Healthy living

HEALTHY LIVING

A healthy lifestyle is important for everyone. When we look after our physical health, we feel better too – fitter, more relaxed and better able to cope with things. This is especially important when you have a mental illness.

There are lots of ways of being healthy that feel good as well as doing you good.
Benefits of healthy living
What you gain by living more healthily includes:
feeling better mentally – regular exercise can lift your mood and help you feel better
saving money – eating junk food, smoking, and drinking sugary drinks or alcohol are all expensive habits
fewer health problems – living a healthier lifestyle means a lower risk of developing many illnesses
taking control of your life – getting healthy helps you feel in control of your life.
Getting healthy
‘Healthy living’ means maintaining a healthy lifestyle and introducing habits that improve your health. It can be difficult to change old habits, but there are steps you can take to become healthier. An important first step is identifying less healthy habits and learning new, positive ones to replace them, such as:
what you eat and drink
sleeping well and managing stress
practicing safe sex, drinking alcohol responsibly and not abusing drugs
being physically active
staying connected with others
being aware of any health risks related to your illness and its treatment, and working with your doctor to monitor these and then take action
taking responsibility for your overall health including having regular check-ups for your eyes and teeth.
How to develop positive health habits
The key to developing positive habits that you are more likely to keep is to:
Start slowly
Change just one thing at a time - see the benefits that can come from eating more wholesome food or, taking up exercise or, quitting smoking
Make small changes – like going for a regular walk, instead of pushing yourself to run 5km every day, this will have more chance of becoming a habit you’ll keep.
Be flexible – for example, if you decide to cut down on sugar, do it gradually over a few weeks rather than all at once. By cutting down from two teaspoons in your coffee to one-and-a-half, then one and so on, your taste buds will adapt and you’re less likely to crave for the sugar.