How to Develop Healthier Habits

Our habits are an accumulation of choices that we have made over and over again. We can create healthier ones when we take the time to be intentional and assess our time management.

It’s easy to slip into poor habits, or think that we made good habits when really, they’re still not healthy.

A good example of something one might think is a good habit is snacking. While snacking isn’t bad for you, it all depends on what snacks you’re having. Are you using packaged snacks to fill up on? Think granola bars are a healthy option? If you take a look at the ingredients list you’ll see that most of what makes up a granola bar is sugar. Clearly not a healthy habit to practice.

Eating after dinner is another poor habit that people often find themselves succumbing to. Your body needs the time to “shut down” and go into a restful state and when you continue to feed it after dinner time, your body doesn’t have a chance.

So how do you develop healthier habits?

First off, take some time and assess what’s going on in your life. What do you do every day? What things seem to be taking too much from you? What things do you feel guilt for? What things seem to be compelled by emotions?

Once you know those things you can begin to see the patterns through your day that need attention.

You can peruse Pinterest for ideas of habits to implement. Find things that will be helpful to your health.

I suggest several things to begin with:

1. Practice gratitude – journal it daily.
2. Practice self-care – things that refresh you are a good place to start.
3. Meditate/Prayer time – daily, this will help to lift your spirits.
4. Exercise – even a walk each day will make a huge improvement in your life.
5. Journal – when you journal, it gives you a glimpse into what your day has been like and how you can improve it.

When you begin to implement these things into your days you will see a huge improvement in your habits. It will help to keep you on track for your healthy goals set in the beginning of the year.

What healthy habits have you developed?