The modern lifestyle is full of routines and habits which get us through the monotony of our times. It still remains to be seen how much of these habits are good and how many are bad for us in the long term. But apart from these, there are just some habits which remain toxic and eternally harmful to us no matter what. With the new year right around the corner from us, this is the best time to become fully aware of these habits and overcome them so that we can enter the year as a fresh and healthier version of ourselves.
For this purpose, we have scoured far and wide to find certain toxic habits which we tend to engage in on a regular basis. To this end, we have done all the work and have specially curated a list of these for your perusal. We have made sure to include habits which may seem to be quite innocuous but actually do a lot in damaging our health and wellness in the long term. If you are indeed curious to know what these habits actually are and wonder if you yourself engage in them, then just keep on reading!
- Engaging In Too Much Of Something:
Have we all not heard the age old phrase of how the excess of everything is bad so many times in our lives over the years? It may seem like a meaningless little phrase but actually it does make a lot of sense. This phrase does not just attach itself to bad things, but good things as well. This basically means that whatever we do, we should engage in it in moderation. For example, if we overfeed ourselves with healthy food constantly, chances are that it will do more harm than good for us in the long run. A better idea would be to engage in a small portion of it every now and then in order to maintain our health.
- Giving Up Your Vices:
Now we know that this is probably something that you already know about, but we figured that it really does not hurt to reiterate it. And that is to give up the extremely toxic habits of drinking alcohol and smoking. These not only reduce your lifespan by a lot but also cause permanent damage to your liver and lungs, respectively. Weak lungs can also mean difficulty in breathing so it will do you well to invest in a pulse oximeter to keep a check on your blood oxygen levels.
- Not Scheduling Monthly Check Ups:
This may seem like an unnecessary step, especially if you consider yourself to be a healthy individual. But certain dangerous diseases have a quiet way of creeping up on you suddenly without any kind of notice. And if they are not diagnosed at the right time, they can prove to be quite detrimental to your overall wellness. So it is always advisable to schedule regular check ups with your doctor and get tests done every once in a while. Even if they do not turn up with anything worrisome, you will at least have that peace of mind that you are perfectly healthy.
- Leading A Sedentary Life:
Nothing harms your body more than leading a non active lifestyle, which is also known as the sedentary way of living. The more you keep sitting in one spot without moving around a lot throughout the day, the worse your health will get in the long term. Leading a sedentary lifestyle has been associated with an increased risk of suffering from hypertension, diabetes as well as obesity. Even if you get up in the middle of the day to go for a half an hour walk just to refresh yourself, that will do wonders for your health.
- Ignoring Self Care:
Though there are a million and one different definitions of self care in the world, which depend on every person’s unique understanding of the term, it means taking care of yourself in the most basic sense. This can manifest in different forms for you, for example, it can mean having a skincare routine or if you suffer from a disease, then taking your medicines properly can amount to self care. Even keeping a constant check on your vitals with certain healthcare devices such as a sphygmomanometer or a blood glucose meter can be slotted into this category. The body is intelligent enough to let us know what exactly it wants, we just need to pay heed to it to maintain our overall health and wellness.
- Focusing More On Weight:
Another toxic habit which we tend to focus on is wanting to just lose weight instead of getting healthy. Your reduced weight is not the only parameter which you need, to be fully in the pink of health. Also if you focus on getting fit and feeling agile in your body, and workout towards that intention, you will automatically also lose weight more often than not. Your health should not be defined by your weight, instead it should depend on how good and healthy you feel inside your body. For this purpose, you can also invest in a body fat analyser to start on a healthier journey.
- Ignoring Your Mind:
Mental health is as important as your physical health and it is heartening to note that many people have started attaching importance to it as well. Even if you are in the fittest of shapes but are not at peace in your head, ultimately your physical health will suffer at some point as well. If you indeed suffer from mental health issues, we urge you to seek out professional help. In the meantime a few things which can help are keeping more time free to do things which you love. You can also try meditation or writing down your thoughts in a journal in order to make sense out of them.
Many of us may be engaging in these habits without even realising how bad they actually are for us. If you are one such person, make sure to give up such damaging habits before the new year comes around. Do share this article with your loved ones to help them ditch these toxic habits as well.