What does it mean to have a healthy lifestyle? Some thoughts from Bernard Sleijster

As I’ve written in this blog post here, the health and wellness industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. With a huge demand for preventative healing methods and optimal nutrition, it seems that everybody is looking to get healthy. But what does it mean to have a healthy lifestyle?

It’s not just about one thing, it’s many factors combined that, in my opinion, make up a healthy individual.

Food

Yes, you really can’t overlook food when you’re thinking of health. There is much scientific evidence that supports the theory that most of our health issues are related to food and nutrition, as well as environmental toxicity. So we need to begin cleaning ourselves from the inside out.

How do we do that? I think most of us are quite well-advised on the fact that trendy diets from the 90s don’t actually work. More and more people are choosing to listen to their bodies and find out what truly works for them food-wise.

Slowly but surely, many people are starting to cut out things like junk food, sugar, gluten, dairy, meat and even cooked food completely, in search for their optimal form of nutrition. Do you need to be vegan to be considered healthy? I think it greatly depends on the individual, as we are all different. For example, if I saw a vegan that doesn’t exercise and is eating a processed vegan burger and tops it off with some coke and sugar-laced, dairy-free cake on one side, and a meat-eater that just got back from the gym to have a large salad with some chicken strips on top with a glass of water, then I would say that the latter is more healthy.

Exercise

Which brings me to my next point – physical exercise. Everyone always tells you that you need to exercise to keep healthy, I’m sure most of you are tired of hearing this, but did you really think I wouldn’t write it in a blog on how to be healthy?

I grew up being an amateur boxer, which I wrote about here, and I am very passionate about sports, especially bringing physical education to children. I even set up a charity foundation to bring physical education to less fortunate children in Latin and South America.

Don’t worry though, you don’t have to go crazy and begin lifting weights at your gym for 4 hours a day every day. But at least once a day, go out for a walk, take a bicycle to work instead of taking the car (you’ll help protect the environment too!) or even just dance around your room. Any kind of body movement will promote better overall health and it’s vital for people of all ages.

Sleep

This is probably the chapter most of us will like reading best and will make sure to follow – get enough sleep! Scientists have long been researching the right amount of time that we should sleep, but in all honesty, this will vary depending on each person. I know people who are perky and happy after just 5 hours of sleep a night, whilst others can barely function on less than 10.

Find out your ideal amount, and make sure not to let your day-life go too far into your dream-life. We need sleep to let our bodies rest, recover and heal itself.

Stress

Lastly, a subject that I personally find very important is stress. Why do people get stressed? Originally it was a form of protection, our bodies released hormones to help defend us against a lion or bear attack. It was only supposed to be temporary as prolonged release of stress hormones can have very severe side effects, from high blood pressure and heart attacks to growth inhibition and changes to mental health.

We all know that stress is bad, but how do we stop? Little by little. Start with making a rule of turning off your phone at 21:00 or not checking emails on weekends. Stop staying in late at work and going to bed past midnight. These are all factors that contribute to your stress levels. But you should also do things that increase your happiness levels, like enjoying your hobbies, taking time off or going to a spa and just relax in the Jacuzzi or sauna.

~ Bernard Sleijster