What Are the Top Benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle?
You can probably tell when you’re not at your healthiest—maybe you feel extra tired, get sick more often, have digestive issues, or feel a little off. And mentally, you can have trouble concentrating, feel anxious, or struggle with depression.
Here’s the good news: taking small steps toward living a healthy lifestyle has the potential to help you feel better! And you don’t need to change your entire routine overnight—simple changes can quickly steer you toward better overall well-being.
Are you ready to start living a healthier lifestyle? Get motivated with personalized health insights with our community health app.
Living a healthy lifestyle comes with many benefits—it can:
Prevent Diseases
Adhering to healthy habits can help reduce your risk of contracting various diseases, including ones that are genetic-based and run in the family.
For example, look at this recent study—adults who followed a diet rich in fruits and veggies for two months saw a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, this study discovered that, for every 66-gram increase in fruit and vegetable intake, participants had a 25% lower risk of getting type two diabetes.
And that’s not all; an in-depth review of 45 studies showed that eating 90 grams of whole grains daily reduces the risk of cancer by 15%, coronary heart disease by 19%, and cardiovascular disease by 22%.
When it comes to exercise, even 11 minutes per day can add years to your life. This study tracked over 44,000 people and found that 11 minutes of moderate exercise had a much lower risk of death than those that exercised less.
What’s even more fascinating is that this comparison holds even for people who sit for 8+ hours each day.
Related: Community Health Solutions
Save You Money
Living a healthy lifestyle has physical and mental benefits and can save you money, too!
Living a healthy lifestyle means you don’t have to see the doctor as often, saving you money on co-pays, prescriptions, and other treatments.
And other than saving on medical bills, you can save in other ways, including:
- Life insurance: Healthy individuals often qualify for lower health insurance premiums.
- Economical grocery trips: Cutting out junk food, frozen meals, etc., is an excellent way to save at the market.
- Mental health: What we eat affects how we feel—a vegetable-rich diet can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Inexpensive hobbies: Many people who begin exercising learn to love it, which can lead to an extremely inexpensive hobby; walking, running, practicing yoga, etc., are all excellent (and free) ways to maintain your health!
- Fewer sick days: Living a healthy lifestyle typically means you’ll get sick less and miss fewer work days, which is great for your bank account and career goals.
- Cutting out vices: Many common vices (smoking, drinking, etc.) are healthy and expensive—people trying to live a healthy lifestyle typically cut these things out, saving money.
Lead to a Longer Lifespan
Making basic healthy choices throughout the day, week, month, and year can help you live a longer life. For example, if you don’t smoke, follow a healthy diet, maintain an average weight, and don’t consume excessive alcohol, you can expect to live around 14 years longer than people living an unhealthy lifestyle.
Making one or two healthy choices can significantly lengthen your lifespan.
Another study shows the life expectancy of older adults to be three to six years longer when they live a lifestyle compared to those living less healthily.
Not to mention that millions of people over 65 in the US have Alzheimer’s; however, that same study found that those living the healthiest lifestyles were less likely to contract Alzheimer’s, and if they did get it, it would be later in life.
And it’s not a tiny difference—women and men that live healthy lifestyles deal with the disease for 8% and 6%, respectively, less of their life.
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Help the Environment
Over 70% of the foods you find in US grocery stores are ultra-processed—they contain additives and refined grains that affect their taste, color, and texture.
Besides being unhealthy, these ultra-processed foods contribute to water scarcity, plastic waste, decreased biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation.
Then we have animal products that are responsible for almost 15% of all human-created greenhouse gasses.
However, living a healthy lifestyle can help fix this—for example, if everyone in the US ate 25% less beef each week, it would be equivalent to taking around 5 million cars off the road. In addition, walking or riding a bike (both common in those living healthily) helps reduce carbon emissions.
And the research backs this up:
- One study in Wisconsin found that 20% of Madison, WI’s citizens biked for any trips under five miles, and they could reduce carbon emissions by over 57,000 tons yearly.
- A Stockholm study found that if people living less than a 30-minute bike ride from work ditched their car for commuting, they could reduce enough emissions to save 449 years of life annually.
- Barcelona implemented a bike-share program that reduces carbon emissions by over 10,000 tons annually.
How to Build a Healthier Lifestyle
Building a healthy lifestyle requires you to have “SMART” goals—ones that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. When you focus on these factors, you’re more likely to find success.
These simple tips can help you start building a healthier lifestyle today:
- Eat more vegetables: You can reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease, cancer, and early death simply by adding more veggies to your diet!
- Switch to whole grains: Two studies from 2016 and 2020 concluded that switching from refined grains to whole grains can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
- Get more physical activity: Getting exercise doesn’t mean you have to hit the gym every day. Instead, try going for a walk or bike ride or finding an activity you enjoy.
- Maintain your friendships: Don’t forget that your mental health matters, too. Feeling isolated from others can result in depression and even some physical health symptoms.
- Control your stress: Stress can lead to many health issues because it taxes your immune system. Physical activity and mindfulness practices can help lower your stress and release endorphins.
Are you ready to start building a healthy lifestyle today? Download the complete digital health platform today—build a healthier you.
Reap These Healthy Lifestyle Benefits
Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just make you feel better—it comes with many benefits, like preventing diseases, lengthening your lifespan, saving you money, and helping the environment. There’s no reason not to start now.
Plus, your version of a healthy lifestyle can be whatever you want; you don’t have to follow the same routine as anyone else to be healthy. Instead, determine what makes you feel the best and brings you the most happiness.
Then, start with minor changes, and you’ll be more likely to see success—and those small successes will likely snowball into even more significant benefits. And if you want some help making healthy lifestyle changes, we’ve got you covered.