Getting healthier is on everyone’s ‘to do’ list. A healthy lifestyle can have a significant impact on every aspect of your life. It affects your livelihood, relationships, and mental wellbeing.
It’s essential to have the energy and enthusiasm to enjoy your life without having stress.
With so many products and services promising to unleash the new ‘healthier you’ it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve taken a look at the best ways to stay healthy; here are our top picks for you to try.
Table of Contents
1. Nootropics
Nootropics are any compound supplement or drug that enhances your cognitive function. The best way to get the benefits of nootropics is through natural foods. These can boost your brainpower without the need for artificial chemicals.
Nootropics help with a variety of brain functions:
- Improves short-term memory
- Boosts learning and focus
- Has a calming effect and relieves anxiety and stress
Your brain is shaped by what you eat. If you are eating the right foods, you have concentration, energy, proper memory function, alertness and learning ability. Here are some natural sources of nootropics:
- Gingko Boloba
- Ashwagandha
- Lion’s Mane Mushroom
- Matcha Tea
Find out more with my article: The best nootropic supplements UK.
2. Tailored Supplement Programs
In the store and on the internet, you can find thousands of supplements. There are multivitamins, B-vitamins, iron, minerals, what should you choose? You could wind up taking a whole bunch of pills all at one time.
A tailored supplement program helps eliminate the dilemma of what supplements are the best for you. A customised plan looks at the person as a whole and gives you the right supplements to meet your needs.
A personalised nutrition plan can help health-conscious individuals complement their lifestyle by providing nutritional elements that they might not get in their diet.
Tailored supplements can help work on areas such as stress or fatigue. Depending on the company, you may be able to tell them how many pills you want to take, and they will provide the supplements, especially for you.
Getting a personal supplement plan can help you solve minor health and nutrition issues naturally and efficiently without having to buy a whole lot of bottles that you will never use.
Some supplement programs and blood tests to check out:
3. A Plant-Based Diet
There is controversy surrounding plant-based diets and getting the right nutrition. The bottom line is that choosing to eat a plant-based diet is an individual choice, and each person may go plant-based for different reasons.
There are typically four avenues you can take to eat a plant-based diet.
Vegans cut out all animal products including meat, poultry dairy, eggs, seafood and sometimes honey.
Vegetarians cut out meat and poultry, but still eat eggs, dairy.
Pescatarians eat a mainly non-meat diet but eat seafood.
Whole food plant-based diets concentrate on whole minimally processed foods which may or may not include meat, depending on the individual.
Plant-based diets have been shown to:
● Lower the risk of diabetes
● Lower the risk of heart disease
● Lowers cholesterol
● Reduced risk of cancer
● Helps reduce weight
Despite the benefits of a plant-based diet, critics feel that people who eat plant-based are not getting enough nutritional value out of their diet. It is true that if you consume high fat, processed foods that are considered vegetarian but have empty calories, you are at the same risk as non-plant based eaters for chronic diseases and health issues.
However, by eating a balanced diet that includes plant-based proteins and whole foods, you still get all the essential amino acids and other nutritional values from your foods.
Eating plant-based is not just cutting meats and dairy out of your diet, it’s about planning your meals and eating the right foods to get the best nutritional value just like any other healthy eating lifestyle changes, that non-plant based eating requires to be healthy.
You can eat plant-based and still be unhealthy and overweight. You can also eat plant-based and build muscle and be a world-class athlete. If you have any doubts about fitness and a plant-based diet, you can watch the documentary The Game Changers on Netflix and see if it changes your perspective on plant-based eating.
Find out where to get great vegan food online: Where to find vegan food online UK.
4. CBD
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a cannabinoid found naturally in hemp and cannabis plants. It is legal, isn’t intoxicating and won’t get you high. It is most often used in oils or edible products, but it can also be included in balms and skincare products.
It is sold as a general food supplement, but many people claim that it has an incredible range of specific health benefits. CBD works by influencing cannabinoid receptors found in your central and peripheral nervous system. This interaction controls the flow of your human cannabinoids in your body. As a result, many systems in your body can respond more effectively to illness, disease and fatigue.
CBD has been shown to help with all sorts of health conditions, including:
● Allergies
● Inflammation
● High blood pressure
● Seizures
● Anxiety
● Insomnia
CBD has a calming effect on the body, so you feel less stressed. In a small CBD study on sleep, 69 % of the participants had a lower level of anxiety and slept better after using CBD for a month. Because CBD is an anti-inflammatory, it also helps with arthritis and other types of pain.
One word of caution. You can find CBD products all over the internet; the current market is mostly unregulated, resulting in products that often aren’t what they claim to be. To ensure you are getting what you pay for, use these steps:
- Choose a well-known online store like for the Ageless. These will have lots of customer reviews and be a member of an official hemp trade body.
- Look for products with genuine, detailed product reviews.
- Only buy products with ‘third-party lab certificates’. These are the results of tests by an independent lab. They will verify what is in the product.
- Look for other official certifications like ‘Organically certified by the Soil Association’. Check the certificate by visiting the website of the body awarding the certificate. The retailer should be listed there. If they aren’t, they may not be genuine.
Find out more by visiting the detailed CBD oil guide at for the Ageless.
5. Wellness Breaks
Taking wellness breaks is essential to your sanity! Most of us live a stressful lifestyle where we are running around with work, kids, and other obligations. We often don’t take the time in between the busy moments to relax.
There are two ways to take wellness breaks:
Daily
Taking a few minutes during the day to destress is crucial for your body to handle the stresses of the day. When you are stressed your body stays in a heighten state unless you give it a break.
Daily stress can lead to chronic stress which in turn leads to chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Here are some things you can work into your day to help give your mind and body a break.
● Find somewhere quiet and breathe deeply for 5 min
● Go outside and take a walk
● Stand up and have a good stretch
● Go to lunch with a friend or co-worker
Wellness Retreat
Holidays are lovely; however, you are usually rushing around to do all kinds of planned outings. Go on a wellness retreat instead. At a wellness retreat, you stay in one location and concentrate on you.
At a retreat, you participate in good calming habits such as eating the right foods, meditating, relaxing, and nature walks. A wellness retreat can help you feel balanced and can raise your level of happiness.
There are all kinds of retreats available:
● Fitness retreats
● Nature retreats
● Meditation retreats
There are different kinds of retreats all over the world, so it’s easy to find one that will help you meet your needs and maybe even do some sightseeing. A wellness break can re-energise your mind body and soul and allow you to come back to the real world refreshed with a new outlook on life.
Mental wellbeing is just as important as physical wellbeing, and a wellness retreat is a perfect way to stay healthy.
6. Physical Activity
Physical activity is essential. Being physically active helps your body fight off sickness and disease.
Did you know it’s also good for your mind? That’s right! When you are physically active, you release the feel-good hormones called endorphins. That’s why anytime you exercise, you feel better. Exercise also releases stress from your body and is an excellent stress management technique.
There are all types of ways you can be physically active. Whatever you choose to do, it should be something you enjoy. You’ll be much more likely to stick with it. There are many options for getting exercise that can fit into any lifestyle. Here are some ways to add activity to your life:
● Play a sport
● Go for hikes (nature is also a great stress reliever)
● Gardening
● Use an app at home
● Yoga
● Join a gym
● Walking
● Buy home equipment
However you choose to be active, it will help you stay physically and mentally fit.
7. Sleep
Lastly, something that can have a considerable impact on your health is sleep. Most of us don’t get enough sleep. You’re considered sleep deprived if you get less than 6 hours of sleep a night. The average adult should be sleeping between 7 and 8 hours every night.
There are many reasons people don’t get enough sleep from a busy lifestyle to too much screen time to insomnia.
Research has shown that not getting enough sleep affects your cognitive function. You may be irritable, unable to focus and be less productive when you don’t get enough sleep.
Not getting enough sleep also has consequences for physical health as well. During sleep, for instance, your body uses that time to repair the heart and all your blood vessels.
Constant sleep deficiency can cause many chronic conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney failure.
If you have any health conditions or medications that are interrupting your sleep, talk to your doctor.
Here are some ideas on how to improve your sleep:
- Take a short nap during the day.
- Take up regular fitness activities
- Prepare your room for sleep-make sure the room is dark, quiet, cool and comfortable.
- Establish a healthy bedtime routine, including a warm drink, no screen-time and ten minutes of meditation.
- Try natural supplements like Night Aid or Cal-M.
Do yourself a favour and make more sleep one of your health priorities this year.
Related reading: 7 top tips for a better night’s sleep.
Conclusion
Staying healthy requires lifestyle changes and some work. You can improve your brain health by eating foods that are nootropic and help your cognitive function. Getting tailored supplements can help you get the specific nutrition you need to keep yourself healthy and energised.
If you’re stressed out, have anxiety or are even experiencing some pain CBD can help relieve your symptoms. Getting more exercise and changing the way you eat can help improve your health and help lower your risk of getting chronic conditions like heart disease.
Lastly, be kind to your mind and your body, by taking wellness breaks to help re-energise your spirit and try to get to bed a little earlier. Now that you know what it takes to stay healthy, what are you waiting for? Get to it!
My Supplement Recommendations
These are products that I currently use and enthusiastically recommend:
Multivitamin – Nutrigenesis Multi for Men or Nutrigenesis for Women. Performance Lab use their patented Nutrigenesis technique to provide a range of vitamins and minerals in their most effective form. Read my review.
Nootropic – Mind Lab Pro contains eleven natural nootropics that have been proven to support cognitive function and brain health. Read my review.
Collagen – Edible Health Bovine Collagen. This excellent bovine collagen powder is completely tasteless and absorbs quickly into any liquid. It’s third-party lab tested and provides 13g of collagen per serving. Read my review.
Turmeric – VitaBright Organic Turmeric with Ginger and Black Pepper. These turmeric capsules are organic, effective and affordable. They include black pepper to enhance curcumin absorption and ginger to provide additional useful benefits. Read my review.
Incredible value – G&G Vitamin 28 day packs This is the most affordable way to buy supplements in the UK. One tub holds 28 daily packs of up to 11 different vitamins, minerals or food supplements.