Healthy Living Plan

It is important to have a plan of action that an individual intends to take to improve his or her health and optimize the opportunities of enjoying good health as one age. To begin with, it is essential to understand what health means.

Defining Health

Health is defined as a level of purposeful as well as metabolic productivity in organisms. It is a state of having a good well-being in a goal that is actively sought. It is also paramount to understand health as a condition of noble physical, mental as well as emotional wellness, particularly when maintained by a suitable diet, modification of lifestyle and activity.

Importance of Health

Health is a very important topic that people should be interested in in everything they do in life. For example, college students have a primary task of realizing success in academics, which is a hard task. Therefore, for students to function at their highest potential they must ensure their body and mind are taken care of. Although ensuring an individual is healthy may sound easy, one has to think regarding all has to be done to keep one-self physically, emotionally or mentally and socially well.

My Current Health and State

Currently, I feel healthy because I exercise daily. I also feel happy and sleep well at night. I go to church every Sunday, which makes me believe that my spiritual needs are addressed. However, I have bad eating habits that I know could negatively affect my health if kept unchanged.

Steps to Take to Improve Health

To improve my health, I must ensure that the main elements of health, which are physical, emotional and social, are taken care of. My goal is to enhance my health and optimize the chances to enjoy good health as I age by exercising, sticking to proper diet and nutrition, watching and controlling my emotions, and improving my social life.

Exercise

I believe that it is ideal for me to set aside not less than half an hour to exercise into my daily schedules. I will need to explore options of exercise like cycling, running, swimming and various other forms of exercise to guarantee I am always motivated.

Importance of Physical Activity

Physical activity improves health and reduces the risk of the establishment of severe health problems like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Exercise and physical activity can either have long-term or immediate health benefits, but the most important thing to note is that is can potentially enhance the quality of my life. For this reason, I decide to have a minimum of 30 minutes daily to allow myself to enjoy the associated benefits.

Metabolic and Chemical Changes That Occur

Metabolism is defined as the entirety of chemical reactions in the body that give energy to important processes for maintenance of life. The amount of exercises that an individual indulges in influence the rate at which the body will use energy to carry out metabolic functions. Therefore, my plan is to incorporate both endurance building and strength building activities. 

Weight Loss

I want to eat well and continue engaging in physical activity to have a successful and lasting loss of weight. Exercise will help me realize this goal as I will be able to burn calories and build muscles. The more I plan to exercise, the less I will be required to reduce my intake of food. 

Diet and Nutrition

My plan is to identify foods that are healthy such as whole grains, lean protein, dairy products, healthy fats and fruits and vegetables. I aim at finding, making and consuming foods that are nutritious. Every time, I will make healthy choices regarding what to eat from the available option.

How the Right Food can help

Eating the right food is very important for an individual’s health. Choosing to eat healthy diet will help me get all nutrients that are essential I need and will limit the risk for many health conditions. I intend to plan my meals a head of time. 

Metabolic Changes that Occur

Eating low calorie diet is very important as in response to lower availability of glucose, the alterations in glucagon and insulin levels will direct the body away from the storage of fats towards their oxidation (Westman et al., 2007).

Weight Loss

Eating healthy will help me loss weight in combination with physical activity and exercise. For example, I plan to focus on eating breakfast that has proteins to reduce cravings as well as the intake of calories during the day. 

Decrease in Diseases (Diabetes)

Eating healthy is among the best things I believe I should plan on to prevent and control problems related to health such as obesity, heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. I plan to improve my feeding by eating well balanced diet to reduce the risk of these chronic, but preventable diseases.

Mental Focus

I believe that it is very important for me to be at a position of recognizing when situations around me ask for professional help. I want to be able to figure out things and seek out help when I think I need it to keep my emotions healthy. 

Self-Realization

I want to feel fulfilled regarding my character and personality. To achieve this, I will focus my mind so as am free from external coercion, by doing what I love most, and motivating myself to attain success in various dimensions life (Honneth, 2004).

Stress Relief Techniques

I accept that some stress in predictable in life and I know that I can be able to cope. I will find and implement effective and constructive strategies to cope with stress like stress busters, deep breathing exercises such as thisone, and avoid destructive behaviors or negative thinking.

Sleep Importance

It is essential for my body to get the right amount of sleep. I therefore intend to maintain a functional sleep schedule by setting and adhering to a bed time, ensuring I wake up about the same time daily, managing my time well and recognizing when am needed to prioritize sleep (Jefferson et al., 2005).

Social Improvement

I plan to establish and maintain relationship that is healthy and fulfilling with others including family members, work mates, and peers. 

Family Health

I will ensure that I am in good terms with every family member around me by engaging them in communication and trying as much as possible to help in solving those issues that I am able to. I want to be able to turn back to my family whenever I have a problem and share with them for answers.

Social Services

I will seek available social services to improve on the manner I relate with others. For example, I plan to help the elderly in m community and offer assistance in agencies for children.

Peer Support

Peer support is another way I plan to achieve social improvement as I will be able to relate my peers and enhance my interpersonal and communication skills (Lysaker et al., 1995).

Conclusion

The chief elements of health are physical, emotional and social wellness. My long term plan is to make sure that I optimize my health and enhance the chances of enjoying good health as I age. Therefore I plan to check on my nutrition, exercise routines, sleep hygiene, stress management strategies, mental health, spirituality and social relationships to realize my long-term goal.

References

Honneth, A. (2004). Organized self-realization: Some paradoxes of individualization. European journal of social theory, 7(4), 463-478.

Jefferson, C. D., Drake, C. L., Scofield, H. M., Myers, E., McClure, T., Roehrs, T., & Roth, T. (2005). Sleep hygiene practices in a population-based sample of insomniacs. Sleep, 28(5), 611-615.

Lysaker, P. H., Bell, M. D., Zito, W. S., & Bioty, S. M. (1995). Social skills at work: Deficits and predictors of improvement in schizophrenia. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 183(11), 688-692.

Westman, E. C., Feinman, R. D., Mavropoulos, J. C., Vernon, M. C., Volek, J. S., Wortman, J. A., ... & Phinney, S. D. (2007). Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 86(2), 276-284."