Our personal health and wellbeing affects every aspect of our life: our happiness, our relationships, our work and our physical health. It is easy to neglect our health when we are feeling stressed, or money is tight, or we are just too busy to focus on it. But the fact is, we can’t afford not too. Practicing healthy habits will improve all these aspects of our lives. Here are some ways to help you work on this.


Photo: HaoJan

1. Think about what you eat.

Frequently relying on convenience food and takeout is a habit that most of us can easily fall into, especially if we are really busy, too tired to cook, or trying to be careful with money.


However, what we put into our bodies has significant effects, not just in terms of weight, skin and other aspects of our physical appearance, but mentally and emotionally as well.

Too much sugar, caffeine can cause jitteriness and headaches and really negatively affect your mood. If you don’t always have the time to cook, see if you can share the cooking duties around, or prepare meals in advance and freeze them.

Frozen vegetables and healthy staples like brown rice are inexpensive and much better for you than 2-minute noodles or potato fries.

2. Where you live.

Our physical surroundings can affect our health in ways you may not have realised. Make sure where you live is always clean and airy – too much mold and dampness can cause you to be chronically sick. Being cooped up in a windowless apartment will give you headaches and make you moody.

Consider your furniture as well – if your bed or your couch is really uncomfortable you could be getting back pains and ruining your posture.

You may find you need to move houses or take steps to improve your living environment. Fast loans for small amounts of money (usually up to $3000) if you don’t have the savings could be an option – you can’t afford not to take action.

3. Medical and dental care.

It is really easy to shrug off medical and dental check ups, but it’s a habit we need to change.

Often we don’t go to the doctor when we are sick because we think it will go away; only we wait too long, and before we know it, we’ve spent two weeks being miserable, missing work…and visiting the doctor in the end anyway!

And of course no one is ever excited about visiting the dentist, but avoiding this could end up costing you dearly in the long run. Tooth aches, root canal, losing your teeth – these are all things that can be avoided.

If you don’t have private health insurance and worry about what you would do if something were wrong, you can always apply for cash loans to help you afford the initial treatment.

4. Fresh air and exercise.

You are reading this article online right now – where are you? How long have you been staring at the computer?

Whether you are a student studying furiously away, stuck in an office with stale air, or inside looking after the kids: make an effort to get that fresh air and exercise wherever you can.

Go for a walk during your lunch break, study in the park, take the kids outside to the garden. Being in one place too long fosters feelings of restlessness and anxiety.

5. Positive relationships.

Surround yourself with people you love, people who inspire and motivate you. If you don’t have friends like this in your life – make an effort to meet some!

Great friends can provide a supportive network and you could help each other in your efforts to get healthier: exercise together, go for walks on the weekends, cook for each other. We can all get into bad habits together, but we can also get out of them together. Good luck!