Healthy living for a healthy mind!

Living healthy and sleeping right are some of the best methods to keep your body strong and make it last long!  First one should start with a proper diet, avoid processed and fast foods.  Not everyone has time for home cooking, but you should at least start the day with some fresh produce like a banana or an apple.  Eating healthy isn't enough to keep yourself in peak condition, proper diet must always be followed with exercise.  Dietitians and Fitness experts alike recommend working out 4-5 times a week for about 20-30 minutes, whether it be jogging, swimming, lifting weights, any form of exercise is better than no exercise, just make sure to keep a consistent schedule.  As always, you should consult your doctor before attempting any drastic changes in diet or exercise, you need to make sure its something your body can safely handle.




When the day comes to an end, everyone should get around 7-8 hours of rest each night.  However you may have trouble getting to sleep either because you have insomnia, or noises in the night interrupt the REM cycles in your sleep.  What is REM sleep? Its a unique form of deep sleep identified by "Rapid Eye Movement."  One way to maintain consistent REM sleep is by using white noise machines.  White noise is used to drown out distracting noises through the night with a uniform sound, because if you sleep in silence, your hearing is much more sensitive and you will be disturbed at the slightest sound.  Some white noise machines are very expensive, but one of the cheapest methods (and one that I use) is just buying a 10 dollar box fan from Walmart and set it to low through the night.  Other white noise machines can produce relaxing sounds like crickets, rain, a flowing stream, and many other sounds that might better suit you.








Now white noise machines might not work for everyone, as an absolute last resort you can talk to your doctor about getting some sleep aids.  Melatonin is a vitamin that you can purchase over the counter and Zquil is another sleep aid readily available without prescriptions, both of these are designed to aid in falling asleep and staying asleep until you are rested.  If you are going to attempt sleep aids, I would highly recommend speaking with your doctor first, then try it on a weekend so you can see how it affects you before you take it on a night before you have to go to work.  If your sleep aid is too powerful you can sleep through your morning alarms.

How ever you make choices to improve your life style, one should always consult their medical professional before making commitments.  It's their job to know how your body works, and they'll be the best resource to getting you on track to better health!