How regular are you? No, I’m not asking about your bathroom habits, though that is very important for good health. The topic of discussion here relates to your daily schedule of habits and the significance of having a daily routine for good health. Regularity means that you have personally-systemized routines for your life. Now before you are too quick to label the idea of a life of regularity as boring, you should know that a routine life can offer many health benefits.
Regularity Can Encourage Healthy Habits
Have you been trying for years to increase your level of well-being? Maybe you tried various exercise regimens or eating better but you found yourself falling off the wagon, again and again. Well, perhaps what you needed was a routine of regularity. Studies show that people who are in better health developed habits of regularity such as, drinking adequate water, regular exercise, and getting plenty of sleep.
Regularity Leads to Better Stress Management
Let’s face it: stress is here to stay. As long we are alive it will be a part of life. But, it does not have to be out of control. Everyday we have decisions to make. The more decisions we have to make, the more stress we may experience. Obviously some decisions will be much higher than others on the stress scale. Nevertheless, small or big, they add up. The way you handle those stressors are of the utmost importance for your well-being. This is where habits of regularity can be of great benefit. They help to add structure to your life that better equip you to make decisions and manage stress.
Regularity Can Mean Less Illness
Many of our biological functions are controlled by our internal body clock, known as the circadian rhythm. It’s a 24-hour cycle that influences many of the functions of the body, such as eating, sleep, digestion, hormone release, body temperature and more. The natural processes of our internal clock responds to light and dark. One example of this is sleeping at night and being awake during the day. When you have regularity in your life, you are working in harmony with your biological rhythm which is crucial for good health. The lack of regularity, on the other hand, can eventually lead to health challenges such as, metabolism disturbances, gastrointestinal issues, cardiovascular problems, anxiety, daytime sleepiness, depression, higher risk of diabetes, obesity and more.
Tips for Creating Regularity
- Assign scheduled times for your routines such as eating, exercising, sleeping, reading, family time, even getting adequate water intake — and except for an emergency, religiously stick to those times everyday.
- Work in harmony with your body’s rhythm. This means doing the majority of your activities, including meals), during daylight hours and less activities (and only light meals—if any at all) during the evening hours. Furthermore, getting to bed at a decent hour - preferably no later than 10 pm - is very important. As the saying goes, “early to bed, early to rise, makes a [person] healthy, wealthy and wise.”
Conclusion
Having regularity in your life can be a wonderful health optimizer. It helps you to prioritize and focus your time so that you may achieve greater wellness. Try it. You’ll be glad you did.
Photo by: Noor Younis