What’s Global Wellness Day? It is the idea that a single day can change the rest of your life. All of us would like to be healthier, to look better and to live well both physically and mentally. The organisers of Global Wellness Day have put together a 7 Step Manifest for the 10th June. The aim of this is to incorporate at least just a few of them into your daily life on a regular basis:
- Walk for an hour
- Drink more water
- Don’t use plastic bottles
- Eat healthy food
- Do a good deed
- Have a family dinner with your loved ones
- Sleep at 10pm
To make the 7 Step Manifest easier we have asked our Wellbeing Experts to contribute and explain why each of these steps are so important;
Walk for an Hour – Nicola Addison, De-Stress Wellbeing Expert
I walk everywhere! I believe walking is hugely underestimated for its health and fitness benefits. Walking is free. Walking requires ZERO equipment. Walking can be done at any time of day. Walking can be done anywhere in the world. You don’t need to be fit to walk. Walking can be done alone or with a pal or in a group. Why is walking so great? Keeps you fit and healthy. Helps to maintain/lose weight. However, there are SO many additional hidden benefits. There are so many amazing things that happen to our bodies both during and following walking and we don’t even see them!
Where do you start? It is important to recognise that activity and movement does not mean hitting the gym 4 times a week! Simply walking for 10mins every day will be of benefit to your health, body & mind. For me, daily walking is a non-negotiable baseline for health. Little and often is key and adherence is the biggest WIN! Walking isn’t just going for a walk. Try and use your feet as often as you can. Opt to walk up the stairs rather than taking the lift. Wash your own car at the garage rather than sitting in it and watching someone else do it. Sweep the leaves up in your garden, rather than employing a gardener to do it. Choose to use your feet more!
Drink More Water – Karuna, Inner Strength Wellbeing Expert
Healthy brain function is key to our outlook each day. One of the best and most pleasant ways to support brain health is to drink plenty of pure water. More than 85% of the brain is comprised of water. Water provides effective energy for brain cells, which use twice as much energy as other cells. If you drink healthy, you’ll think healthily. Hydration provides mental clarity and focus and supports memory and learning.
Your brain can’t store water, so it’s especially important to keep a water bottle nearby every day. Water delivers nutrients–and removes toxins. Dehydration of only 1% can decrease cognitive function by 5%, so you might find if you’re dehydrated you may be losing concentration! Highly caffeinated or sugary drinks don’t count, but I often enhance my base of pure water with gentle green tea or turmeric kombucha, a low sugar fermented tea with probiotic and digestive benefits. We lose a bit more than 2 litres of water each day, so it is important to aim to drink the same amount to replenish.
Don’t Use Plastic Bottles – Yvonne Wake, Revive Wellbeing Expert
Plastic bottles made of petroleum waste cause innumerable damage to our health and the environment. In the US alone, 1,500 plastic bottles are consumed every second. The majority of plastic bottles that are consumed are not recycled and end up in landfills. They take more than a human lifetime to decompose. 10% of plastic bottles worldwide end up in the ocean, the majority of them settling on the ocean floor where they’ll never degrade. Every square mile of the ocean has over 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. What can we do to stop this? Avoid the need to drink bottled drinks. Buy a BPA free bottle (a plastic bottle with no nasties that can be washed and reused) and take this with you everywhere.
Eat Healthy Food – Yvonne Wake, Revive Wellbeing Expert
We need to be sure our food intake contributes to overall good health and a long life. We need to eat the right foods to prevent disease, to conquer obesity, and moreover, we need to keep our energy levels up as we go about our purposeful multitasking lives. Healthy eating means consuming superior quality proteins, a balance of complex carbohydrates, healthy good fats, vitamins, minerals and water to keep us hydrated. It also means being mindful to avoid other foods like processed food, foods that are high in saturated fat, and importantly, keeping alcohol intake to a low level. The nutrients contained in the foods that we eat support our day-to-day living, protecting our cells from environmental damage and repairs any cell damage that might occur from the polluted environment that we live in globally. Today we challenge you to eat at least 3 pieces of fruit and 4 servings of vegetables!
Do A Good Deed – Jonathan Ward, Inner Strength Wellbeing Expert
Doing a good deed or looking out for others does not always have to be a 5-week stint of time-giving or volunteering. In everyday life we can find opportunities to help others, in our own social circle or those we meet out in the world. Why do this?
- We get this warm glow of generosity and this happiness feeling feeds into further acts of kindness
- Your immune system is boosted
- We have better mental health
What can we do? It doesn't really matter what we do, but we do need to be open to the possibility and have an intention of helping; holding a door open, helping people with luggage upstairs in the underground, saying kind words to friends or at the till in a shop. If you don’t look you will not see the opportunity. If you can donate time every week the long term benefits are huge but doing 5 different good deeds for 5 different people in 5 different ways in one day can also create a massive boost. So, today go out and challenge yourself to do a good deed for someone. It will make a difference to them and to you.
Have a Family Dinner With Your Loved Ones – Janet Tarasofsky, Support Wellbeing Expert
Regular dinners with your family? Without your phone by your side? Sounds lot like hard work to me! But the harsh reality is, without regular support we are not maximising our full potential. Neuroscience explains that our brains have been programmed to connect with other people, because our very survival depends on it. But there is more, a weekly family dinner will do more than just relieve your tensions and feed your needs, it also helps your loved ones. I believe that when you support someone else with their issues, it is a lot like ‘giving’. So we challenge you to put your phone down and spend some quality time with your family!
Go to Sleep at 10pm – Julie Whitehead, Relax Wellbeing Expert
The daily routine combo can take its toll on us! To lead a healthier lifestyle, it is recommended that you have a few early nights a week. Going to bed at 10pm will have huge benefits. How often? Ideally three consecutive days, mid-week to build up a habit and then notice the difference. Going to bed early can help with weight loss as you tend to eat earlier in the evening and the body has chance to digest the food rather than going to sleep on a full stomach. By going to bed earlier you can look more youthful! Human Growth Hormone is released during sleep. When we are sleeping the body is healing, repairing and regenerating cells. Last but not least, your heart will be happy if you go to bed early. Research in Japan showed that people who went to bed after midnight had more arterial stiffening which is a sign of heart disease, than those who went to bed earlier!
We would love to see you participate in Global Wellness Day, join us on our Instagram Stories and watch our Wellbeing Expert, Nicola Addison document the 7 Step Manifest! Share with us how you look after your health and wellbeing. Say YES to #GlobalWellnessDay