We live in a world that believes your life’s obstacles can be cured with the right medication.
Want to lose weight? Take a pill to boost your metabolism.
Stressed? Take a pill to calm your nerves.
Not sure what’s wrong with you? Take a pill anyway.
(That last one’s a slight exaggeration, I admit. But it’s close to the mark, no?)
While it’s true that some medication is necessary and does actually help, many others can actually do more harm than good.
(Just read the “potential side effects” of a chemically manufactured medication.)
Take a look at these stats:
The U.S. consumes 80% of the world’s pain medication while accounting for only 6% of the world’s population.
One American dies from a prescription overdose every 19 minutes.
The statistics speak for themselves…
We HAVE to stop relying on medication to “fix” us, and instead, start working towards living our best lives NATURALLY and without the need for harmful pills.
How do we do that?
Here are eight suggestions to get you started on your way to living a healthier life without medication:
1) Eat Healthier Food
Remember the saying, “You are what you eat?”
It’s so very, very true. You are the sum total of what you put into your body every single day.
Healthy eating supplies your body with the essential vitamins, nutrients, and minerals it needs to stay physically, mentally, and emotionally fit.
Put down the cookies, crackers, and chips (all of which promote heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and the like) and start eating the good stuff – the vegetables, fruits, lean meats, healthy nuts, and so on.
Need a game plan? Then follow the eight eating healthy goals.
2) Get More Sleep
Sleep is the ultimate protector.
It protects your physical self from muscle breakdown, your mental self from overextension, and your emotional self from excess distress.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t get enough sleep. (Just look at this chart from the CDC)
You need at least 7-9 hours of sleep each day. Doing so will improve your memory, repair your body, make you happier, and help you to live longer.
3) Exercise Regularly
The advantages of exercise are two-fold…
Not only does it get you into peak physical and mental shape, it also helps you shed those unwanted pounds (which helps boost your confidence).
Weight loss doesn’t come in the form of a pill…
But it does come in the form of running, biking, weight lifting, swimming, playing sports, doing yoga, and so on.
Make it a point to perform some form of mild-to-moderate exercise each day for the next thirty days. By that time, you won’t want to stop!
4) Love Yourself
Did you know that depression affects 1 in 10 Americans (and that the number of patients diagnosed with depression increases 20% each year)?
How do you beat this disease without relying so much on your meds?
Answer: You LOVE YOURSELF!
Starting today, make it a point to be in love with yourself. Not in a creepy, conceited sort of way. But in a “love the miracle of your existence” sort of way.
Know what you stand for, what your values are, and what you are willing to do and give to others, and then start living your life by those standards.
Genuine love for your self is the key to true happiness and emotional health.
5) Challenge Your Mind
Just like with exercise and physical fitness, if you never work out your mind, it’s going to get out of shape. And when that happens, we tend to turn to medication to help us out.
So start challenging your mind with mentally stimulating activities – puzzles, games, word problems, problem solving, learning a new hobby, and so on.
Some studies have even shown that stimulating your mind via challenging activities can possibly help prevent dementia.
So ask yourself: What are you doing to challenge yourself mentally today?
6) Surround Yourself With Positive People
You are the sum total of the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis.
Are those people helping or hindering you? Are they a positive or negative influence on your life? Are you even hanging around other people?
Being around others who: a) are positive and uplifting, b) share the same interests as yourself, and c) don’t bring you down can have a profound positive effect both on your mental and emotional health.
So, if you don’t have a positive social circle (both offline and online), get one. And if you’re in a painful relationship, get help.
7) Reduce Your Stress
Stress is rarely good. And being exposed to too much stress for too long can have negative effects on your physical, mental, and emotional health.
Without managing it, stress can single-handedly ruin your life.
Do any combination of the following to help lower your stress (without having to result to potentially harmful prescription medications):
Practice yoga. Where you have to practice deep, conscious breathing (which can help lower stress levels)
Keep a gratitude journal. Where you write down all of the positive things in your life.
Help others in need. Where you help a friend or stranger with one of their problems (which will make your problems seem less important and smaller.)
Drink green tea. Green tea is a great drink with low caffeine but many health benefits.
8) Get Checked
This one is often either overlooked or skipped…
But the only person who can really tell if something is wrong with your health is a certified healthcare professional (medical specialist, psychologist, etc.).
Often there can be an underlying problem sabotaging your health that you are completely unaware of. So it’s important that you get checked regularly for any potential problems.
Set up regular dentist and doctor appointments, get an annual health screen, and make up for any missed milestone exams.
And remember, just because something may be wrong, that doesn’t mean you must take medication. Talk to your doctor and come up with a decision together that will be most beneficial to your ongoing healthy lifestyle.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/binit-kumar/2015/03/8-ways-to-live-your-healthiest-life-without-medication/
No comments:
Post a Comment