5 Essential Elements of a Healthy Lifestyle to Consider

What exactly is a healthy lifestyle?

So many people are talking about it nowadays – from your family doctor to health magazines and business gurus.

But what is a healthy lifestyle?

Over my 15+ years in the health and wellness industry (including many years as a coach, fitness technology consultant, strength coach, and EMT), I’ve seen a lot of different lifestyles: many of which are unhealthy.

You’d be surprised who was living a healthy way of life—and it’s not what you think!

Here are the top five considerations for living a healthy lifestyle.

For more inspiration, be sure to check out our collection of helpful quotes about health.

5 Things To Consider If You Want To Live a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Balance

This is where many people struggle and where things can get unhealthy quickly.

As humans, we can truly only balance three things at one time.

So this, perhaps, is the key to a healthy lifestyle.

But it’s not so easy.

Try to pick just three from the following:

• Friends
• Family
• Work
• Sleep
• Fitness

Tough choice, or are you only doing one of these?

Notice that within this choice, a “healthy lifestyle” cannot always include fitness, at least not at a high level all the time.

If it does, it may mean mixing family and friends.

This does not mean that you don’t stay active, but that you look to change your daily routines to include taking the stairs, walking, or other physical activity you can do within your day.

Your three choices will change.

There is no right or wrong answer.

Rather, this is just a way to do a little introspection to see where you are in life, your current priorities, and where you may NOT be putting in as much focus.

2. Mental Health

While this seems taboo, mental health is paramount to a healthy body, let alone a healthy lifestyle.

No, taking a “mental health day” now and again is not caring properly for your mental health – at least not how it should be.

Mental health involves many actions, from goal-setting and tracking progress to talking with friends or a professional through life’s difficulties.

Taking care of yourself mentally will help you unlock your full potential, and you’ll feel much better daily! 

3. Sleep

We need to make this an important item for a healthy lifestyle.

There will be times in life (often because of work or family) when sleep will not be a huge priority.

While this can be OK for short spurts of time if you continuously dig yourself into sleep debt, you can find yourself on the wrong side of the tracks health-wise.

The “8-hour rule” may be nice to think about for “healthy sleep,” but you and your body know what it needs.

Some athletes and business owners I know operate extremely well with 5 hours of sleep and feel slow and sluggish with anything over 7.

Others need 8-10 hours of quality sleep to feel and perform well.

Only you know what works best for you.

Once you know how many hours you need, ensure quality sleep, which has far-reaching implications for your health.

Aim to have zero screen time 30 minutes before bed, and keep the bedroom for sleep, sex (and perhaps a little light reading) only.

4. Exercise/Movement

Yes, we cannot mention a healthy lifestyle without exercise and movement.

Just don’t think you have to head to the gym to “be healthy” because you don’t.

Here we are talking about activities within your normal day and hobbies you can share with family and friends.

Human beings have been around for centuries, and yet only in the last 60 years have we had these places called gyms where the masses congregate to exercise.

Perhaps this is an invention made because of the industrialization and modernization of our society, in which we don’t get nearly enough movement in our daily life.

Or maybe we just wanted a place to congregate with like-minded individuals suffering or enjoying their fitness quest.

But don’t think you must head to the gym to get moving!

You can get your exercise outdoors (it’s free, after all).

Pick up an activity you enjoy that gets you moving – this is the key to an active lifestyle: doing things you enjoy!

Dance classes, rock climbing, canoeing, cycling, running, swimming, hockey, mountaineering, racquetball, badminton, hiking… there are so many things one can do to get moving that are also enjoyable.

If you’re just getting started, think small, and be consistent.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) says to aim for 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days a week or 20-60 minutes of vigorous exercise three days a week.

If you want to walk, build up by starting small but walking consistently, and aim for 10,000 steps per day.

Remember, make it something YOU enjoy, and you’ll look forward to being active!

5. Nutrition

‘You are what you eat,’ as what you eat directly affects your health.

There are always trending diets, but one thing will remain true eating a plant-based diet and/or containing as few processed substances as possible (think foods that look like they do in nature) will always prove to be far healthier than foods that are processed.

Look to match your food intake with your energy expenditure.

If you want to lose weight, stick with around a 200-calorie per day deficit.

This slight deficit (considering your daily activity level and Basal Metabolic Rate) will allow you to capitalize on the power of consistency and compounding, allowing you to see healthy weight loss.

A healthy lifestyle has many levels to it.

It will be different for each person, depending on where they are in life and what they have going on.

But by focusing on the five points above, you now have the major pieces to help you live a healthy, balanced life, which will help you unlock and use your full potential.