The 30s are a busy time. You may have marriage, kids, family, work and other responsibilities to fulfill. The 30s may be the busiest time in your entire lifetime. How you maintain your health during these years will strongly determine your health for the rest of your life. So how can you achieve this goal? What can you do to stay healthy in your 30s? We have all the answers for you:-
Prioritize your exercise
Doctors recommend 30-45 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise every day, or at least 3-5 days a week. It may be in the form of walking, stationary cycling, etc. They also recommend at least 2 days/week of muscle toning/strength and flexibility exercises. These can include yoga, body weight-based workout or gym training. It is important to go for a routine that works out all the eight important muscle groups of the body. While aerobic exercise helps in keeping the heart in top shape and lose weight, strength and flexibility workouts improve overall endurance and help in keeping the weight stable after weight loss. Together both the groups have medical benefits: better blood sugar, BP and blood cholesterol levels, better mood, reduced chances of certain cancers and overall more years to live, as research has shown. Therefore, getting regular with exercise is the best way to start taking care of your health
Complete your sleep
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Since you are always occupied, you may often find yourself sleep deprived. A sound sleep is necessary for the proper functioning of the body. Reduced sleep has been linked with Blood pressure, mental health, and many other ailments. While for adults, a sleep time of continuous 7 – 8 hours is recommended, the golden rule is that one should sleep enough to not feel physically or mentally compromised or exhausted during the day
Keep a check on your weight
People tend to gain weight in their 30’s, due to multiple factors: while the biology plays its part, so do lifestyle factors such as eating too much or unhealthy, being physically inactive or emotionally stressed or depressed. While one should work on these factors, it is also important to keep a track of your body weight regularly.
Say no to yo-yo diet
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Often when we start to worry about weight, we sign up for extreme diets, but that way we may be signing up for Yo-Yo dieting. In this, the dieter in pursuit to lose weight tries an extreme diet, loses some weight, but then gets back to his/her usual diet and gains back most of the weight. Then they sign up for another extreme diet and the cycle continues. He/she may initially be successful in losing weight but is unsuccessful in maintaining the loss for long-term. This form of diet not only harms the body but also harms the mental state of a person. It is much better to target gradual weight loss employing sustainable calorie restriction by eating healthy. That way the gains are sustainable, especially if combined with exercise.
Learn to eat healthily
’30s is a good time to start eating healthy as most of us would be managing our households and decide on what food to cook or buy. The most beneficial changes would be to make a shift towards more unprocessed foods such as whole grains, pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. and less of processed food such as ready to eat snacks, namkeens, sweet drinks, sugar, white rice or maida based foodstuff. Another important change to be made is to consume healthier oils: a mix of soybean or canola with olive or groundnut or rice bran oil etc instead of eating a lot of ghee or any one type of oil. A bit of ghee or butter is OK though, but switch to low-fat milk to avoid saturated fats! Also, eat less salt by eating fewer pickles, instant noodles, instant soup, papad, etc.
Start Screening and testing
There are certain conditions which do not become symptomatic at a very early stage and when they do, the situation has already worsened. For example, high blood pressure, diabetes or pre-diabetes, and high blood cholesterol or lack of Iron, vitamin B12 or D in the body may also lead to the onset of various diseases. Similarly people with high-risk sexual behavior such as having multiple partners or same-sex relationships etc. should get checked for high impact STDs such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and a few others, if they have symptoms. Timely detection of these conditions can help you live a long and healthy life.
Someone has rightly said that “Health is Wealth”. You can stay fit in your 30s and beyond if you just give yourself some time, eat right and keep a check on your important health parameters.
(With inputs from Dr. Binita Priyambada- Senior Consultant, Medical Team at Docprime.com)
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