When it comes to improving your health (or maintaining good health), little things can really make a difference!  There are so many things that theoretically should just come naturally to us, but because our lifestyle is no longer natural, our customs and habits have adapted to a more artificial lifestyle.

In most instances, these are things we don’t even think about — sometimes things we wouldn’t think would even make a difference — but they keep our bodies from functioning freely in the natural way they were designed to function.  One of these little things might not make a difference, but put a few of them together, and they really add up!

Intentionally returning to the more natural thing in these areas can have a strong positive impact on our health (especially if we “fix” many or all of them).

So one of my goals this year is getting back to basics.  I’m calling it “baby steps.” Each month this year, I plan to work on correcting or improving my habits in one of these health-related areas.

I’ve included some resources for further reading/discovery on many of these topics; please note that I don’t necessarily advocate everything in every resource.  (I haven’t even read all of them, although all are on my to-read list if I haven’t read them already.)  In many instances, there will be some humanism or the like in the book’s worldview, but there should be lots of good practical information for improvement.  So use your own best judgement. 🙂

Now without further ado, let’s get to the list:

1. Breathing

Yes, I know: we all breathe.  I’m not suggesting that the improvement here is to breathe.  Clearly, if you’re reading this, you’re doing that already. 😉  But how we breathe is important, too.

Fast-paced lifestyles, constricting clothing, pressure to have a “small waist,” a sedentary lifestyle that discourages good posture, and stress have conspired over time to cause a culture in which very few of us breathe in the most natural manner.  We have a tendency to breathe very shallowly, which doesn’t allow for complete oxygen exchange.

The patterns of our breathing have a profound effect on our overall state.  The suggestion to “take deep breaths” to calm yourself?  That’s not just an emotional thing.  It’s directly related to the physiology.

The nervous system has two “sub-systems,” if you will: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system is what “runs” the “fight or flight” stress response.  The parasympathetic regulates calmer, “resting” functions.  But the body essentially switches to one or the other at any given time. When one “switches on,” the other “switches off,” and vice versa.  Deep breathing prompts the body to “switch on” the parasympathetic nervous system, effectively shutting down a fight or flight response.

I always like to watch how little children behave.  For the most part, they haven’t yet been influenced out of their natural movement patterns, so observing them can help us remember what those natural patterns are.  Watch a baby or toddler breathe.  It isn’t only the upper chest that rises and falls; the whole abdomen expands and contracts.

(Further reading: Free Your Breath, Free Your Life; Breathe; Perfect Breathing)

2. Posture

I previously alluded to the fact that our mostly-sedentary lifestyle has encouraged poor posture.  Many of us spend numerous hours hunched over a keyboard of some variety.  If we’re more active, we’ve probably adopted less-than-optimal patterns of movement for things like lifting.  (Do you squat?  Again — watch those toddlers!  Or are you doing a lot of bending over?)  And most of our seating is not ideal for encouraging correct posture — especially for those of us who are short!

Good posture keeps excess pressure off of the spine (which is good for the spine, but also  helps prevent pinching off of nerves, which may affect any part or system of the body), and ensures plenty of space for internal organs to function freely.

(Further reading: Natural Posture for Pain-Free Living; Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique; The Alexander Technique Workbook; The Art of Self-Adjusting)

3. Exercise/Stretching

I think we all know that exercise is important, and many of us don’t get enough of it.  We probably all know that we need exercise to build strength, increase flexibility and stamina, and help prevent injury.  Many are probably aware that certain types of exercise are also good for keep the heart working at its best and ensuring we can breathe freely.

What you might not know is that exercise is really important to the immune system.  The lymphatic system is designed to transport fluid (lymph) throughout the body, acting as a filtration system.  It helps identify bacteria and deploy the immune response.  But the lymphatic system is meant to flow upward — and it doesn’t have a pump!  What enables it to flow is the movement of the surrounding muscles.  So regular movement is essential to keep the lymph flowing freely and filtering effectively.

(Further reading: anything about your favorite form of exercise!)

4. Sunshine & Fresh Air

Sunshine is important in a couple different ways.  The first is the production of vitamin D.  Vitamin D is manufactured on (not in) the skin upon exposure to certain frequencies of UV light.  This is the frequency range that’s filtered by glass and most readily blocked by sunblock, so these things — while potentially still allowing you to be burned — prevent this vitamin D production from occurring.

That vitamin D translates into greater emotional well-being, and has been demonstrated to be a key player in a strong immune system, including where cancer is involved (yes, even skin cancer!).

Apart from that, however, sun exposure — especially first thing in the morning — helps tell the body when it’s night and when it’s day, which, in turn tells it when to produce varying levels of different hormones.  If you’re constantly in only artificial light, the body gets confused, and the hormone balance/cycle may be disrupted, as well.

(Further reading: I don’t have a good single source or two to give you for this, because these are usually addressed in the context of something else — like adrenal fatigue — not on their own.)

5. Water

The human body is about 60% water.  Obviously if we aren’t taking in enough water, that’s going to cause a problem!  Organs need it.  Individual cells need it.  Effective detoxification requires it.

Most of us aren’t going to forego water to the point of death or near-death; we recognize our thirst before we reach that point!  But we have come to confuse some of our bodies’ thirst signals for other things, and many people are chronically somewhat dehydrated.

We do get some of the fluid we need from other sources — like fruits and vegetables — but some plain, pure water is necessary!  Don’t overdo it.  If you drink way too much water it can disrupt your electrolyte balance.  But do be sure you’re drinking water regularly.  A good guideline is half as many ounces a day as your body weight in pounds.  So if you weigh 160 pounds, you’d want about 80 ounces of water a day.

The quality of the water is important, too.  City water may contain nasties like the residue from other people’s drugs (either eliminated…um, “naturally” or flushed down the toilet when they were disposing of excess), chlorine (which is, of course, important for the purification process, but not so good for bodies), and fluoride (which, contrary to popular propaganda, is bad for health, not good).  If you have a city water supply, I highly recommend using a good filter for anything you’re going to drink.

(Further reading: The Case Against Fluoride)

6. Sleep

Regular, restful sleep is important, not only so we can be energized to meet the day, but because certain internal processes can’t happen without it.  Certain hormones are only manufactured during deep sleep, and sleep is when the body does most of its rebuilding.  If we skimp on sleep, we greatly reduce the body’s ability to do that rebuilding, and eventually that will catch up to us!

If you have wood trim on your house that’s constantly being weathered, you can go without painting it for a while, but eventually it gets weathered to the point of damage if you don’t do some restoring in the meantime.  It’s kind of the same idea.  The body can only handle so much wear without the rebuilding/maintenance to make up for it.

(Further reading: Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day)

7. Nutritional Support

It should go without saying that the body can’t function well without the building blocks it requires and the energy that makes it “run.” But we often don’t take this as seriously as we should.

We need a good balance of carbohydrates, protein, and, yes, fat.  Simple sugars are best limited, because they cause the body’s sugar levels to very quickly rise, then plummet.  Those sudden changes aren’t very healthful.  Complex carbohydrates are better — especially when paired with fat and/or protein — because they’re broken down more slowly, providing a steady supply of sugars.

Protein is used as the body’s primary building blocks.  Too little protein and you can’t build new cells, enzymes, etc.

Fat serves a number of purposes, not the least of which is transporting fat-soluble vitamins throughout the body.  Despite what we’ve been told, naturally-saturated fat is plenty healthy.  It’s only artificially-saturated fat — better known as “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oil that is detrimental to health.  (So ditch the margarine and use real butter. 🙂 )

In addition to these macronutrients, we also need plenty of vitamins and minerals.  The recommended daily allowances (RDA) are an estimated baseline — that is, we need at least that much in order to not be drastically unhealthy (displaying traditional “deficiency” symptoms).  That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sufficient for optimal health.

It’s also worth noting that conventional modern farming depletes the soil, so our produce has fewer minerals than it did in the past.  And — believe it or not — we eat a lot less (at least of real food!) than our ancestors did, so we’re simply not getting the same input of vitamins and minerals our great-grandparents might have.

For all of these reasons, it’s important to eat well (at least most of the time; we all have “splurges” 🙂 ), and most of us can benefit from a good multivitamin/multimineral supplement, as well.

(For further reading: where would I even start?!  This is too extensive a subject to narrow down effectively.)

 

8. Stress Management

Our culture is very busy and very fast-paced.  We have traditional “stress,” as well as physical stressors like toxic load from our water, air, and food; and of falling short in some of the other areas we’ve talked about (having bad posture, getting too little sleep, etc.).

Remember how I said earlier that when the sympathetic nervous system is switched on, the parasympathetic nervous system is effectively switched off?  Well, we have a tendency to live in a constant state of fight or flight.  That means our bodies stay in sympathetic mode all the time, which in turn means that our parasympathetic nervous systems don’t get much time to do their jobs!

We don’t digest effectively, we don’t rebuild effectively…you get the idea.  So stress management is pretty important, not only for emotional well-being but also for physical well-being!

The most obvious means of stress management is just plain eliminating things that are stressful.  As much as is reasonably possible, start here.  But, realistically, we can’t just get rid of all the stressful things.  So we have to learn to address and/or balance that with things that encourage the parasympathetic.

The deep breathing I mentioned earlier is useful for this. Laughter is good.  (I like to keep a YouTube playlist of funny videos I enjoy.)  Singing.  (It doesn’t matter if you’re any good.)  Play — most of us grownups are pretty bad at playing.

Journaling can be a good means of “venting” what needs to be vented (without directing it at anyone else!), enabling us to set it aside.  It can also help us to work through things and find solutions.  And for some, it’s a form of play.

Several of the remaining items in this list can be useful for stress management, as well.

(Further reading: Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers; Play.  I actually have a whole shelf of books about stress — that happens when you’re digging into the idea of adrenal fatigue!  So if y’all are interested, let me know and I can post a longer list.)

 

9. Positive Mindset

I know, this is a little vague.  It’s kind of a hard concept to articulate, too.  Our minds and emotions do affect our physical health (and vice versa).  Being bitter, angry, depressed, pessimistic, etc. creates a physical chain reaction that is no good.  Really, this is another angle on the problem of stress.  Our mindsets can determine how emotionally stressful our circumstances are.  So a positive mindset will ultimately result in (practically speaking) less stress on the body than a negative one.

Affirmations are a concrete way to intentionally direct the mindset in a positive direction.  In Biblical terms, we might call it “renewing our minds” or “taking every thought captive.”  An affirmation is simply a statement in the affirmative of something you want your mind to accept as truth.  It could be a Scripture, a Scripture-influenced statement, or some other declaration you want to “ingrain” in your mind.

(For further reading: hmm…I have a few I’ve gleaned from in this area, but none that I would recommend without caveat.)

10. Earthing/Grounding

This may sound very “woo-woo,” but there is scientific evidence to back this up!  The earth is magnetic.  So are we.  We’re designed to be in direct contact with the earth and its magnetic field, and this has a “balancing” affect on our own inherent energy fields.  (I’ll be honest; I’m not science-minded enough to fully grasp it, but it’s not some esoteric thing. It’s tangible science.)

In past eras, people just lived in contact with the earth (literally — I don’t mean contact like “in communication”!) as a matter of course.  But many of our modern conveniences and constructs create a barrier.  Houses with floors.  Rubber-soled shoes. Paved streets.  These all create barriers that quite literally separate us from the earth.

You can buy fancy grounding mats and grounding sheets to enable you to “ground” yourself indoors, but simple things like walking barefoot outside on natural surfaces (grass, sand, dirt, etc. — not the pavement) can accomplish the same thing. (For little ones, especially, seek out leather-soled shoes instead of rubber.  The leather doesn’t create the same barrier.)

(Further reading: Earthing)

11. Prayer & Meditation

Prayer & meditation have repeatedly been shown in studies to have a positive impact on health, even if researchers don’t really know why.  It may have something to do with positive thinking and stress relief, but I suspect there is also a spiritual element here, because God has designed us, at our cores, to have fellowship with Him.

Prayer is a pretty simple thing: just talking to God.  It doesn’t require any training, although if you want to stretch yourself, you can take a look at my book, Prayer Practice for some “get-yourself-outside-the-box” challenges.

Meditation makes some Christians panic, because they think of Eastern religious meditation and “clearing the mind.” But really, at its heart, meditation is merely focusing the mind on a given “target.”  (This does serve to “clear the mind” of everything else, I guess, in a manner of speaking.)  The Psalmist talks about meditating on God’s Word day and night — so really we’re just talking about focusing our thinking on God’s Word and the truths found in it, as we go about our days.  That’s not too scary. 🙂

(Further reading: This is another area that’s usually tackled within the context of something else, so no specific book recommendations here, either.)

12. Gratitude

I suppose, in a manner of speaking, gratitude is just another form of positive thinking.  But for me, at least, I tend to think of a positive mindset and of gratitude is slightly different things.

I have read that those who express gratitude are even more content than those who just are grateful, so take the time out both to thank the Lord for His blessings, and to say thank you to other people who have blessed you.  A quick post to a Facebook wall, a postcard in the mail, or an in-person comment can all bless the person you’re thanking — and you right along with them!

(Further reading: this article about happiness)

 

This post is being shared at Wellness Wednesday.

Standard disclaimers apply: I’m not a medical professional.  None of these statements have been evaluated or approved by the FDA. All of this is provided for educational purposes only and not meant to diagnose or treat any illness, etc.