Easy wellbeing habits we’re starting and plan to keep

The key to wellbeing is healthy habits (preferably peppered with a few extra special holidays thrown into the mix for balance). So often New Year’s resolutions hinge on the end goal - lose weight, tone up, get a new job, but it’s the process that makes the difference and provides smaller, achievable milestones that help to keep you going. Healthy habits are the sort of wonderful thing that give us immediate feel good factor that inspires us to generally feel better. Here are a few favourite easy wellbeing habits that will help us start the year as we mean to go on.

Drink a glass of water first

Easy wellbeing habit number one - drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up, before having anything else. The reason is that we tend to dehydrate overnight and also most of us don’t drink enough water in general. Having a glass of water first thing will help hydrate us and get the day started well. It will also help to wake you up, which is a bonus.

Spend time outside

A short walk in the morning, step of the train a stop early and walk the last stretch to work. Spending time in the fresh air is the perfect way to improve your mood, strengthen the immune system, improve blood pressure and boost your energy.

Stand up straight

Posture has a much bigger impact on wellbeing than we might like to think and with so many of us having desk jobs we tend to slouch. Standing up straight encourages us to breathe better, improves self-confidence, improves your mood and can help to support movement as well. Pilates anyone?

Use the stairs instead of the lift

Going to the gym or for a run is great, but we can get a lot of those daily steps underway by moving about during the day. Use the stairs instead of the escalator or the lift, offer to make the next round of teas for the office and look for ways to build movement into your day.

Swap soft drinks for fizzy water

Reduce your sugar intake by swapping out soft drinks for fizzy water. There’s something lovely about a carbonated drink, but the sugar in things like coke and lemonade really adds to your calorie intake. Fizzy water is an easy, healthy swap.

Bring balance into your routine

Ever tried brushing your teeth while standing on one leg? Incorporating balance exercises into your daily habits is a good way to improve strength and agility. Try it standing in a queue, doing your skincare routine or maybe at that standup desk if you’re really clever!

Eat breakfast

If you don’t eat breakfast already, it’s a good thing to start. Eating breakfast will help to prevent you from crashing and binging on high sugar foods later in the day. Eggs, oats, granary toast - look for something nutritious, filling and that will help carry you through until lunch.

Incorporate healthy snacks into your day

Prepare your snacks for the workday so that you don’t go reaching for high sugar items when you reach that mid afternoon slump. This is a great wellness habit to get into. Nuts, bananas, a little dark chocolate - you can have fun with it, but preparing snacks in advance will help you to keep it healthy.