Ten Not So Secret Tips For A Long Happy Life
Super Simple Ways To Live A Longer Happier Life
We humans have a tendency to complicate uncomplicated issues and this can make life seem so much more stressful than it really should be. It is actually quite simple for a person to optimize their life and lifestyle potential.
We sometimes forget that it is often the most wonderful things in life which are the easiest to obtain. We can easily find the magic formula that will ensure us each a long and happy life. A few little deletions and alterations to your current pattern of living will quickly create a new and more sustainable you. Live well, eat well, laugh often, and love. The secret to longevity is to keep the little things simple and from there the big issues will just naturally fall into place. Life is ours to enjoy. It is the greatest adventure and we are blessed to experience it. 1. Get An Adequate Amount of Sleep
To maintain optimum physical and mental health most people require about 8 hours of restful sleep each night. There are reasons why your body needs the amount of rest that it does so don't fight it.
The body heals itself while you sleep. This period of total rest eases the tension and stress built up throughout the day, it repairs damage to its network of muscles, nerves, and tissue, and sorts the day's issues away into your subconscious thought where they can be more accurately analyzed and categorized. Rest is a form of therapy and most people require a minimum of eight hours per night. It is essential for your body to have adequate sleep to rejuvenate and heal from the day's physical and emotional stresses. Never undervalue the importance of sleep. Rest when it is needed. There are times in life when stress or illness can weaken you, pull back and allow extra sleep to help you recuperate during these times. Always be willing to give your body and mind the rest that they may need. A Total Rest period each day will help you to rejuvenate and be strong. Try to lay down each day for a 20 minute total rest period. This meaning that you do absolutely nothing during this brief lay down. Although you do not need to sleep to receive the benefits of this rest period it is amazing the amount of energy that this break from physical stress will replenish you with. Foods You Eat During The Day Can Help You Sleep At Night
2. Be Proud Of Who You Are 
We are special each in our own unique way. It's magical stuff so be proud of all the special qualities that make you, you. We are each distinct in our own way. We each have our own unique personality, interests, talents, and ideals.
Be proud of all that you accomplish from the largest triumphs to the smallest. You are a powerful force. Able to offer friendship, hope, laughter, and inspiration to those you associate with. You can affect change within others and within yourself. Be happy. Push yourself to be the best that you can be but don't push yourself too hard. Be content. Be confident and accepting of the person that you are. You don't have to be perfect, no one else is. You just have to be comfortable being you so give yourself a pat on the back for all the good you have to offer. Remember that sometimes changes in your life will alter your ideals and objectives. When this occurs you may be required to set new attributes and goals for yourself. Challenges are a natural part of life. Walk around hurdles and continue on. Never be afraid to change your direction should the need arise. You have much to offer. Be proud of yourself. 3. Allow Your Body To Sweat
Sweating is a body function that definitely deserves further study as to its importance in maintaining optimum health. We all do it and some of us to the extreme. The main function of sweating is to regulate temperature so as to prevent our body from over heating. Sweating also helps to clean the skin by pushing dirt and other possible contaminants out of its pores.
If these are the main function of sweat it may leave you wondering why it is then so important for your body to have this feature. Well it turns out that what is in our sweat and the pathway it uses to leave the body may be the answer to that question. Sweat is comprised largely of water but also of salt, sugars, ammonia, lactic acid, uric acid, urea. Also present in sweat are the minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium, and trace amounts of the metals zinc, copper, iron, chromium, nickel, and lead). Sweating allows the body to help rid itself of excess salt and to a much lesser degree to help reduce other body toxins ie: uric acid and urea. Urea and Uric acid are byproducts created when our body breaks down some specific foods. This secretion occurs largely through urination but is also released in a much lesser degree through sweat. Today we use deodorants and air conditioners to help cool our body or to prevent being embarrassed by a bad case of the visible sweats. It is my opinion that most of us just do not allow our body to sweat as often as it should. I personally threw away my antiperspirants when I began researching the use of aluminum in them. Yikes, adding a toxic metal to be absorbed into my body just did not sound like a good thing to me. Putting my personal opinions to the side, the facts of the matter are that when we exercise we sweat. Exercise is obviously good for us and although the process of sweating is still greatly understudied sweat does seem to have a few purposes for being present. Just remember to add additional water to your diet if you are planning on working up a sweat so you don't suffer from dehydration. Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12817713 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18156662 4. Participate In A Physical Fitness Program
We all know that a healthy body helps to bring with it a healthy mind. Oxygen is our life force and brings with it energy and clarity. When you know that you look good you feel good. When we look our best it will generally also bring with it a more confident assertive attitude. Confidence breeds success.
Physical fitness doesn't have to be a chore. Select a program that you enjoy. Simply having fun with your exercise routine will help to increase the success of your transition into a healthier lifestyle. You can dance or walk your way to health. You can dance around your living room a few times throughout the day or take a daily jog from room to room. You can walk the dog a little more often or drive your car a little less. Buy a push lawnmower, join a gym, go swimming, or participate in a yoga or aqua-fit program. Go fishing or simply window shop a little more often. It really isn't difficult to come up with fun ways of getting a little fitter. Listen to your body and pace your exercise program by what it dictates. Then get out there and have fun. Exercise is vital to human health and exercising today can be the key to your later quality of life. Exercise is good for the heart and soul. We Absorb Vitamin D In Sunlight - Get Outside To Play
5. Reduce The Pollutants You Are Exposed To
Be aware of the pollutants that you are exposed to and take a few simple measures to reduce that exposure.
Indoor air pollution can be up to 5 times higher than that of outdoor air. Do not store contaminants in the home. Use natural cleaning supplies such as green tea solution, baking soda, and vinegar. Many airborne particulates can cause health related difficulties. If you live in a very polluted community consider a move to a cleaner environment. If your water system is an older one than it will most likely contain lead and other contaminants. Run your water for a minute before drinking it. Most water purifiers are very reasonably priced and can be purchased at a local department or hardware store. Anything that you apply to your skin will absorb into it. Increase your use of natural personal care products and cleaning supplies. Coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter, green tea solution, and baking soda are a few natural care products that are widely available and can be used to replace more toxic items. If you smoke...quit. Reduce the amount of electricity that you are exposed to. Throw out the electric blanket, reduce the amount of lighting you use, replace your alarm clock with a wind up one, sit back from the T.V. or computer, and reduce the total amount of time you spend indoors. Spend more time this year on outdoor activities. 6. Detoxify Your Diet
 Red wine is rich in antioxidants.
Eat foods rich in antioxidants. Enjoy a glass of wine or a cup of hot green tea and consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants not only make you healthier but they also have the amazing ability to slow down the body's aging processes. Now that is indeed important knowledge if you want to discover the secret to living a long happy life.
Antioxidants have the ability to combine with free radicals within the body to make them stable. Free radicals are those molecules that for one reason or another are incomplete. These free radicals are desperately trying to become whole by stealing electrons from complete molecules, unfortunately when they succeed they then cause the donating molecule to become unstable (or to become yet another free radical). This new incomplete molecule then goes off trying to make itself complete. This chain reaction of damage among human cells eventually results in the death of those affected cells. The damage and death of human cells is how our aging process occurs. The more cells that die then the more our bodies show the effects of age and the more susceptible we become to age related illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and stroke. Free Radical Needs To Be Stabilized To Prevent Cell Death
When a free radical becomes stable by picking up an extra electron from an antioxidant the chain of cell damage stops because the antioxidant molecule remains complete even after it has donated one of its electrons. The aging process that would otherwise have occurred grinds to a halt. This is the manner in which antioxidants slow down our aging process.
Reduce the sugars, salt, chemicals, and preservatives in your diet. Also reduce substantially the fatty foods you consume. Red meat can be replaced with leaner white meats such as chicken, turkey, or fish. A single egg is also an excellent source of high quality protein. Avoid transfats and instead consume oils and foods that are rich in omega-3 fats. Some fat is essential for good health so insure you consume the ones your body will benefit from. Olive oil, salmon, sardines, walnuts, almonds, and flax seed are omega 3 rich foods. There are many foods will help your body cleanse itself, apples, lemon, garlic, onions, and rhubarb are common foods that will aide your body in removing toxins from within it. The old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away is actually quite true. Eating foods that are sulfur rich help the body to eliminate impurities and metals. Some helpful foods are: garlic, cabbage, beans, egg yolks and onions. Take a vitamin supplement to insure your diet is complete. 7. Laugh More - Stress Less
We all know that a large degree of stress is not good for us. Stress can weaken the immune system and leave you open to an array of future illness. Stress kills.
It is important to learn techniques that you can use to relax then incorporate these stress relieving tactics into your lifestyle on a permanent basis. Don't say that you are too busy, don't say that there isn't time, or that you have too many obligations at the moment to take time for yourself. This one is a no brainer, you need to de-stress, and you need to do this now. Reducing your stress level and relaxing must become a part of your everyday lifestyle. Simply taking a vacation to Mexico once a year doesn't work to remove the harmful affects of stress that you subject your body to for the remainder of the year. You need to learn to live a relaxed lifestyle. During a trying day take time to get away and just sit by yourself for a few moments. Go to that relaxing restaurant for a leisurely cup of coffee or tea, take an afternoon lunch break at a local park, or go for a short walk each day. In the evening have that relaxing bubble bath or candle lit supper. Lie in bed with a good book, meditate, participate in a relaxing form of exercise, or go soak in a hot tub.Take that much needed time for yourself that will allow your body to recuperate from the everyday stresses of life and living. It isn't difficult. Just steal a few minutes here and there. Adding Laughter To Your Day Can Make You A Healthier Person
8. Smile - Let Your Endorphins Out To Play
When you participate in pleasurable activities like smiling, laughing, exercising or playing, your brain does an amazing thing and releases a little chemical message known as an endorphin.
These endorphins are the body's natural pain killer and will reduce feelings of emotional or physical pain.They travel down the spine, and then throughout your body, sending a feeling of well being as they go. The more that you smile then the better you will feel and the more often that you will find yourself smiling without your even thinking about it. Then without knowing when it happened you will discover that you have actually become a much happier person and all that it took was a simple smile. Note: Did you know that smiling like yawning is contagious. Infect someone. Pass a smile to someone today. 9. Laugh: Laughter Truly Is Good Medicine
You may have heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine. Well this is a fact, laughter is one of those things like smiling that has the simple ability to relieve stress and make you feel good. Laughter releases those wonderful feel good endorphins and that will help to make you feel happier, and happy can increase your good health.
Laughter is also a great form of exercise with all the same great variety of health benefits for your body that exercise will give it. A good belly laugh will increase your breathing capacity, heart rate, and health. Search for any reason you can find to laugh. The more often that you laugh, the more naturally that laughter will become. Sometimes people who have not laughed very often find that they need to learn how to laugh again. Well let me tell you that even a forced or fake laugh in the beginning works, the more often that you laugh then the more natural it will become. Take a step back into the past and learn how to be a kid again. Watch cartoons, read comics, or read a few jokes. Be fascinated by the little things in life. Watch people play and watch people smile. Allow the simple pleasures you encounter each day to amuse and entertain you. Get laughing. 10. Love With All Your Heart And Soul
 My husband and I sharing a kiss after our hike.
Giving and receiving love will bring you a contentment in this lifetime that you cannot acquire through any other means. Love is food for the heart and kindness is the seasoning that flavours it.
Many people envision love as a relationship between two individuals but there are just so many more ways to give and receive love. Love is a feeling of connection, caring, and affection for another. Love can exist between any and all living creatures. It begins with a generous spirit and a willingness to show kindness. It develops from there. A simple thoughtful gesture to another and love has an amazing ability to grow. Never be afraid to give freely of yourself and your emotions to as many living creatures as you are able to. No act of kindness will ever go unnoticed. The generosity that you share has a tendency to create a wave of kindness that stretches out far beyond what your eyes are capable of seeing. The ability to care is ours to share. |
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