Over the past month1 searches for ‘daily wellbeing tips’ have increased by (+400%), it seems that with cost of living rising more people are searching for simple ways to live a more joyful life day to day.
To help, life insurance broker, Reassured has teamed up with wellbeing expert Dr Deborah Lee from Dr Fox Online Pharmacy to offer insight on the 10 habits to help you live a more joyful life every day.
Live a more joyful and healthy life by implementing habits into your daily routine. Whether it’s going on a walk, spreading a little kindess or getting more sleep. Whatever you’re facing, let these tips find you more happiness every day of the week:
1. It’s now 10 a day
There’s no doubt about it, the more fruit and veg you eat, the happier you are likely to be! But are you getting the new recommendation of 10 portions of fruit and veg a day?
Fruit and veg contain antioxidants, natural substances that are vital for human health because they counteract the harmful effects of oxidative stress. Every cell in our bodies is continually undergoing oxidation in order to produce the energy needed for its chemical reactions.
2. Catch up on sleep
Getting seven hours a night of good quality sleep is essential for good health and happiness. But did you know – the average UK adult accumulates a 32-hour sleep debt every month.
The first step is to improve your sleep hygiene and establish a consistent bedtime routine. Next, it’s time to pay off the sleep debt. Start by sleeping 15-30 minutes longer each night. A short, 20-minute, mid-afternoon nap can also be helpful but don’t sleep for too long, as after 30 minutes the body enters deep sleep, and it is hard to wake to feel refreshed from this part of the sleep cycle.
3. Acts of kindness
It’s a fact that when we show kindness to other people, we start to feel better about ourselves. Studies have shown that being kind improves our self-esteem, and confidence, and increases our feeling of overall wellbeing.
There are many ways to show kindness. Why not drop in on an elderly neighbour, walk a friend’s dog, or offer to babysit? You could volunteer in a charity shop or at The League of Friends. Other options are becoming a blood donor or a bone marrow donor. Or giving a charity donation.
And don’t forget to also be kind to yourself! We tens ourselves a hard time when things go wrong, but in fact, to err is human. Try and shrug it off, and learn from your mistakes, doing it better next time. Humans are not perfect!
4. Get moving
Taking regular physical exercise has so many benefits for both mental and physical health. The worst thing you can do for your mood and wellbeing is to remain sedentary and stuck inside the house.
Getting up and out to exercise, gets you out into natural daylight. This is vital for the body to enable our natural Circadian rhythms. In sunlight, our bodies make vitamin D, which is essential for the control of the immune system.
5. Manage social media
There is now an undeniable link between too much use of social media, and stress, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Strangely, social media can increase, not decrease, feelings of loneliness. Many suffer from Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) – anxiously reaching for their phone every few minutes to check nothing has happened without them.
Research suggests that limiting your social media contact to 30-minutes a day improves levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Try turning your phone off at certain times of the day, to get started. Switch your phone off overnight and put it out of sight, so your sleep is not disturbed. Only allow yourself to check your phone once every 30 minutes, then once an hour, and so on.
6. Live in the present
So often we find ourselves dwelling on the past or catastrophising about the future, which is actually wasted emotion. Psychologists believe we are all happier if we live in the here and now.
You can bring yourself into the present moment by practising some simple mindfulness and breathing techniques, such as the one described below. If you do these for 5 minutes, 3 or 4 times a day, this will help remind your brain you are living in the moment.
7. Find time for leisure activities
People who spend time doing hobbies and pastimes have less stress and anxiety than those who do not.
For example, a 2009 survey of 1,399 adults aged 19–89 years showed that those who had the greatest participation in leisure activities had lower blood pressure, lower BMI, lower cortisol levels, as well as lower levels of anxiety and depression. Simple activities like taking a walk, reading, or choosing to play Solitaire online can be easy ways to incorporate more leisure into your day. The authors commented that participating in leisure activities provided a way of buffering the negative impact of stress. They felt that doing these activities can be restorative, helping to re-establish feelings of wellbeing and calm.
8. Laugh
It’s easy to overlook the benefits of having a good laugh! But in fact, research substantiates the fact that laughing is good for both physical and mental health.
When you laugh, your brain produces an outburst of endorphins, the body’s natural opiates, giving you a natural high. Laughter helps combat stress, and also, because we feel more positive, helps us to take decisions and stop procrastinating. Laughter also increases levels of the feel-good hormone, dopamine.
9. Cold shower therapy
Time to grit your teeth and turn off the hot tap in the shower! Regular cold water bathing has been shown to boost the immune system, as well as being beneficial for your mental health, by relieving stress and depression and helping in the management of chronic pain
Don’t do this too quickly. Try turning off the hot tap in the shower slowly for 30 seconds, to 2 minutes at a time. If you have heart problems, this is not recommended, as cold water can cause arrhythmias.
10. Take omega-3 supplements
Taking fish oil tablets has been shown to improve symptoms of depression. These contain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PFAs) which are essential for good health.
In a 2019 meta-analysis of 26 studies, taking omega-3 supplements improved depressive symptoms better than a placebo. In fact, omega 3 is good for anxiety, heart health, skin, and memory to name a few!
A spokesperson at Reassured comments further: “Our wellbeing tips show that it’s just the little things that help boost our happiness and can make every day a little brighter. We hope that you can adopt some of these habits into your daily routine, and reap the rewards!”
1 Google search data taken from keyword.io tool on 12/05/2022
