New Year New Me: How To Stay Healthy This Year

Happy New Year to you! From all the team at Intecore we are wishing you all the best for 2023!

Are you looking to stay healthy in 2023?

We’ve all probably eaten and drank too much over the holidays and the New Year is a chance to start fresh.

We all say to ourselves that we’ll exercise more, eat healthier but rarely do we keep up with it. 

Making healthy choices isn’t always easy, but your health should be your priority. 

Putting the effort in now to stay healthy can benefit you now and for the rest of your life. 

We’re not talking about major life changes, simple things like exercising a little more and improving your diet can make a big difference. 

The best thing for you to do is to set goals for yourself and to keep up with them. 

• This could be: 

• Drinking more water

• Eating your 5 a day 

• Exercising for 30 minutes a day

• Getting regular sleep

Maintaining these small improvements on your lifestyle can both improve your physical and mental health immensely.

More Blogs From Intecore:

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Knee Pain After Cycling: What Should I Do?

How Do I Know If My Pain Is Muscular?

Exercise 

You don’t need to start suddenly running marathons every week, something as easy as a 30 minute walk could be right for you. 

The best thing you can do is just a little more than your usual routine, try to make time for some form of exercise each day. 

You just need to find something that works for you, whether that be going for walks, joining a gym or if you want to train for that marathon that is on your bucket list. 

Something simple like going for a walk on your lunch breaks can be great as it helps get your body moving.

Everyone has different goals and different capabilities, as long as you are doing more than what you were that is great. 

Exercise doesn’t need to be a chore, find something that you enjoy doing. 

You could sign up to classes with your friends and make it a social activity.

Many people decide that exercise isn’t for them as they’ve not found a workout that they enjoy. 

If you’re forcing yourself to do something the chances are you aren’t going to keep it up. 

But it is important to try and fit regular exercise into your routine. 

Physical activity can help improve your mood, decrease stress and reduce the risk of many diseases. 

Balanced Diet 

I’m going to start eating healthier is something that almost everyone has said at the beginning of the year. 

You may keep it up for a few weeks maybe even a month but most people fall back into their old habits quickly. 

A healthy diet is one of the best ways to maintain good health.

One of the easiest ways to start is making sure you eat your 5 a day if you don’t already. 

Experiment with foods you may not normally eat, vegetables are packed with nutrients that our body needs. 

To get the nutrition that your body needs most of your daily calories should come from:

• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Whole Grains
• Nuts 
• Lean Protein
• Legumes

You have to try and limit consumption of foods that contain very little nutritional value. These include foods like:

• Processed meats
• Cakes & Cookies
• Sodas, Energy Drinks & Fruit Drinks with Added Sugar
• Pizza
• Fries
• Candy

You’ve probably heard it all before but avoiding and cutting down on processed foods and sugar as much as possible can help you a lot. 

Similarly to exercising, just cutting out one bad habit can be a great start. 

If you tell yourself you’re not going to eat as much chocolate or instead of taking a packet of chips to work you’ll take two different fruits with you. 

Eating healthy can also stop you from getting sick.

4 out of the top 10 causes of death in the US are directly linked to diet.

These are:

• Cancer
• Stroke
• Type 2 Diabetes 
• Heart Disease

Cutting out the junk from your diet can help save your life. 

A balanced and healthy diet usually contains fresh foods and limits the intake of any processed foods.

If you are unsure about your diet there are many dietitians that are able to help you, even getting an appointment with your doctor can point you in the right direction. 

Drink More Water 

Not drinking enough water is something that a lot of us are guilty of. 

We’ve got so many different choices from sodas, energy drinks, coffees, fruit drinks, teas and a whole bunch of others. 

They might all advertise to be good for you but drinking water is the best drink for you. 

Water is great for carrying nutrients around our body and helps regulate our body temperature. 

Drinking plenty of water is essential for staying healthy this year. 

Yes you might not view it as the most exciting but not consuming enough can cause you a number of health problems. 

It is recommended that you drink up to 8 glasses of water a day. 

Many people only drink one or two which can lead to dehydration, fatigue and headaches. 

Get Plenty Of Sleep

It’s amazing the amount of people who try to get by on very limited sleep. 

They think that drinking numerous cups of coffee can help them throughout the day. Yes it might help in the short term but depriving your body of the sleep it needs can have a number of detrimental health effects. 

You should be aiming for 7-9 hours sleep per night to ensure that your mind and body are well rested. 

It’s vitally important that you attempt to keep a regular sleep schedule. 

Avoiding caffeine later in the day and reducing screen time before bed can help you get to sleep quicker. 

Regular exercise can also help the quality of your sleep as your body will naturally want more rest. 

Don’t Forget About Mental Health

Many people think that when they go on their new year health kick it involves lots of physical activity and eating healthy. 

Of course that helps in your quest for a healthier lifestyle but many people neglect looking after and improving their mental health. 

Your mental health is just as important and your physical health. 

One key thing all of us can work on is lowering our stress levels. 

This is easier said than done of course. With work, family commitments and juggling all the usual struggles it can be difficult to find a moment for yourself. 

Different people have different coping methods for stress, some like to exercise, others journal and some just like to talk it out with friends and family. 

Whatever it is that you find works, make sure you keep up with it. 

The most important thing is to talk about it, it’s ok to let other people know you are struggling. 

You can always talk to your doctor if you are struggling with your mental health or stress levels. 

We have found that yoga and pilates classes can be most beneficial to those looking to improve their mental health. 

You can also just simply do something that you enjoy, take up a new or old hobby and give yourself something to look forward to. 

Other tips include:

• Getting a good night’s sleep
• Cutting back on social media 
• Improve your relationships 
• Know when to take it easy
• Talk to others
• Spend time in nature 
• Take time out for yourself
• Put An End To That Ongoing Pain

Here at Intecore PT we want you to have the best year you can in 2023. 

That could start with trying to end that ongoing pain that you have just been putting up with for the past few months. 

If your pain isn’t getting better on its own the chances are it’ll only just get worse. 

We focus on the individual as a whole, not just their pain.

Our aim is to provide pain relief through physical therapy which should hopefully see the patient return to full function allowing them to get back to enjoying their life. 

We specialize in a number of areas, back pain, neck pain, knee pain, foot and ankle pain are our most common but we see a whole range of different injuries. 

If you’re unsure about whether or not physical therapy can help you, why not try our FREE 20 minute discovery session. 

In this session you’ll get a taste of what physical therapy is like and you’ll leave knowing what is wrong and how we can treat you. 

Pain isn’t something you should put up with this year so call into one of our clinics and put an end to your pain today.