If you’re on any social media platform, I’m sure you’ve come across lots of conflicting posts about how to improve your health. Many of them are pricey suggestions like water bottles that inject more hydrogen into the water, creating an at-home gym, or buying the most expensive, organic foods out there.

But health doesn’t have to be expensive!

So I’m putting together my top FREE ways to improve your health.

Spend Time Outside in the Sunshine

You’d be surprised at all the studies promoting sunshine for good health. For a while, the sun was kind of made out to be a bad guy. I remember in high school they would tell us how we needed to bathe in sunblock because it was dangerous. There was the potential for skin cancer if we spent too much time in the sun unprotected.

Although UV damage is a major factor in skin cancer development, studies show that people developing skin cancer are also deficient in vitamin D. That’s right, the vitamin that’s only synthesized from sunlight and is difficult to get from our diet is one of the things people with skin cancer need more of.

Conflicting information, right?

Protecting yourself from the sun is extremely important for the sake of preventing skin cancer. But sunblock or avoiding the sun at all costs aren’t the only ways to do that.

Our gut microbiome has a large role in helping our bodies prevent abnormal gene expression from UV damage. Eating foods high in polyphenols is one of the best ways to do this.

Polyphenols help our bodies to remove damaged cells and free radicals. Free radicals lead to oxidative stress and negatively affect gene expression. By having enough polyphenols to escort the reactive oxygen species (ROS) out of our bodies we limit that danger potential.

Foods that are in season are the best to eat because they survive the same conditions our bodies are exposed to. So by eating them, we reap those same benefits within our own bodies.

Sunlight exposure has been shown to:

• Increase Vitamin D levels
• Kills bacteria
• Improves mood
• Resets your circadian rhythms for better sleep quality
• Strengthens your bones and cells
• Boosts the immune system

Eat Mostly Healthy Foods Without Shaming Yourself for Having Something Unhealthy

We live in a fast-paced world, there’s no denying that. And sometimes that means eating less-than-healthy foods.

The important thing to do is focus on having a *mostly* healthy diet as much as you can.

Instead of prioritizing what you need to cut out, I find that making sure I get what we need into our diet it’s a lot easier AND I don’t feel awful if I’ve had a misstep.

I prioritize getting 3 things.

• Protein
• Fiber
• Water

That’s it.

As long as our main meals (or it’s replaced in a snack) have these foods, I’m happy. Protein and fiber help your body to stay full longer. I used to make sure I had carb-filled foods for this reason. However, that made me put on way more weight than I wanted and it would make me crash later in the day.

By prioritizing these foods, your body gets the important nutrients it needs to work at its best and therefore makes you feel better.

Plus then if the kids want ice cream or Oreos I know they’ve had good foods first and their bodies are slightly more prepared to deal with the damage from the not-so-good foods they want.

I’ve noticed eating this way has helped my kids pick healthy options, too. After soccer the other day my daughter had the option of goldfish-type crackers or a banana at my grandparent’s house and she chose the banana without me urging her otherwise.

If we give our bodies what they need, they crave those things more. I’ll get into the science of this in another article, but it’s truly fascinating how making healthier choices helps your body to crave the same!

Laugh with People You Love (and that cause you minimal stress)

This actually ties two major categories of health into one: laughing and community.

We are communal creatures. This means we thrive when we are with others – even those of us who tend to be more introverted. (Hi! That’s me!)

When we spend time with other people it actually rewires our brains – this can be a positive or negative impact depending on if we enjoy those people or not. Finding your tribe is really an important thing here. Finding people that you enjoy being around – even if that’s just sitting in the same room reading quietly is extremely important for our mental and physical well-being.

In addition, when we spend time with people we enjoy we end up laughing more – it’s inevitable! Laughter is so important to our well-being that a recent therapy has been born. Laughter therapy and laughter yoga are relatively new to the health world. However, the studies on laughter for mental health are hard to argue against.

Studies have found the following benefits of laughter therapy and yoga. But I’m pretty sure just being around people you enjoy and laughing with them (for free) gives you the same benefits.

• Pain relief
• Reduced stress
• Improved anxiety
• Helped with the feelings of burnout

So schedule some time with people that you love and make you laugh. It can be the best thing for you – especially in a time when things are so serious and sad.

Exercise Daily

You’ve been told this time and time again how important exercise is so I’m not even going to get into that for you.

Moving your body daily is the goal.

Our lives are very sedentary for the most part, and that needs to be balanced out.

Walking for 20 minutes is enough. If you’re just starting and you’re afraid you can’t do that, then just start by walking around the block. If you live in an unsafe area, do squats or jumping jacks in your living room.

Whatever you do, get your body moving. This helps to release happy chemicals and physically changes your body to crave the workout by giving you more energy. It’ll also help you sleep better which brings us to…

Prioritize Sleep

Sleeping well is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Each person needs a different amount of sleep, but the rule of thumb is 8 hours.

Women and men differ on this. I need a lot more sleep than my husband does. He can get 3 hours of sleep and be completely fine. I, on the other hand, need to get an adequate amount of sleep or I become unbearable to deal with.

Some ways you can improve your sleep are:

• Exercising
• Praying or meditating before bedtime
• Limiting light exposure in your bedroom – I have to sleep with my TV on so if that’s you, too I’m not sure how to help you stop SORRY!
• Getting sunlight first thing in the morning – this helps to let your body know it’s morning and that you’re awake so your circadian rhythms can sync with the daylight
• Reducing stress
• Getting massages
• Using a gratitude journal before going to bed – this changes the frequencies of your body and reduces stress

Do Stress Relieving Activities that You Love

There’s a reason that so many of the hobbies people have are turned into therapies – art, music, dance, etc. They’re good for you! While doing them as a hobby vs doing them as a therapy definitely have differences, that doesn’t take away the therapeutic power of them as a hobby.

So schedule time into your day to keep up with the things you love. They help to reduce stress by tapping into your creative brain. Less circulating cortisol means your body can rest properly. So make your art, play your instrument, or become the dancing queen that you are! It’s so good for your health and it’s worth making time for.

So you may have noticed that all of these things are pretty basic self care. And that’s kind of the point of this article. The media we consume tells us we need to buy more things to be healthier, when in reality it’s these simple tasks that we can do every day that can be enough. We don’t need more, we just need the essentials. And that’s enough to be healthy.

If you found this article helpful, please leave a like, comment, or give it a share! This helps me to help more people who need this type of information.