Taking care of your own health is a daily act. Of course, as the medical community recommends, it is important to consult professionals at least once a year. But including this care daily in your routine can prevent problems and improve your quality of life.
In August, Uliving decided to create a special program and spoke with three health-related professionals to give them tips on how to improve their routine. We spoke with Andreza, a physical educator, Tânia, a nutritionist, and Marília, a holistic therapist, about three important points in our daily lives: exercise, nutrition and mental health.
We've separated the tips into topics, so it's easy to understand how to improve each of these aspects in your routine. Check it out:
Stretching, posture and exercises
Andreza is a physical educator, pilates teacher and acupuncturist and she gave good tips for those who have been suffering from pain. With the EAD and the home office, we spent a good part of the day sitting down – without the commuting breaks that we used to take before. Walking to the subway, from the subway to work, from the bus stop to college, all that was in the past.
According to her, the ideal is that we still keep these activities minimally throughout our day. Getting up every half hour and walking for about 5 minutes helps with circulation, posture and alleviating pain and discomfort. Sitting down, we put pressure on many arteries and veins, and when we stand up, the blood circulates again.
During working hours, stop for a few moments, either to drink water, or to put that song on the phone and dance for 3 minutes. In addition, she gave amazing tips on stretching and posture, both exercises that you can even do sitting down.
Taking advantage of the cue, it's worth looking for an app that has routines, even short ones, for stretching. A tip that we give is this application here. Available for both iOs and Android, it has some quick, practical stretching series that help move the body. There is a paid function, but the exercises available in the free version are already super complete.
And if you want to know more about Tânia and her work, just visit her clinic's website and schedule your appointment.
food and health
To talk about good food and health, we called nutritionist Tânia Rodrigues, and she started the conversation by talking about our new situation: before, there was great ease in choosing good meals outside the home, but today the options are fewer and we are forced to go to the kitchen.
But it's not worth resorting to the easiest and most delicious foods - pizza and hamburgers included. We are at a time when our immunity is very important to deal with COVID-19. That's why Tânia gave some tips on how to make your daily life and your diet healthier, check it out:
- Plan your food. And that doesn't mean a closed food schedule, but an outline of what you're going to eat in the next few days. That's because, storing it carefully and safely, you can prepare some foods that will be the basis of your dishes in the coming days and this optimizes your time in the kitchen. Preparing a good amount of rice and some sautéed vegetables, for example, does not take time and can make your routine easier. With 5 minutes frying a chicken, steak or sautéing more vegetables and fresh greens, you already have a diverse dish rich in different nutrients with some pre-ready things.
- Knowing our shopping places makes our day to day easier. This is because you can look for fresh food – vegetables, fruits, vegetables – and without having to buy in large quantities and spend a lot of money. That is: getting to know sales, supermarkets and even local fairs in the region will help to streamline your diet and introduce fresh food into it.
- In this planning, we must always think about products of vegetable origin (grains, vegetables, fruits), some protein, such as eggs, milk, meat or protein-rich grains, such as chickpeas, in addition to a carbohydrate, such as rice or potatoes, which are super easy to prepare.
- When buying fresh food, we must be selective. For example, sensitive leaves, such as lettuce, arugula, watercress, do not last long in the refrigerator. And for the other days, it's worth leaving the vegetables that last longer, like zucchini, carrots, cabbage, chard. And all of this you can buy in a single trip to the market/fair.
- Pay attention to seasonal foods. That's because the quality is better – which makes the amount of vitamins even greater – and forces us to change our plate. As food is seasonal, we always change our menu and consequently improve our health. And not to mention that seasonal foods are always cheaper.
- It is important to always eat 3 types of fruit a day. If we compare, for example, bananas, oranges and seasonal fruits, we have diversified nutrients. A trip to the fair is enough to guarantee this variety.
- In this time of anxiety, discomfort and depression peaks that the pandemic has caused us, many people resort to sweets - chocolate, for example. The problem is that this sugar is digested quickly and soon we are hungry again, and that is why it is important that we eat enough protein so that the body feels less hungry. But that doesn't mean stopping with the sweets, because they are important for the proper functioning of our brain, but dosing their portion.
- Be careful not to confuse thirst with hunger, that is, always drink water.
In addition, she gave very easy tips: put small grains on our plates. Chia, linseed, quinoa and the like can be prepared with rice, meat or even consumed in its natural form, with yogurt. And of course, it's always worth looking for a nutritionist to better understand your diet, your metabolism and what may or may not be good for you.
Tânia is a nutritionist and managing partner of RGNutri, a clinic and nutritional advisory service.
Meditation and physical and mental health
Meditation is an ancient practice that since the last century has been studied as part of treatments for psychological and psychic issues. Holistic therapist Marília Braga chatted about it with us and, in addition, did a guided meditation session for us.
The benefits of meditation are numerous, mainly because it helps by working with breathing, and this influences our blood pressure and hormone production, for example. In addition, studies show a direct relationship with the production of neurotransmitters responsible for the feeling of well-being. That is: only benefits.
For the hectic routine we have, it is very difficult not to have stress peaks. When we go through trigger situations - stress and irritation, for example - it's normal for our body to react, after all, it's chemical reactions that happen in our brain. With meditation, we get out of this position of anger in reaction and manage to better control our actions.
Consulting a professional whenever possible should be part of our routine, after all, taking care of our health means saving us from future problems, but also solving some obstacles in our daily lives. Whenever possible, Uliving will bring professionals to talk to our residents, always seeking to offer quality advice and further improve their quality of life.
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