4 Ways You Can Incorporate Healthy Habits in Your Daily Routine

Humans are endlessly fascinating creatures. On the one hand, collectively we’re clever enough to put a man on the moon. On the other, many, if not most of us, have walked into a wall while looking at our smartphone?

This contradictory nature is most plainly evident when it comes to our health. While most of us know roughly what’s good for us – diet, exercise and sleep – very few of us actually adhere to a truly healthy lifestyle.

I know otherwise intelligent friends who hit the gym hard, then stay up all night watching Netflix. Or others who spend a fortune on yoga classes but an equal fortune on oreos.

It’s not entirely our own fault, in the fast-paced modern world the cards often seemed decked us. Our food is so full of hidden sugar that we may think we are eaten healthily but we’re actually buying ourselves a one-way ticket to Diabetes town. The electrification of the night means sleep is harder to come by, which means we’re often far too tired during the day to even contemplate exercise.

So what’s the solution I hear you cry? Well, the trick is to embed healthy habits into your daily routine. To turn seemingly mundane activities into an opportunity to get a dose of fitness.

Read on below and I’ll unleash 4 life changing healthy hacks on you.

1. Temptation Bundling

This is my all time favourite healthy hack. Temptation bundling works by combining something you really enjoy with something that is often seen as a chore.

It works a little something like this: You have a podcast you love listening. You also feel like you should go to the gym more often. Well, then combine the two. Set yourself a rule that you can only listen to your beloved podcast while you’re working out at the gym. Suddenly the gym will become something to look forward to.

A friend of mine was a keen cyclist when he was younger. Everyday he would don the lycra and cycle to work and back. He fell out of the habit when he started to work from home. Recently he fell in love with audiobooks. He now combines the two, every day he puts on his headphones and his helmet and cycles for an hour or so while listening to new books. A win-win!

2. Kettle callisthenics

I’m sure you’ve heard of kettlebells, well kettle calisthenics has absolutely nothing to do with them. It also doesn’t involved you lifting a kettle over your head. Kettle callisthenics is all about filling the small empty and wasted parts of your day with exercise.

Say you are in the kitchen, you’ve put the kettle on and you are waiting for it to boil. What would you normally do? Well, you’d check your phone of course. Most people would. Not anymore, instead use the 2 minutes to workout. My exercise of choice is the squat or the plank.

Once you get started with kettle callisthenics you will soon find yourself filling all the empty, lost, parts of your day with exercise. Waiting for the toaster, time for pushups. The bathroom is occupied, knock out a few lunches. It gets addictive.

Not only will this new use of your time help you get fitter, it will also mean you will spend less time on your smartphone. Less time scrolling through social media. With this will come an added benefit of reduced stress.

Not sure where to start, this site has a whole list of exercises to attempt while the water boils.

3. Keep special occasions special

Treating yourself to a piece of cake is only a treat if it happens very infrequently. A glass of wine or ice cold bottle of beer has the amazing power to destress a overburdened brain but not if it’s used every single night. Having a nightcap every single night not only takes the joy out of the experience, it may ultimately lead to far poorer sleep and even little accidents.

Nothing tastes better than a freshly brewed cup of joe. The joy of coffee however comes not just from the caffeine kick it delivers but by the whole experience involved in watching the barista at work and then importantly sitting down to enjoy the cup mindfully. Take away cups are the enemy of this feeling, if you are drinking coffee while walking you are not savouring the sensation.

4. Micro Mindful Moments

This one came to me after attending a meditation retreat for a week and then being thrust straight back into modern city living, with all its unavoidable time pressures. It works in a similar way to kettle callistenthics but instead focuses on relaxation.

You’re in the car or on the bike to work, the traffic light turns red, this is your opportunity to relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw and just take a series of deep breaths. Waiting in the queue at the bank, do the same thing. It’s amazing how much tension we hold in our body without realising. Grasping these micro moments to be mindful will have a huge impact and it’s astonishing how many opportunities there is to do so throughout the course of a normal day.  

Well, there you have it my good friend, four little healthy habits to get into that collectively could have a huge impact on your overall health. Give them a whirl. Sure what do you have to lose? Good luck!