August is National Wellness Month!

August is a month full of special times: most kids’ first day of school, the last month of the dog days of summer and National Wellness Month! With all of the busy days that August brings, it’s important to take a step back and remember to take care of yourself among the chaos of everyday life. Central Ozarks Medical Center has five habits to work into your everyday routine. Our Lake of the Ozarks health clinics believes that practicing positive habits daily is great way to help you create a happy and healthy life.

Meal Planning

When you’re in a hurry and need to eat, it’s easy to grab something that’s quick and processed in your pantry or pick up fast food. While this may save time, it’s definitely not saving you the amount of calories, fat or sugar that you’re putting into your body. Meal planning is a great way to be more conscious of what you’re eating and will allow you to make healthier decisions. Schedule to meal plan on a specific day each week to create a thorough and effective menu for you and your family. Meal planning limits food waste, saves money, saves time and allows you to learn portion control. Bonus points if you meal prep after planning. Meal prepping is preparing the food in the portions you’re going to eat so when the time comes, you just have to heat it up.

Spend Time Outside

Maybe you’ve spent all day at work indoors and then when you get home you just want to relax in front of the TV or maybe you have a ton of chores to do around the house. It can easy to find at the end of the day that you haven’t spent anytime outside that day. While we understand that getting outdoors can take a little extra effort, the health benefits are well worth it. Spending just 20 minutes outdoors gives your brain an energy boost, strengthens your immune system, enhances creativity and restores your focus. Most importantly, you can also get your daily dose of vitamin D while spending time in nature. Vitamin D provides all kinds of health benefits like helping our bodies absorb calcium and reducing inflammation.

Regular Exercise

Exercising regularly does a lot more than helping you lose weight. It has tons of benefits for both your mental and physical health. A little bit of exercise a day can reduce anxiety and depression, strengthen your muscles and bones, increase energy levels, promote blood flow to reduce signs of aging and help with mental functioning like memory. Exercise does have to be intense workouts like lifting weights or doing sprints, it can be something as simple as taking a walk, swimming, yoga, dancing or biking. Pick a regular exercise that you enjoy to help insure that you stick with it. Also, exercising outside can help combine the benefits of physical activity and being outdoors all in one.

Drink Lots of Water

Water is essential to having a healthy functioning body and can help naturally increase energy by preventing sugar or caffeine crashes that you often get from soda, coffee or energy drinks. Water helps deliver oxygen throughout the body, aids in keeping your skin healthy, clear and young-looking, regulates body temperature and prevents kidney damage (just to name a few of its benefits). If you dislike the taste of plain water, consider adding slices of fruit for a healthy way to add flavor.

Take Time to go Offline

We live in a world that is dominated by phones, social media and technology. While we understand that it can be very difficult to completely “unplug” for a lengthy amount of time, taking small amounts of time out each day to step away from technology can still benefit us. Designate a certain time for each day that you’re going to take out some time where you don’t look at your phone, check emails or browse social media. Whether it’s first thing in the morning, when you get home from work or right before you go to bed, take some time out to go offline. You may find yourself getting that project done that’s been weighing on you for a while, connecting more with those around you or being able to unwind and relax better.

Bonus: National Relaxation Day

National Relaxation Day is on August 15th this year. We challenge you take just 30 minutes out of your day to do something that relaxes you. Whether it’s going on a walk, reading a book, doing yoga or mediating, it’s up to you! It can sometimes be easy to forget to take a little time out for ourselves to do something we want to do, so on August 15th make a conscious effort to do so.

If you’re looking for other ways to incorporate healthy habits into your daily life, make an appointment with Central Ozarks Medical Center at one of our mid-Missouri health clinics. We can give you a check-up and help you create a plan for a healthy lifestyle. Find all of our health clinic locations and phone numbers are www.CentralOzarks.org.

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