How to implement healthy habits into a busy lifestyle 

We’ve all been there - there is work to do, people to take care of, parties to attend, chores to be completed, and seemingly never enough time in the day to do it all. During these busy periods, it’s easy to convince yourself that “after this is over, I’ll have time to really focus on my health.”

Time and time again, however, you may find yourself saying that long after that one “thing” is over.

The reality is: life doesn’t ever slow down.

Once that one “thing” is over, it will most likely be replaced by something else that will take time, energy, and effort.

So, when do we make time to focus on our health?

Well, always…but it doesn’t have to be all at once.

We are conditioned to believe that to be healthy, we must flip a switch and automatically start cleaning up our diets, going to the gym 3-5 times per week, walking daily, drinking more water, getting more sleep… and so on. These are all excellent ways to improve our health, but we must ask ourselves if it is realistic to make all these changes simultaneously. 

Instead, let’s see if we can focus on one aspect of our health each month, and make one small change within this category each week.

For example, say you want to begin by cleaning up your diet. For the month of May, that will be your sole focus. 

We can then break this down further into how you want to do this. In week one, you will replace your nightly ice cream with a piece of fruit - that’s it. In week two, you will continue your week one habit, and add in limiting your alcohol consumption from 4+ drinks per week to 3 drinks per week. In week three, you will continue both these habits, and add in decreasing your portion sizes at lunch. In week four, you will continue all three of these habits, and add in switching to black coffee instead of adding cream and sugar. 

The next month, you can then choose a new aspect of your health to focus on, like exercise/movement or sleep. 

These, of course, are just examples, but the idea is to make one small change per week and build off of it in a sustainable and consistent way. This can be much less daunting than ten changes all at once, and we don’t need to slow down anything else in our lives to do so.

Over time, you will start to notice that each small change will get the ball rolling, and may even motivate you into your next change. You may even get excited to meet these challenges.

Give this method a try, and see how your habit changes change you!

Stephanie Spoto, CSCS, PAS