for cardiovascular activity if you're doing a brisk walk or if you're jogging or if you're running. But a well-rounded exercise regimen should include more than just cardio. I like to include some weight training and yoga. But I specifically wanted to talk about weights. There's a lot of women shy away from it especially because they think they're going to look a certain way if they train with weights. The World Health Organization recommends that the average adult do at least two sessions a week. Why is it so important? As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass. It's a normal part of aging. Another normal part of aging is losing bone density. It happens. But we can slow that process down with one thing and that one thing is weight training. So it doesn't matter what age you are. It could be in your 20s or your 30s. It's never too early to start preserving your muscle mass and preserving your bone density. If you're a beginner, you should always speak to a professional. Learn the proper moves. You could do body weights or free weights. But always speak to someone who knows what they're doing so you don't get injured. And then eventually when you know what you're doing, you could always work out at home. That's what I do. I am not a gym person as I mentioned earlier. So I don't go to the gym. But I will use free weights and body weight exercises at home. If you're interested in the exercise channels that I follow, I have them in the description box below. Number five, I try to eat something green every day. It's rather embarrassing but I will admit that even as a nutritionist, I find it hard to eat greens. I did not grow up eating greens so it's a very foreign concept for me. But I do understand that they are very nutrient dense and it's a good idea to get some greens on a daily basis. Especially a variety of greens, you're getting a variety of vitamins and minerals. If you're interested in nutrient density scores, I have one link in the description box below. Now if you're a beginner, the easiest way to add greens to your diet really is smoothies. I find that that was the best gateway for me to get into the habit of eating greens. If you're interested in how to make green smoothies taste better, I do have a video on it which I will link in the description box below. Number six, I eat at least two to three servings of brightly colored fruits and veggies every day. This is my bare minimum, two to three. I usually try to eat more. Why is it important to eat brightly colored fruits and veggies? Well you may have heard of the term eat the rainbow. Eat the rainbow basically suggests eating fruits and veggies from different colors. These different colors mean they have different phytochemicals which mean they have different health properties. Some phytochemicals can help with cancer prevention, some can help with liver, some can help with metabolism. There's different reasons to have those phytochemicals and it's a good idea to get a variety. So I do try to get at least two to three servings of fruits and veggies from those different groups. If you're interested in learning more about eating the rainbow, I have a link in the description box below. Number seven, I listen to relaxing music every evening as a way to wind down. So music has many different health benefits, the science is still emerging, but what I found very interesting is that nature sounds and relaxing music can help reduce stress. It can help reduce the stress hormone called cortisol. If you're interested, the science is in the description box. So I do try to listen to something that's very relaxing, flutes, maybe some nature sounds, rusting of leaves, things like that, a waterfall. Those are all really nice to listen to at the end of the day as a way to wind down and just relax. Number eight, I try to read or learn something new every day and I love to do this because it's something that I truly enjoy, but there are other benefits to it, especially when it comes to brain health. So as we age, there is that natural decline in our memories, it happens, but mental stimulation can slow down that decline. So for me, it's reading. I also like to learn new things. For you, it could be whatever works for you. If you're a reading person, read a book. Fiction and non-fiction both have their benefits. If you're not into reading, learning a new language on an app such as Duolingo could work or you could watch something every day like short snippets on TED-Ed to learn something new. It's all about keeping your brain engaged and stimulated. Number nine, I try to spend quality time with loved ones every day and I want to underline the word quality time because a lot of us end up spending time with our loved ones, but we're on our phones and we're not properly engaged with them, we're not really talking to them, it's not good communication and this happens to everybody. It's just the digital age that we live in. I used to scroll on my phone next to my husband and I felt like I was spending time with him, but that wasn't really spending time. So now, no phones, I properly talk to him, I spend time with my cats too. I find that cuddling a pet or a human too can help you release oxytocin which is known as the cuddle hormone or the love hormone and it can help reduce stress. Number 10, I avoid phones in the one hour before bed. So I used to be on my phone right before bed and I found it very difficult to fall asleep because my brain was all over the place, it was very mentally stimulated and phones also emit something known as blue light and that blue light is something that your brain thinks is daylight. So when you're on your phone and that blue light is going to your brain, your brain thinks it's not time to sleep so it won't produce melatonin very well and it becomes harder to sleep. I actually have talked about this in another video on sleep which I will link in the description box below, but what I try to do is I switch my phone off an hour or an hour and a half before bed, like flight mode, so I don't look at any notifications, I don't look at anything and that way I'm actually able to sleep better. I hope you found this video useful and you enjoyed it. If you liked it, give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe because I create videos like this every week. And before you go, let me know in the comment box below what is the one habit that has changed your life. I will see you in the next video. Bye!