These days, more people are obsessed with their health and wellness. They find joy in knowing they are exerting enough effort to keep themselves happy and healthy. But then, not many of us know that some seemingly innocent habits we adopted to maintain better health and happiness could be giving us the opposite outcome.
Here are five habits we need to change if we plan on enjoying a happier, healthier, and longer life.
Depriving Yourself of Retail Therapy
Many people find joy in retail therapy. Shopping for things we like often gives us temporary stress relief. But the real problem goes beyond retail therapy.
Some of us confuse retail therapy with compulsive shopping. While both terms involve shopping, compulsive shopping makes people feel deep regret after saying yes to their addictive shopping sprees. This is since compulsive shoppers are guilty of the following.
- Buying things they don’t need
- Feeling the need to hide their purchases
- Lying about the amount of cash they spent on purchases
- Having the uncontrollable urge to shop
- Needing to shop even if they don’t have the means to pay for their purchases
Retail therapy, on the other hand, can be therapeutic if done the right way. The keys to effective therapeutic retail therapy are sticking to a budget, knowing what you need, and thinking about your purchases before buying. You can try window shopping first and waiting it out to see if you could really use the items you wish to buy before making the purchase.
For instance, you are thinking about treating yourself with a new set of jewelry for women. You can see yourself using the jewelry along with a variety of your outfit and for different occasions. If your opinion about the said jewelry does not change after a few weeks, then that is the time you commit to the purchase.
Doing this will help you avoid feeling guilty about buying another item you don’t really need or want. You get to consider the purchase as an investment and a treat to yourself. You are basically giving yourself enough time to think if the purchase is worth it while saving enough money so you won’t need to use your card for the purchase.
Getting up to Exercise Early in the Morning
Getting enough exercise is crucial for our health and happiness. Exercise helps reduce our stress levels, reduce our risk of developing various diseases, and even help in releasing happy hormones. While many people would naturally turn to early morning workouts to stay fit and healthy, a study shows that this is not the best time to work out.
According to a study, evening exercise is better in improving one’s metabolic health. The study used overweight men and those who are on a high-fat diet as respondents. Morning exercise did little in helping mitigate risks associated with poor diet.
While any exercise is better than no exercise, it helps that we time our workouts in the evening. This way, we can have more time to tackle important tasks in the morning to continue exercising at night. Before you take heavier workouts in the morning, reconsider your schedule and do this later in the day.
Switching to Mocktails Instead of Cocktails
Reducing the amount of alcohol you consume is always a good habit. But sometimes, people tend to go for mocktails to say goodbye to cocktails. In reality, such a habit is not a healthy option.
Mocktails are actually usually high in refined sugar content. Yes, you won’t get hangovers from choosing mocktails. But if you overdo it, you can end up getting addicted.
For best results, choose your mocktails carefully. Go for mocktail recipes that use pure natural base ingredients. Think of coconut water, pears, mint, lime, turmeric, and kombucha.
Using Sanitizer Often
When water and soap are not available, health experts recommend using hand sanitizer. The problem is, many people would use sanitizer too often. The problem with hand sanitizers is that the ingredients used in hand sanitizers can result in resistance to those nasty viruses and germs we are trying to kill.
Health experts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are still conducting studies about the safety of the ingredients used in hand sanitizers. Soap and water are still recommended in fighting the spread of germs. So, before you reach out to your trusty old hand sanitizer, consider washing your hands with soap and running water instead.
This list shows that not all seemingly healthy habits are as healthy as we think they are. We must avoid old beliefs, especially when it comes to our health. With a bit of research, we can achieve our health and wellness goals by adopting habits that are excellent for our health and well-being.
