The New Year is just a few breaths away. As you contemplate on how to make things better in 2011, ensure that better health is one of your primary goals.

To attain this, make space for the following recommendations in your list of New Year’s resolutions.

1) Go for a daily walk outside.

The best thing about walking is that it is one of the easiest forms of physical activity to undertake. But the best is yet to come: A daily walk translates to turning your back away from an array of severe illnesses such as dementia, cancer, and stroke.

Research from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that women who walks two hours on a weekly basis, reduces their risk of getting a stroke — and by a substantial 30 percent. Furthermore, covering 3 miles in an hour results to a 37 percent risk reduction. Undeniably, improving your cardiovascular health is a great deal to secure, considering the ease that regular walking entail.

2) Fight cancer through garlic supplements, such as Kyolic, everyday.

Garlic is a very special herb because of its major role in promoting optimal health. Minus the relatively insignificant issue of causing bad breath, there are too many wonderful things to say about garlic. However, the more pressing concern is that not everyone is able to consume it on a regular basis. This is the part where Kyolic, a good brand of garlic supplements, comes in handy.

Case in point: Studies from China show that you can ward off the dreaded killer, also known as cancer, through regular garlic consumption — but the study involved taking 20 grams per day or around 7 cloves of garlic, which is a substantial amount that may not necessarily take a regular spot in your diet. In an effort to acquire as many of the cancer-fighting effects of garlic, getting aid from garlic supplementation such as Kyolic is a good option for compensating the lack of garlic intake from food.

3) To get the “sunshine vitamin”, go out for some daily dose of sunshine.

You don’t have to get all fried up — just around 15 minutes of getting some sun will already help your health in so many ways, because of the Vitamin D it provides.

According to the research conducted by Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a medicine and nutrition professor from Harvard University, vitamin D can possibly help prevent fatalities due to skin cancer. As you keep yourself away from a cancer-related death, you get to enjoy the outdoors, too.

As for the seasons when sunshine is lacking, resort to regular consumption of vitamin D-rich foods such as tuna, salmon, mushrooms, cod liver oil, sweet potatoes, egg yolks and dandelion greens.

4) Meditate even for just a few minutes everyday.

Whoever thinks that the act of meditation only works in relation to a spiritual or inner journey is missing out on a lot.

As early as the 1800s, research has already shown the physical and mental health benefits you can get through immersing yourself in few minutes of meditation. In 1979, data published in the Journal of Human Stress gives good news to those who suffer from high cholesterol — because cholesterol levels can be substantially reduced simply through meditating. That was around 3 decades ago, and more studies that prove the benefits of meditation have already emerged since then.

5) Consume 1 raw juice drink everyday.

It is time to steer clear of soft drinks and juices with low nutritional content, if you still haven’t. It is time to go natural and raw.

Data from macrobiotic.co.uk shows that raw juice promotes cellular cleansing; and as Steve Meyerowitz noted, to aim for changes to your health is to start at the cellular level. This is just one of the benefits among a spectrum of others; and you can have a great time too while juicing, or while squeezing all the fluids that a certain fruit or vegetable can offer.

6) Perform 30-45 minutes of exercise most days of the week.

The adage, “exercise is healthy”, probably ranks as one of the most valuable clichés. The problem is this: most people fail to immerse themselves or to start a regular routine because of many reasons — such as the lack of time and the lack of motivation. Fortunately, a study from Northern Ireland that was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health brings very good news.

According to the research venture led by the University of Ulster’s Dr. Mark A. Tully, even low levels of exercise can yield major positive effects to one’s health. The recommended minimum is usually 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily, for not less than 5 days in one week. Fortunately, even 30 minutes of activity for three days can already do wonders in regulating blood pressure and promoting overall fitness. Clearly, it is just a matter of finding a few minutes of your week to sweat.

7) Take Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3) everyday.

A wealthy amount of scientific research teaches us that not all fats are bad for our health. Omega-3 fatty acids are actually very good fats, especially in terms of the cardiovascular benefits that these provide, among several others.

According to the Physicians’ Health Study in 1998, eating fish once on a weekly basis can already reduce the chances of a sudden death due to heart attack by 50 percent. Also, a 14-year study published in the 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that eating fish for a minimum of two times per week — as compared to lower consumption levels such as less than once per month— slashed the risk of experiencing strokes, due to clots that block an artery to one’s brain, by half. Fortunately, the list of studies that support the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids does not end with this.

8) Stay Positive.

Another way of fighting off diseases and death, without spending a single cent, is by being optimistic. Just as the negative attitudes and emotions can impact your health in negative way, can positive ones give positive effects?

According to the study led by Dr. Becca Levy, those who cultivated positive attitudes while young, in relation to ageing, were able to live longer than those whose attitudes were less positive. The disparity is tantamount to more than seven years.

Furthermore, University of Kentucky’s Dr. Suzanne Segerstrom says that more optimism about the future results in having better moods. Simultaneously, this also translates to fewer symptoms of psychiatric problems; which thus enables people to be better equipped in adjusting to various situations with ease — including cardiac surgery and pregnancy.

9) Drink plenty of pure water everyday instead of sugary drinks.

When you’re thirsty or even when you’re not — make sure that you do your body and your life a favour by choosing pure water over other types of sugary beverages that pose hazards to your health. Pure water is the best choice in terms of hydrating your body and yielding optimal effects, precisely because of the absence of chemicals and contaminants in it.

According to a 6-year study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, those who drink more than 5 glasses are less likely to die from heart attacks by 41 percent — as opposed to those whose consumption is below 2 glasses. In the first place, understanding the essential role of water is supposedly a no-brainer: Like oxygen, it is essential for bodies to function healthily, and for everyone to live.

10) Take a high potency multivitamin.

“The more, the better”, actually proves to be true when it comes to some forms of vitamin intake. A paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, written by Kathleen M. Fairfield and Robert H. Fletcher, ended with the conclusion that getting insufficient amounts of a variety of vitamins has strong links to the onset of several diseases — such as osteoporosis, cancer, and coronary heart disease. Just imagine the multiple death-causing illnesses from which taking a high potency multivitamin can save you.

11) Get plenty of rest, at least 7-9 hours per night.

Humans aren’t robots, so you cannot function well without rest. This is crucial for optimal brain functionality; and it can also reportedly aid in the prevention or the alleviation of diabetes, memory loss, and obesity.

Furthermore, exercise is betrothed to sleep, in a way. Findings from a 10-year study led by US National Cancer Institute’s Dr James McClain shows that, although exercise has effective cancer-fighting benefits, less than 7 hours of sleep nullified the positive effects. Furthermore, less than 7 hours of sleep also resulted in increased cancer risk.

Given its relationship with exercise, it is only logical for you to devote yourself to the habit of getting plenty of rest, too — and such a commitment should apply to all the recommendations in this list, for a healthier you.

Sources
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nejm.org
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thescotsman.scotsman.com
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