Five Easy Tips To Improve Your Health Today

Ted Rogers, a former collegiate basketball player and coach, now a public speaker who shares healthy lifestyle tips via his books, keynotes and workshops, recently addressed a group of people at a meeting I attended. His tips were so simple that I knew I'd have to share them with you.

Those of us who work from home, or sit at a computer for most of our work day, can benefit. 

Tip #1
Drink more water. It should be obvious, but he says most people just don't drink enough water to flush out what the body needs to flush out. Toxins. Waste. It's all inside of you unnecessarily. He suggests drinking an entire gallon (yes, think milk jug) per day but says you can attack it one sip at a time throughout the day. It's do-able. And he insists it's the single most important thing you can do for your health.

Tip #2
Breathe deeply--and more often! If you allow yourself to focus on taking deep breaths throughout the day, he says this will even help you lose weight. What! Is this a miracle fix? No, it's just the way the body's supposed to work. Naturally. One trick to try: Before you answer the phone, take a deep breath. Do this each and every time BEFORE you answer the call. It will act as your reminder. 

Tip #3
Colorize your foods. Don't supersize, he says, colorize! That just means add more vegetables and more variety of vegetable to your meals, and eat smaller portions throughout the day. In this case, color is the spice of life.

Tip #4
Activate the life you already live. This one's easy. Get up. Get active. You don't have to start an exercise program if that's not your thing. But you can introduce more movement into the things you already do. When you brush your teeth, for example, why not do squats or knee bends at the sink? Or when you answer the phone, instead of sitting down, stand up and walk around. You can also do what I do when I'm blow drying my hair. I touch my toes and stretch my legs at the same time. I also keep a set of hand weights by my desk. When I feel tension, I grab them and do a few curls or arm stretches of some sort. It feels good. Of course, you can always take the stairs instead of the elevator inside buildings, or park further away from entrances in parking lots. 

Tip #5
Pursue personal peace. This tip is about living life with laughter. Ted suggests keeping a laughter journal in your purse or pocket so you can record the funny moments that occur throughout the day. What you're essentially doing is training yourself to pay attention to the things that make you laugh and allowing yourself to take away the focus on what irritates you. Who needs that, anyway? 

BONUS
If you're experiencing negative stress right now, Ted says to take a moment to consider where it's coming from before you respond to it. It's probably not really caused by the guy who honked at you on the freeway or because you forgot to deposit that check. That negative stress goes deeper than that. When you become aware of and know the root causes of your negative stress, Ted says you'll be that much closer to managing it and possibly eliminating it altogether.

Your Action Step
Because these are simple solutions that anyone can adopt, take a second and write down here which of the five tips you will commit to doing this week. Blog about it on your blog. Then come back next week and pick another tip to adopt. Do that for the next five weeks and see if you notice any change in how you feel.