What we all know about health, but don’t do.

20 Comments / Diet & Exercise, Personal Health / By

I’ll make this short and sweet.

We don’t…

  1. Exercise
  2. Eat right
  3. Get enough sleep
  4. Relax enough
  5. Drink enough water

Those five little things will improve your health drastically!

What to do about it?

Um, just do it! 😉

Oh, wait. You tried that, and it didn’t work? There must be something more right?

How about this. We make each day of the week, Monday through Friday, a focus on just one of the things above. It will look like this…

  1. Monday – Exercise
  2. Tuesday – Eat right
  3. Wednesday – Get enough sleep
  4. Thursday – Relax enough
  5. Friday – Drink enough water

Now wake up Monday morning and think to yourself that you have to fit your exercise program in today. On Tuesday wake up and remember that you have to eat only healthy foods today. On Wednesday make sure to go to bed an hour or two before your normal time. On Thursday come home and relax. No tv or anything like that. Just reheat some left overs and read a book or hang out with your significant other. Friday, take a water bottle to work and make sure you drink at least 4 of those throughout the day. You get the idea…

Baby steps…

Once you feel like those are part of your routine rotate the days. Now Monday is drink more water day. Tuesday is exercise day. And so on and so forth…

It takes at least 21 days to develop a habit. Change up once a month and in less than 6 months you will be living and feeling healthier than ever.

Once you are doing each of those 5 things all through the week you will be a rockstar baby! Oh yeah! 😉

20 thoughts on “What we all know about health, but don’t do.”

  2. Chris (from Lifestyle Project)

    I agree with your points. I do these anyway because they are just part of my subconscious living now, but I suppose this is because I have worked on making sure I get these things in the past. Sometimes the sleep isn’t enough but I blame having to get up early for work rather than staying up late for that 😉

    Chris (from Lifestyle Project)’s last blog post..10 Ways to Maximise YOUR Time

  3. Kent @ The Financial Philosopher

    Forming new habits and removing bad ones takes “baby steps” as you mentioned. Most importantly, it takes a conscious effort, at least until the baby steps become “automatic.”

    This holds true for all aspects of health — physical, mental, spiritual, financial and more…

    “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

  5. Rahul

    Jeremy,

    Another great health post! I’m pretty good in all of the areas you’ve listed above, but eating right has always been a bit of a struggle for me. Junk food is so tempting! I justify eating poorly sometimes because I work out consistently, but I always feel like crap after eating a bad meal.

    Your suggestion about drinking more water is excellent. I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in my mental clarity and physical functionality based on my daily water consumption. By body has become so in tune with my water intake, that I almost always know when to drink a glass of water. It’s pretty crazy.

    Thanks for the great suggestions!

    Rahul’s last blog post..How to Deal with Criticism

  6. Armen Shirvanian

    The alternate way of thinking about getting these advantageous items done in separate days, which you have presented here, is appealing because it makes each day only about one of them. This is easier to follow through with than a change on all 5 for all days. These items sound so simple to keep up with, but maintaining them as part of a routine can make the difference between being able to handle an active lifestyle, and having to take a backseat to opportunity due to poor health.

    Armen Shirvanian’s last blog post..Much Of What You See Is Engineered

  7. Jeremy Day

    @ Ross – So true. Drinking water and relaxing are so important. In fact, Im gonna write about water next!

    @ Chris. That’s a good one. My motto (sometimes) is to sleep when I am dead. Out of the 5 sleep is the one I am worst at. I blame having to get up early too! 😉

    @ Kent – As always, you help us to understand simple truths a little better. Thank you my friend.

    @ Vincent – haha. Join the sleep deprivation club with me and Chris!

    @ Carol – Baby steps are the key to success for sure…

    @ Rahul – Seems like we all have our issues. While sleep is my issue eating is your issue. I see a future post for your blog… “How to overcome bad eating habits” 😉

    @ Armen – Thanks Armen. You put it so well. A “backseat to opportunity” I like that. Boy, would I hate to miss out on good opportunities because of bad health. Good insight!

    Cheers,
    Jeremy

  8. ettarose

    I am one of the laziest people I know and about 50 pounds overweight. I always seem to have an excuse. The baby steps are just what I need to get my life back. Of course working at night and sleeping during the day is not a healthy lifestyle either. Thanks for sending this to me.

  9. Celes | EmbraceLiving.Net

    I take a lot of pride in putting one’s well being over everything else. Afterall, if we don’t take good care of ourselves, who will? I’m actually very well covered in all the five areas right now as I’m taking a break from my full-time job (to focus on my purpose). The real litmus test comes when I start working again – getting enough sleep and drinking enough water will be my biggest challenges! As easy as drinking water may be, it is amazing how easy it is to forget about it when you get busy! I find that putting a big mug/water bottle right in front of me helps, so that I’ll just absent mindedly reach out for it whenever I’m in deep thought 🙂

    Celes | EmbraceLiving.Net’s last blog post..10 Ways To Tell If You Are A Perfectionist

  11. Jeremy Day

    @ ettarose – You are most welcome. Please let me know about your success!

    @ Celes – Sleeping more and drinking more water will both help you feel like you have more energy. Having more energy will make you more effective during your day. I think you will do just fine when you go back to your job!

    @ Daniel – That’s right! Nothing like a little psychological motivation to get you started. Welcome to rockstar status! 😉

  13. Ian Peatey

    Very helpful advice, Jeremy. I often start ambitious health programmes with all the 5 things you mention. They usually last a couple of weeks then before I know it – they’re gone!

    Breaking it down the way you suggest might just be the answer! Probably have to wait til after Christmas though! Amazing that we all know this stuff but there’s so many distractions that take our attention away. Despite knowing we feel better with healthy living. Ian

    Ian Peatey’s last blog post..Plan B for World peace

  15. Jeremy Day

    @Kim – Glad you liked it! And you now that you mention it this does remind me of the movie What about Bob too! Good reference.

    @ Ian – Well I hope this works for you. Please do report back on your success!

    @ Bunny – I think there is always one area we are weak in. If you didn’t get the chance read some of the other comments on that subject above. This turned out to be a really great article that everyone has loved. I am glad to see the response to this simple yet effective idea!

    Cheers,
    Jeremy

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