Setting Health And Wellness Goals

There are plenty of reasons to set goals when it comes to health and wellness. As we age, we start to experience health issues due to ageing bodies. It’s a natural process of life. However, it’s possible to live with a relatively good quality of life by setting health and wellness goals.

We also don't just experience physical issues as we age; we also experience emotional and mental problems. We tend to live our ageing lives with regret, dealing with a loved one's emotional loss, and the depression of knowing we're not as young we used to be. Taking care of our mental health as we age can also help take care of our physical health and vice versa. Any good online personal trainer will tell you that your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Taking care of one will help take care of the other.

To maintain a better quality of life as we age, we need to set goals. The better goals we set, the happier and healthier we will be in the long-run. You have to make sure that you're doing it in a way that makes them easy to reach when you're setting goals. Setting them too high might discourage you. One thing any online personal trainer will tell you is setting smaller goals because smaller goals are more comfortable to achieve. It's easy to understand why setting smaller goals are better in the long run because you're building confidence as you're moving forward with small wins. These smaller wins don't just help boost your confidence but help motivate you and continue meeting your goals.

Setting smaller goals also makes you more inclined to pass the finish line the closer you are. It's like slowly making your way to a finish line on a race track. It's the mentality of, "I've gone this far. I might as well finish." Setting your goals as small as possible will help you build your momentum towards the bigger goals as you inch closer to where you want to be. If you can envision the health or wellness goals you want to accomplish, then write down the smaller goals you can take towards reaching those goals. Let's look at some smaller realistic goals you can set towards your overall health and wellness before looking at long term goals.

Finding Time For Fresh Air

Getting fresh air might seem easy enough, but you would be surprised how few people get fresh air every day. Some people don't even leave their homes because they're working out of the house. Something as simple as fresh air can help us feel energized and happier. Fresh air also great physical benefits as well.

Our lungs need fresh air. If we're working in a place with polluted air, smell a lot of car exhaust, or are always around someone who smokes, it can irritate our airways. When we're getting fresh air, we're keeping harmful pathogens from ravaging our bodies and chiseling away at our immune system.

Organize Your Work Or Living Space

Keeping your work or living space clutter-free isn't just suitable for aesthetic purposes, but it benefits our overall well-being. The more things we have physically cluttered in our space, the more anxiety we end up suffering because it's going to clutter our minds. When we see too much clutter, our adrenal glands release cortisol through our bodies, which makes us stressed.

When you clean up your workspace, you'll find yourself being more productive as well. Clutter is distracting, makes us feel guilty, and makes us feel uneasy. When you've cleaned up your workspace, you can focus better because there are fewer visual stimuli to distract you.

Taking Time For Silence

We live in a world overwhelmed with noise from noise pollution to music and television. If you think about your day, can you honestly think of a time during your day when you had complete silence? Taking time out of your day to find peace and quiet can help with your physical and mental wellness.

Too much unnecessary noise can be stressful. When you’re around loud noises, then your body released the stress hormone cortisol into your bloodstream. This stress reaction can raise your blood pressure, give you insomnia, and cause heart palpitations. We’re so overstimulated in life that our brain cells never get a chance to slow down and relax. Sitting in complete silence gives our brain a chance to regenerate its cells and reduce our risk of brain conditions like Alzheimer’s.

Take Time To Breathe

Breathing helps us relax. Taking time to breathe helps lower our body's stress levels. One of the best ways to relax using breathing exercises is with a technique called belly breathing. Laying down on a bed or the floor and practicing deep breathing can calm us down when we're feeling stressed or anxious. We also get a rush of endorphins into our brain, improving our mood and even providing minor pain relief.

Not to mention, deep breathing also helps provide energy as our blood cells are getting better quality oxygen through our lungs. If you're feeling the effects of high blood pressure, deep breathing can help your blood vessels dilate to improve circulation.

Take Some Time For Meditative Walking

Walking is a form of exercise, and we don't need to tell you that exercise is right for your mental and physical health. However, meditative walking is different in a sense where you're walking mindfully. You're focusing your attention on your body and the sensations around you. Every movement of your food and every sway of your arms can help you relieve stress.

You're not just paying attention to your body when you're doing a meditative walking practice. You're opening up your senses, including your sense of smell. Not only is meditative walking therapeutic for the mind, but you're getting exercise in the process.

These are all short-term goals that you can follow for your overall health and wellness. The next thing you'll want to write down is your long-term goals, but what are some long term wellness goals, and how can you get S.M.A.R.T about it?

Specific Health And Wellness Goals

You have to make your goals as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself that you’re going to going to lower your blood pressure. How are you going to lower your blood pressure? Are you going to lower your blood pressure by losing weight? Are you going to cut down on sodium? Are you going to look into the services of an online personal trainer to help you exercise?

Even saying, "I'm going to lose weight" isn't specific enough. You need to think about how you're going to lose weight. Are you going to walk thirty minutes a day during your lunch break? Are you going to clean out your fridge and check the sodium content on labels from now on? Try to be as specific as possible.

Measurable Health And Wellness Goals

Your goals need to be measured. The goals you set for yourself have to be something you can keep track of. An example of a measurable health goal is the weight. How much do you plan on losing? Do you plan on losing thirty pounds? That is something you can measure on a scale.

Are you planning on cutting down on calories? Calories are easy to measure because you see them on nutritional labels. Even vegetables have nutritional labels you can find online or in a book. Everything that you can track should be kept in a log to measure your progress towards your goal.

Attainable Health And Wellness Goals

This is a fancier way of saying, "set small goals for yourself." When you set goals that are too lofty and unreachable, you're setting yourself up for failure. However, that doesn't mean you should only make smaller goals. You can make significant goals and cut them up into smaller attainable pieces.

Setting attainable goals is hard for most people because they compare their failures to other people's success. Setting goals must be specific to only yourself and no one else. These goals need to be realistic.

Relevant Health And Wellness Goals

This is important because it ties into what was mentioned in attainable goals: your goals are specific. The goals you're setting for yourself are relevant to you and no one else. They are not goals set by someone else. They're goals only you set for yourself.

Setting goals for yourself means you're not going to please everyone. It should just be something you enjoy. Don't agree with someone telling you that you should go swimming for exercise when you don't enjoy swimming. Every goal that you sell for your health and wellness journey needs to be relevant to you and you alone.

Time-Based Health And Wellness Goals

Sit down and think of a realistic time-frame for your goal. Don't just tell yourself that you will lose a certain amount of weight in a year. You need to set smaller time-based goals throughout that year. Tell yourself you'll lose a certain number of pounds a week. Having one big goal split into smaller goals will help you find better success with your health and wellness goals.

Have a date set for when you plan on accomplishing this goal. When you make it time-sensitive, then you're taking a step towards self-regulation and building confidence. You don't have to wait for a particular time to start working towards your goals, either.

Don’t forget to reward yourself every time you accomplish a goal. Don’t reward yourself with a cheat day or an extra rest day. Any online personal trainer worth their salt will advise against that. Reward yourself in positive feedback and celebrate every small success you have along the way towards your health and wellness goals.