In an ideal world, all of us could spare enough time to plan all our meals, walk/bike to work, and spend a couple of hours at the gym every week to keep ourselves healthy. However, the world we live in is far from ideal. Between work, house chores, and other societal demands, we barely have a full hour each day to dedicate to our physical health without feeling some sort of burnout from being overworked.
Still, health is wealth, and all our hard work will have been for nothing if we end up getting sick. This is why it’s important to incorporate habits that are geared towards health and wellness to our daily routines.
After all, sparing 15 minutes of your time for the following healthy habits can make all the difference in your life:
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Breathing Exercises
A full body workout is great, but if you have a very hectic schedule for the day ahead, you can simply set aside 10-15 minutes for some deep breathing exercises.
Breathing is something that comes naturally to us. In fact, we do it day in and day out without even thinking about it. But that’s the thing — if you want to enjoy the full benefits of breathing exercises, you have to do it mindfully.
Before you face the challenges of each day, spend a few minutes just breathing and not doing anything else. You’d find that your mind will get clearer with each breath, and even your mood will improve.
Stress is a silent killer, so keeping it at bay day after day is incredibly beneficial for your health.
Silent Meditation
If you want to take deep breathing to the next level, you can go ahead and do silent meditation. Aside from mindful breathing, silent meditation will require you to be conscious of yourself, your mind, and the space around you. It helps you be more present in the moment, and just like breathing exercises, it keeps the stress away.
15-Minute Walks
A sedentary lifestyle is breeding ground to all sorts of illnesses and unwanted medical conditions, so your goal should be to move as much as you can everyday. Even just a 15-minute walk around the block is better than nothing at all.
If you’re going somewhere you can cover by foot, walk there instead of driving — not only will you be helping the planet; you’d also be keeping yourself healthy!
Drinking Fruit Juices
For days when you don’t have enough time to whip up something healthy for lunch, chugging down a fruit juice is a good alternative to still get a nutritious meal. If you don’t even have enough time to grab the juicer and squeeze the juice out of some fruits yourself, you can simply grab a pre-made fruit juice from the store.
It would be even more ideal if you already have a ready stock of bottled fruit juices at home. If you are going to do this, though, make sure you get the frozen, cold-pressed variety because those have way longer fridge lives than juices prepared any other way.
Checking Your Weight
Weight is a good indicator of your health level, so it’s good to monitor it as closely as you can. It will only take five seconds of your time daily to step on the scale and record your weight in a journal or tracker, but reviewing the fluctuations in your weight can tell you so much about what you should be doing to improve your health. Any huge spikes, whether up or down, should give you a clue about any irregularities in your body, and can thus help you prevent bigger health problems.
Laughing
As cliche as it may sound, there is a lot of truth in the old adage: laughter is the best medicine. At any time of the day when you feel that the stress is getting to you, stop whatever you’re doing and do something that tickles your funny bone. May it be looking at memes, checking in with a friend that always cracks you up, or watching funny videos on Youtube, take a few minutes off for a good, hearty laugh. Your mood will instantly improve, reducing your stress and keeping you healthier generally.
It’s true — we can sometimes get too busy to practice deep health care. But a few minutes each day solely dedicated to yourself and your wellness can truly go a long way. This 2021, vow to be better to yourself by treating yourself to any of the 15-minute health remedies we’ve outlined in this article.