The new year is a great time to set healthier lifestyle goals. Local healthcare providers weigh in on little improvements you can make that can have a big impact on your health.
Add colorful foods. Adding fruits and vegetables to your diet helps reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke while ensuring you are getting disease-fighting nutrients, says Dr. Edlira Tam, an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist and associate director of the LVAD and Shock Programs at the Stony Brook Heart Institute. “Stay in the outer aisles of the supermarket, where the healthy stuff is. The foods in the middle aisles tend to be processed and often high in saturated fats, trans fats, sugar and/or salt. The rule of thumb is, if it’s processed, it’s likely to be unhealthy.” Dr. Tam recommends aiming for four to five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. “If you’re looking for a diet, the Mediterranean diet is a good one to follow,” she says.
Get moving. “In the winter months, it’s too easy to morph into a couch potato,” Dr. Tam says. “A sedentary lifestyle increases your risk for heart disease and other diseases.” Dr. Tam recommends striving for at least 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking or light jogging, every day. “You can separate the 30 minutes into 10-minute chunks if it’s easier,” she adds.
Add strengthening and stretching. In addition to aerobic exercise, strength and flexibility training are important to long-term health, says Dr. Raja Jaber, medical director of Lifestyle Medicine Programs in the Department of Family, Population & Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook Medicine. “As we age, our muscles become tighter and weaker, which is a recipe for joint issues and pain,” says Dr. Jaber, who notes there are many short videos on strengthening and stretching exercises available online. “Strengthen your various muscle groups – your core, lower body and upper body – for at least a half hour twice a week. If you do strengthening exercises every day, be careful not to do the same muscle group two days in a row.”
There are two types of stretching – dynamic stretching and static stretching. “Dynamic stretching is loosening up before exercise, which you should always do,” Dr. Jaber says. “You don’t want to get out of bed and immediately go running or start lifting weights without stretching first.” Static stretching refers to stretches that you hold in place for a period of time; this should be done at the end of your workout.
Stay hydrated. Aim for at least eight glasses of water a day, Dr. Tam says. “I have patients ask me, ‘I’m having three cups of coffee; does that count?’ I tell them, ‘No, that’s not hydration,’” she says, adding that drinking herbal teas and fresh vegetable juices are also healthy ways to hydrate. Drinking plenty of water regulates your body temperature, helps keep your organs functioning properly and cleans out toxins. “Drink enough water so that your urine is very pale, like the palest lemonade you’ve ever seen,” says Dr. Eric Ascher, a family medicine specialist at Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital and the Katz Institute of Women’s Health.
Get a good sleep. Adults can realize many health benefits from getting at least seven hours of sleep a night, but many people have difficulty falling or staying asleep. There are two main reasons for this, says Dr. Jaber: lack of exercise and inability to let go of thoughts. “You have to have enough physical movement to give the body a desire to rest,” she says. “And falling asleep is an acceptance of letting ago – of no longer being hypervigilant to keep thinking about whatever you are worried about.” Practicing good sleep hygiene can help you get a restful sleep, she says. “Go to sleep and wake up around the same times every day. You can adjust the pattern a little bit on the weekends, but by no more than one or two hours. Don’t do anything too stimulating or upsetting before bed, such as looking at your phone or the news or watching a horror movie. Make your bedroom a sanctuary, with no lights or screens on, and put your phone on silent.”
Prioritize your mental health: When setting healthy goals, don’t forget to focus on your mental health, says Dr. Ascher, who emphasizes the detriments that toxic relationships and poor work-life balance can have on overall health. “Stress has many negative effects on the body,” he says. “It can increase blood pressure, impact the way cells function and lead to a poorer life experience.” For people who already have a chronic illness, stress can distract from the body’s ability to heal itself and function, he adds. Further, high stress levels may increase the likelihood of engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as overeating or outlets like alcohol and drugs, Dr. Ascher adds.
Exercise your brain. Research shows that, as we age, good brain health is important in the prevention of dementia. “For patients who are getting near retirement age or are considering retirement, I tell them it’s so important to have a hobby and to have books or puzzles at close reach so you’re able to keep using your mind,” Dr. Ascher says. “It’s important to keep your brain functioning, keep the neurons firing and retain your ability to think and process.”
See your doctors. Through regular screenings, you can prevent or identify diseases and conditions in their early stages, when they are most treatable and the damage can be limited. “Get an annual physical with blood tests, preventive vaccines and age- and gender-appropriate screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies,” Dr. Ascher says. Everyone should “understand what their risk factors are and know their numbers, so they can know what they need to work on,” says Dr. Tam, adding that important numbers to know include BMI (body mass index), which should be between 18.5 and 24.9 for adults; waist measurement, which should be 35 inches or less; blood pressure, which should be 120/80 or below; fasting blood glucose, which should be 100 mg/dl or less; “good” cholesterol (HDL), which should be 50 or above; bad cholesterol (LDL), which should be 100 or below; and triglycerides, which should be 150 or below, she says.
