Lifestyle is the day-to-day attitudes and functions of people in jobs, activities, leisure, and diet. Based on existing studies, lifestyle has an immense impact on human beings’ physical and mental health. It may seem insignificant if we take them separately, but through time, those choices can pile up to who we become.
Here are lifestyle choices to keep in check:
Active or Sedentary Lifestyle
60% of American adults do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activities. Most people around the world with day jobs also lead a sedentary lifestyle. It’s easy to fall into being a couch potato after a long day at work where you barely left your desk. Having 8 hours or more of mentally exhausting can suck out the energy and motivation to do some workout after such a work shift. However, this can pose a threat to our health. Leading an inactive lifestyle gains more calories and Although this is understandable, we have to make an effort to allot a specific time for exercise. You can start with 10 minutes of jogging, walking, or doing yoga a day. Then the duration can be increased until it is enough to help you remain active despite the busyness.
Food Choices and Eating Habits
When you go to the supermarket and shop for your weekly groceries, do you go over the fruits and vegetable section and put them into your cart? When you take a break, do you grab some donuts and coffee or hamburger and soda? Is it hard for you to pack a banana or apple and a healthy sandwich? How often do you have a snack? At what time do you eat your meals? Do you tend to skip meals when you are busy and not as planned intermittent fasting? Are you adequately hydrated every day?
These are the questions that you have to ask yourself since this will reflect your food choices and eating habits, which are correlated to your health. Eating a balanced diet on a daily basis is hard to do, but if we become mindful of fueling our bodies with healthy foods, there are huge gains in our physical and mental health for both the short and long term.
Work Conditions and Compensation
We spend one-third of our entire life at work. Hence, we ought to find a company with a fantastic culture, provides a work-life balance and generous compensation. Unfortunately, work design is one of the things that are beyond an employee’s control. The time, assignment, and location are all dictated to them.
That said, before grabbing the following job opportunity, one must decide whether it aligns with the values and the kind of life one desires to live. Work affects individual choices since a busy schedule equates to lesser time for the family. Compensation also plays a significant factor since it will determine the things a worker can afford, like a gym membership, healthy foods, supplements, and other items for health and leisure.
Financial Habits
Financial literacy is one of the things that people learn outside school. Money-making is not part of the educational curriculum. Thus, we usually see people who graduated with flying colors but are earning minimum wage. Some are one-day millionaires who barely have enough money until their next paycheck. Others who want to own a property got into real estate investing without studying the ins and outs of the market. We must also track down our daily spending since $2.50 coffee every day amounts to $912.50 a year.
These are all terrible financial decisions that one must avoid. On the bright side, there are formulas out there that we can follow. A reputable mortgage company outlines some of them.
- 50/30/20 or 80/20 Budget Rule: With this budgeting technique, you divide your earnings like this: 50% goes to your needs (rent, obligations, etc.), 30% to your wants, and 20% to your savings. You can also do another variation as long as you keep the 20% as savings.
- 6-months Emergency Fund Rule: This type of rainy day savings covers your 3 to 6 months of expenses until your circumstances improve. You can also put this in low-risk investments to still grow while you don’t need it. Just ensure that you can withdraw it anytime since you’ll never know when the need will arise.
Lifestyle is the sum of our everyday choices and our choices today determine who we are and where we’ll be in the future. Hence, we must always be mindful of our physical state, food choices and eating habits, working conditions and compensation, and our financial habits. Make sure that you are making the choices that your future self will thank you for.
I am Arjun Kumar. I am the owner and administrator of Finance Gradeup. I have completed my education in Arts & Technology. Arjun Kumar usually has interests in playing games, reading and writing. He was a brilliant student during his college days. He also works for many private companies, but the main interest of Arjun Kumar is digital marketing. He thinks that reading is a must before providing any quality information to his readers. You can find Arjun Kumar on much social media handles online, or you can learn more about him in about us page.