Practical Changes For A Healthy Home

These days, it seems that everyone you talk to is taking a more hands-on interest in their health. We all know the importance of eating right and getting enough exercise in, but after these two things, there are various other lifestyle choices we have to think about. The way you keep your home, for instance, has massive potential to make your day to day life more conducive to your healthy living goals. Here are a few tips that you may want to consider…

Start with the Kitchen

Aside from being the place where you pick out and prepare all the food you eat, the kitchen is often a central hub for the whole family, where people meet and pass through countless times a day. With the kitchen being so central to our domestic lives, it’s best to start here when you’re trying to work towards a healthier home. Try pushing the unhealthier foods to the back of your storage, and make everything healthy much more visible and readily available. A large, clear glass fruit bowl is also an easy change that could help the whole family in getting their five a day. Remember, the more visible a certain food is, the more likely we are to eat it! You may even want to take some of the chairs or stools out of your kitchen if you find yourself snacking in the kitchen more than you’d like.

Give yourself More Opportunity to Exercise

Like most people, you’ve probably discovered that it’s all too easy to make excuses that hold us back from getting the exercise we need. From having a packed-up busy schedule to being too tired to simply not “feeling right” for it, it’s much easier to stay laying on the couch than it is to take a bite out of your fitness goals. However, if you make a point of filling your home with opportunities to exercise, you’ll be able to get much more in, without ever having to leave the house. Install a chin-up bar (carefully!) in one of your doorways, and use it in passing whenever you’re walking through. If you’re more into building stamina and endurance than strength, do some research on the best treadmills and elliptical machines, or see for yourself through sites like this. Even a cheap set of dumbbells can be enough to get you exercising more than ever!

Dim the Lights

Those minimalist, designer downlights might make your home look all cool and modern, but if you’re getting too much artificial light in the evening, it can really screw up the quality of your sleep. When the sun starts getting low, you should be making a point to dim the lights around you to reflect the time of day. It’s also important to avoid using screens when you’re getting close to bedtime. An excess of the “blue light” from devices can hinder the production of melatonin needed for healthy sleep and wake cycles. You can read more about this here. Make a point to change the lighting of your home in the evening, and you’ll be amazed at how much better you sleep!