Healthy Family Habits To Adopt This Year

Staying healthy and fit is a great choice for the whole family. An active lifestyle can help prevent diseases and keep the family happy. As a family, feed your spirit with body-positive things this year. Find what works for your family and stick to it. Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Explore New Things

Family holidays are great, but it is important to learn new things as a family. When children learn new things, such as sports, it can become a new passion and part of their lifestyle. Your children will learn valuable life skills when paddling, playing tennis, or sailing. Visiting new places also embeds strong memories that kids will keep for years.

2. Eating Healthy Meals

It is essential to model healthy eating habits for children as early as possible. Healthy eating improves children's minds and moods, stabilizes their energy, and maintains a healthy weight. A healthy diet is a great way to prevent diseases. Ensure you feed children with fruits such as maqui berries, which are rich in anthocyanins, a heart-friendly antioxidant. The study by Nurses Health found that diets high in anthocyanins reduce heart attacks by 32%.

3. Get Enough Rest

Quality sleep is an important part of a child's growth and development. Children who get adequate sleep have improved behavior, memory, and overall physical and mental health. Lack of sleep can lead to depression and high blood pressure. Since some children have problems staying asleep, it's essential to establish a consistent bedtime routine. Take a warm bath, dim the lights, and limit the use of electronics an hour before bedtime.

4. Find Happiness

There are great benefits to being happy as a family. Spending time together, communicating, and having laughter reduces stress and anxiety for all family members. It also creates emotional support for children. In addition, children who spend time with family members have a lower risk of behavioral issues and develop higher self-esteem.

5. Avoid Technology Addictions

It is okay for a child to enjoy screen time in this technology era, but it should be after completing homework and other chores. Spending a lot of time on screens can disrupt sleep, so teach your child to balance. Screens are also content vehicles. Some may be enriching, and others distracting and misleading. So, be watchful of the content your child is accessing online. Encourage your children to earn screentime. 

6. Avoid Stress

Every family member can experience stress. Feeling stressed can push children to be aggressive. If left unchecked, stress can lead to mental and physical problems such as a weakened immune system and high blood pressure. Teach your child to manage stress by sleeping well, exercising, talking it out, and having fun. They can also learn mindfulness, deep breathing, and yoga.

7. Be Physically Active

Find family time to exercise. You can have competitions and other children's games. Being physically active is essential for preventing diseases, boosting confidence, and improving the quality of sleep. Exercising is essential for improving fitness. Plus, studies show that two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight. A healthy weight helps control cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar.

8. Forgive

If you hurt your children, admit your mistakes and ask for forgiveness. Also, teach your child to ask for forgiveness if they wrong others. Teach them how to recognize one's guilt and ask for forgiveness and mean it. Showing your child how to act in this way will help them find happiness and inner peace and keep fights and grudges from happening.

9. Prioritize Health Care

Well-child visits with your child's pediatrician or naturopathic doctor help ensure your child is in great health. The doctor will also check your child's growth and development milestones, check eyes and ears, assess mental health, and ask how the child copes with family and friends. Good visits also provide behavior-based counseling for teenagers, such as drug addiction and depression. Missing or delaying these visits puts your children at risk of sickness or needed interventions. Therefore, make sure everyone in your family visits their doctor at least once a year.

Parents and children are busy, so implementing a healthy lifestyle may not be easy. But, it's best to make sacrifices and find time to exercise, explore new places, visit childcare clinics, and find happiness as a family.

Devin is a writer and an avid reader. When she isn't lost in a book or writing, she's busy in the kitchen trying to perfect her slow cooker recipes. You can find her poetry published in The Adirondack Review and Cartridge Lit.