Make a commitment to focus on your health and well-being in 2016. There’s no better time than the present!
The start of a brand new year gives you a fresh opportunity to work on achieving your health goals. From getting in shape to getting better sleep, consider including the following health goals on your list of New Year’s resolutions.
1. Lose Excess Weight
Carrying around additional pounds can have a serious impact on your health. Being overweight or obese can raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer, such as breast, pancreatic, and colon cancer. Losing extra pounds and maintaining a healthy weight through diet and exercise helps lower your risk of developing these diseases.
To achieve this resolution, include nutritious foods in your daily diet, cut back on sugar and other unhealthy foods, and begin working out for at least 30 minutes per day. If you need to lose ten pounds or more, ask our pharmacists about the options available to you.
2. Manage Stress
Stress is part of everyday life, but dealing with too much can take a toll on your health. Being stressed or anxious habitually can lead to health problems, such as high blood pressure, digestive issues, headaches, and sleep issues. While you can’t avoid stress completely, you can control how you handle stressful situations.
Work on managing stress better in the moment with immediate calming techniques, such as deep breathing. You can also handle stress better on a regular basis by doing activities that promote a sense of well-being, such as yoga or meditation.
3. Spend Time with Others
Humans are social creatures and a lack of social interaction can negatively affect your health. In fact, being lonely can harm your health as much as being obese, having high blood pressure, or smoking. You can avoid these health problems by making sure you spend time with other people on a regular basis.
This can mean having dinner with family members, going out with friends, participating in community events, or signing up for a class at a local school or community center.
4. Improve Your Sleep
Poor sleep quality can contribute to a variety of problems, including a higher risk of obesity, lower immunity to infections, difficulty concentrating, and an increased risk of heart problems and stroke. While getting more sleep is important, making sure you’re getting quality sleep is also crucial to avoiding the health problems linked to sleep issues.
You can get better sleep by going to bed and getting up at the same times every day and avoiding bright screens a couple of hours before bedtime. Exercising daily can also help you sleep more soundly, but give your body a few hours to cool down before bedtime. You can also improve your sleep quality by limiting caffeine, keeping your bedroom at a cooler temperature, and investing in a comfortable mattress.
5. Health Screenings
Eating healthy and working out might lower your risk of health problems, but they don’t necessarily prevent them. If you’re at risk of serious conditions, such as high blood pressure, early detection is important. Spotting these problems early can help you better manage them and reduce your risk of complications.
Have screenings to check your bone density, blood pressure, and other health factors to help determine whether you need to see your doctor for diagnostic tests. If you already have diabetes, you can have screenings done to check your glucose or A1C levels, which helps track how well you’re managing your condition and can alert you to any dangerous spikes or drops.
For information on health screenings in Arkansas, contact Smith-Caldwell Drug Store at 501-392-5470. We also offer customized medications and can provide you with pharmacy tips for a healthy new year.