Just like money is the most useful resource to navigate the modern world, the body is your most prized asset with how you navigate the physical world. Without the body, your life would slow down dramatically, you would do less, experience less and even be painful on a day to day basis.
Therefore, taking care of the body is of utmost importance. And the truth is, you don’t even need to do that much. If you talk to fitness influencers or personal trainers, they go too much in depth on how you should train, and what you should eat. If you talk to people who hate fitness (such as gamers, highly sedentary people, or some artists), they complain how hard it is, how painful it is, how exhausting it is, how scary it is, and simply think it is too complicated and do random routines they assume will work. Both sides are wrong, it doesn’t have to be deep, complicated, or hard. The truth is taking care of the body really just comes down to some simple healthy habits that you do every day. It compounds into great long term health over time as long as you don’t do anything dangerous (like eating trans fat or getting seriously injured or smoking). With that being said, here are some easy tips that anyone can use to get and stay healthy. Remember, do these simple things everyday and avoid major mistakes.
Bodyweight Exercises
I can say a lot about bodyweight exercises and how they can go from super simple to super impossible. However, for most of you guys bodyweight exercises are more than enough to keep you fit for the long run.
Simple exercises
- Bodyweight squats
- Pushups
- Lunges
Those are the easiest to do and can be done by almost everyone. If you want to improve your strength more to feel more secure in old age, add:
- Pull ups,
- Dips
- Chin ups.
Just doing these repeatedly throughout the day, or just dedicating no more than 10 minutes to doing these exercises will keep you healthy in the long run
Cardio
Now, by cardio I don’t mean running marathons or sprinting down the track. Cardio is an aerobic based activity. For the everyday person, walking will work great.
Other easy options:
- Walking uphill or hiking
- Jumping jacks
- Mountain climbers
- Burpees
- Jump rope
- Dancing
- Swimming
Pick whatever feels fun or sustainable. You don’t have to make it miserable.
Eat Single Ingredient Foods
These are foods that don’t come in a container, box, or jar. They are not packaged and don’t have the ingredients listed on the side. Examples:
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Chicken breast
- Apples
- Oranges
- Spinach
- Pasta
- Avocado
- Banana
- Rice
- Eggs.
They are usually in the middle of the grocery store or on the sides of it, they are not in the middle of the aisles. Avoid the aisle with all the packaged foods and the freezers with the frozen microwaved food
Get 7-8 Hours of Sleep
This is crucial. If you don’t sleep after a while, you are impaired similar to a drunk person. There is so much scientific literature explaining the negative effects of lack of sleep from memory loss to impaired cognitive function and a rise in blood pressure and heart rate. I don’t need to go over that but getting a good night’s rest is necessary for being able to do things during the day while feeling good
Do Things That Bring Meaning And Joy
There is a difference between deep meaningful joy that you remember decades from now and superficial pleasure that you enjoy for a few hours and then never remember again. Deep meaningful joy comes from doing anything that is a core part of your identity.
If you are an artist, painting and going to art galleries are deeply joyful meaningful activities that you will savor and remember long after it has passed. If you are a car person, driving downtown with your friends and wrenching in your garage are things you will remember for the rest of your life. Do those activities. You feel deep intense love during the activity and still extract joy after it is gone.
Superficial pleasures are like eating junk food. They make you feel good temporarily but after the feeling passes you couldn’t care less about the memory. Other examples include:
- Getting drunk
- Having sex
- Partying at clubs
- Social media scrolling
- Celebrity gossip
- Games on your phone
- Porn
Have Great Relationships
This last one may be the most important. Relationships have been shown to have the greatest impact on our happiness. Even more so than money or meaningful work. Meik Wiking is the CEO of The Happiness Research Institute. He is a Research Associate for Denmark at the World Database of Happiness. Their findings have always shown that relationship quality was the greatest predictor of overall life happiness. You won’t be best friends with everyone. And you won’t like (or be liked by) everyone either — that’s normal.
So here’s what you do:
- Be yourself → so the right people are drawn to you
- Be respectful and kind → even to those you don’t feel close to
- Avoid toxic people → don’t fake it with people you genuinely dislike
Until Next Time
These aren’t revolutionary tips. That’s the point.
Do the simple things every day.
Avoid the big mistakes.
You’ll be healthier, happier, and more resilient for it.
Hope this helps. Thanks for reading.
