5 customizable habits to fit your lifestyle and needs
Have you ever watched a video like “My Perfect Healthy Morning Routine“—waking up at 5 a.m., going to the gym, and eating a flawless diet.
Let’s be realistic: This may work for some people (and that’s fine!), but it doesn’t for many others.
Forcing yourself into a “healthy habit” isn’t healthy and can lead to stress, unmotivation, and procrastination.
If you want to learn how to actually make a habit healthy, keep reading!
Extra Information:
- Reading time: 9 minutes
- Follow along: This article is designed for you to actively engage- read each section and answer the questions or follow the guides to get the most benefits
- What you will need: Paper & a pencil
- Set the mood: Grab something to drink, find a quiet place, and make yourself comfortable
- My recommendation: Take your time. Read slowly and mindfully, don’t rush through the article.
What are healthy habits?
Healthy habits are behaviors that you do regularly. They support your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Implementing them is essential; here are some benefits:
- Boosting your energy and productivity by:
- Eating balanced meals
- Exercising consistently
- Getting good quality of sleep
- Improving confidence and discipline by:
- Sticking to your habits over a longer time
- Seeing the process and noticing your achievements
- Proving to yourself that you do X if you say so
5 habits you can customize
Let’s dive into the 5 habits! Please keep in mind that these habits are most beneficial for you if you customize them to fit your own needs. More later.
1. Wake up at a time that suits you
It’s important to find a time that works for you. Don’t wake up at 5 am, only because everybody else on the internet does it. It may work for them, but it doesn’t necessarily have to do the same for you.
If you know when you work best and when you don’t, you can use that to your advantage.
Here are some questions to help you discover your sleeping times:
- Would I describe myself as a morning or an evening person? Or am I something in between?
- At what time am I working the most productively?
- Do I prefer working in the evening or the morning?
- At what time do I naturally get tired and my focus fades?
- Are there factors that are preventing me from sleeping earlier, for example, using my phone right before bed?
Not everyone has the privilege to wake up and go to bed at their preferred times …It’s still beneficial to find out when you work best and use it as often as you can.
Tip: Of course, you can try out different times to find out what suits you the best.
2. Drink water
That’s a thing you’ll always hear from all sides: drinking water is important and keeps your body hydrated. How much you should drink depends on where you get your information from.
Try to aim for at least 1,5l per day.
Let’s go through some tips to make drinking water easier:
- Drink 500 ml of water in the morning
- Wherever you go, always carry water with you! Even if that means taking a bigger bag to fit your bottle in
- Keep the water obvious: When you’re working, at school, or sitting somewhere for a long time, put your water on the desk. Don’t let it sit in your bag all day
- Buying a pretty water bottle can help you drink more, but it’s optional
- Add some fruits or vegetables (like cucumber) to the water to spice things up
3. Sleep enough
Sleeping is crucial to regenerating our bodies and giving them some rest.
It’s recommended to sleep around 7-8 hours per night. Of course, this depends on the individual and your age.
Having a good quality of sleep plays a big role too, which means you aren’t interrupted and get a refreshed night of sleep.
Here are some tips:
- Having a regular time when you go to sleep and when you wake up
- Not using your phone and other blue-light devices 2 hours before you sleep
- Reading before you sleep can bring you into “sleeping mode”
- Having a clear mind helps too, feel free to journal about your feelings if there’s much going on in your head
- Drinking tea with calming herbs like lavender
- Reducing unnecessary light and noise, if you can
- Investing in a good mattress and pillow
4. Walk regularly
Walking is a low-impact movement that is free and doesn’t require any special equipment.
Here are some tips to help you walk more:
- Include walking on your way to work, school, university, etc., by getting on the bus one stop later or getting off the bus one stop earlier
- If you have the chance to take the stairs, do that
- Use your breaks at school, work, etc. to walk a bit. You don’t have to walk for 30 minutes, 10 minutes is great
- Make it fun by listening to your favorite podcast, some nice music, or walking with your friends
- Set yourself daily/weekly/monthly step goals and track them on an App
- Start slow: if you currently walk around 4k steps daily, don’t push yourself to do 7k steps for the next weeks. Increase them mindfully, for example, add 400-500 steps each month
- Reward yourself by getting flowers, buying a book, or some clothes. You could also go for a picnic, have a movie night with snacks, or take a hot bath
5. Exercise regularly
Getting some kind of active exercise during the week helps you release stress, gain more energy, prevent diseases, and get in a good mood.
When choosing an exercise for yourself, it’s important to keep the following things in mind:
- Do something you like: Exercise can play a big role in your life, and you don’t want to spend it on something you quite dislike
- You don’t have to run if you hate it, and you don’t have to go to the gym just because everyone around you is doing it
- Ask yourself: How much time do I have weekly to exercise? And do I want to spend money on it? If yes, how much?
- Start slow: Don’t go from working out 0 times per week to daily. Start slow, maybe 1-2 times per week, and then increase it
- It can take time: Finding an exercise that you enjoy might take a while. Don’t lose patience if you find yourself disliking everything. Feel free to try as many activities as possible for you
Reminder
Every time you google something like “Top 10 healthy habits”, you’re confronted with many articles and YouTube videos.
But who decides when a healthy habit is healthy?
- Science and Medicine:
- There is much research about how certain habits positively influence our well-being.
- For example, eating a balanced diet, sleeping enough, drinking enough water, and exercising regularly.
- You and your body:
- You are the most important factor! Healthy habits are supposed to fit you and your lifestyle, they are supposed to make you feel good mentally and physically
- You don’t have to wake up at 5 am if you function better at 8 am
- You don’t have to exercise every day if you don’t have the time and energy
- You don’t have to eat broccoli if you don’t like it
Through the internet we get the picture of what a healthy morning routine looks like and what habits are considered healthy.
And there’s nothing wrong with following them if it makes you feel good. But remember: you can be healthy without doing them all.
Customizing a habit to fit your needs, schedule, and time makes it fit you best! That’s why I tried to make the 5 habits listed above flexible, helping you to shape a habit.
A healthy habit should:
- Leave you happy, not exhausted and annoyed
- Make you enjoy moving your body instead of hating every minute of exercising
- Feel good
- Fit your needs, your available time, and your schedule
I know that introducing a new habit can be uncomfortable, uneasy, not always fun, and not always feel good. That’s perfectly normal at the start.
Conclusion
- Healthy habits are essential for your emotional, physical, and mental well-being
- The 5 habits mentioned here can help you create a healthy and balanced lifestyle
- You’ve to customize a habit to fit your own needs, schedule, and time
- A habit is not healthy if it doesn’t fit you and makes you feel bad, even though many people around you do it
Have you already tried some of the habits mentioned here? Did they help you, or were you often feeling stressed because you couldn’t fit them into your schedule?
Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments or email me via my contact page!
Read you soon, Lou 😊
