With the new year upon us, reflecting on our daily routines and habits from years past is inevitable. Considering your day to day lifestyle can be a great way to pat yourself on the back for the healthy routines you already have and think through new ones you want to build into your life. 

We compiled a list of 16 of our favorite different healthy habit ideas to take with you into 2024.

How do I make something a habit? 

Before we jump into our list, if you want to build new healthy habits it’s important to understand what a habit is and how it’s formed. 

A habit is defined as “actions that are triggered automatically in response to contextual clues.” Think, washing your hands after going to the bathroom, putting your seatbelt on when you get in a car & brushing your teeth before bed. Psychological research tells us that the more you do something with similar surroundings at a similar time of day, the less motivation you need to do it… repeat and voila! You’ve created a habit. Because habits become second nature, they free up mental space for other activities and help establish routines that can nurture your body and mind. 

Ok, you’ve started your new healthy habit but what if you forget to do it every once in a while? Fear not - research shows that occasionally forgetting to do your new healthy routine will not ruin all of your habit forming hard work. 

Get excited about the new year and jump into 2024 by making one of these 16 mindful eating and lifestyle tips your new healthy habit.

1. Unmaking the bed

Yes, you read that right… UNmaking the bed is a new bedroom trend worth jumping on. 

Instead of pulling up your sheets, fluffing your pillows and smoothing your blankets - roll them back and let your bed breathe! Opening up your bed and airing it out for at least 2 hours in the morning will help reduce the smells, oils and humidity that leave our bodies and build up overnight. Lowering the moisture content in your sheets and duvet will repel dust mites and give you more restful, healthy sleep. 

Unmaking your bed is also an awesome time saver - shave a few minutes off your morning routine and toss back the covers to start your day.

2. Review your app subscriptions

Cutting back on extraneous spending is a great way to tidy up your budget and ease your mind. 

If you have an iphone, follow these steps to see what apps you subscribe to:

Open the Settings app.

Tap your Apple ID avatar and name.

Tap Subscriptions.

 

 If you have an Android, follow these steps to see what apps you subscribe to:

Open your device's Settings app and tap Google -> Manage your Google Account.

At the top, tap Payments & subscriptions.

Tap Manage purchases, Manage subscriptions, or Manage reservations.

 

Reviewing the apps you subscribe to is quick, easy and you might be surprised at how much money you save.

3. Matcha 

Matcha is chock-full of pretty much everything you could ask for in a superfood - vitamins, catechins, l-theanine, caffeine and more. 

Making matcha part of your daily ritual is a perfect example of how a small change can make a big impact. You can add matcha to your day by drinking it, eating it or using it in your skincare routine. 

Need some inspo? Check out our Classic Matcha Brownie Recipe,  Honey Cinnamon Matcha Latte Recipe, 6 Best Matcha Green Tea Cocktail Recipes,  5 DIY Matcha Facemasks for Glowing Skin

Want to try matcha but don’t know where to start? Try our Organic Matcha Kit

4. Meditation 

Meditation is the practice of integrating mind and body to calm your nervous system.

Feel like you don’t have time for meditation? Research shows that meditating for just a few minutes a day can help manage anxiety, stress and emotions and give you better sleep. Meditating regularly is more important than how long you meditate for. 

There are a lot of different types of meditation and finding one that you connect with is a major key to meditative success. Some examples of the different types of meditative practices are:

• Mindfulness meditation

• Spiritual meditation 

• Focused meditation 

• Movement meditation 

• Mantra meditation 

• Transcendental meditation 

• Progressive relaxation

 Need more guidance? There are tons of great apps, like Headspace

, that you can download to help guide you through daily meditative practices just search “meditation apps” on Google or in the App store. 

Matcha.com Pro Tip: Try meditating with a partner. Slowing down to experience a peaceful moment and regulating your bodies together is a great way to share a new type of intimacy with someone you love. 

5. Fruits & Vegetables 

Did you know that less than 10% of people in the US are eating enough fruit and vegetables? The average adult should be consuming 4 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies per day. 

Serving size conversions: 

For fresh, canned or frozen fruit 1 serving = ½ cup 

For dried fruit 1 serving = ¼ cup 

For fruit juice 1 serving = ¼ cup 

For raw leafy vegetables 1 serving = 1 cup 

For fresh, canned or frozen vegetables 1 serving = ½ cup 

For vegetable juice 1 serving = ½ cup 

Fruits and vegetables are loaded with fiber and vitamins that can promote long term healthy weight, help keep your gut happy and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even defend against some cancers. 

Start your day with fruits and veggies incorporated into your breakfast to satiate your sweet tooth and fuel your body to feel good all day long. Keep the healthy habit rolling and incorporate fruits and veggies into your mid day snack for a boost of healthy sugar and fiber.   

Mix matcha with your fruit and veggies for even more nutritious benefits! Try our Top 4 Best Matcha Smoothie Recipes 

 6. Juices

Juicing aka blending fruits and veggies down into a drinkable juice is not a new fad. In fact, juicing dates all the way back to 150 BC. Our earliest records of juicing come from Israel where people began mashing pomegranates and figs into a juice to make the most of their health properties. 

If you’re someone that’s striving to get your daily intake of veggies but you really don’t like the taste, mixing fresh fruit and vegetable juices together will help mask the taste of the vegetables so you can knock out a big portion of your daily intake in one delicious drink. 

Whether you’re making juice at home, or buying it from a local juice bar or grocery store, drinking your daily servings of fruit and veggies in one go is a powerful way to start your day.

 7. Get a house plant

Humans are emotionally predisposed to have a connection with nature - what that means is, we’re born with the ability to find joy in other living things and that relationship to nature can bring us legitimate health benefits. 

The easiest way to bring nature inside is to get a house plant. Studies show that indoor plants can improve blood pressure, lower your heart rate and improve attention span and response time. 

Some of the easiest indoor plants to take care of are: 

• Snake plants

• Spider plants

• Air plants

• Pothos plants

Regular watering schedules for your plants are easy routines to start and keep. Trust us, watching a new leaf or flower sprout on your favorite plant is a fun little thing to look forward to and will make you feel like a very accomplished plant parent. 

8. Organizing your spaces

Clutter can make your living spaces feel chaotic, hard to clean and hard to keep organized. 

Committing to spending 30 mins re-organizing spots like your bathroom, pantry, closet or fridge will make it so much easier to find things you use every day, speed up your routines and help you avoid buying multiples of things you already have.

Once you’ve done the first round of decluttering and found a dedicated spot for all your things, keeping that space clean and tidy is as easy as putting something back where you found it. 

Plus, you’re basically guaranteed to find at least a thing or two that you forgot about and are happy to see again! 

9. Felting 

Looking for a new, low key hobby to lean into this year? Try felting! 

Did you know that poking loose wool fibers with a notched needle tangles the wool together? As the wool becomes tangled in on itself, it sticks together and gets firmer the more you poke. As the wool firms up, you can create 2D and 3D shapes that when combined, can make anything and everything you can imagine. 

While you do need a special needle and some roving wool to get started, felting is very low cost and a great way to get your creative juices flowing. 

Roving wool comes in a ton of different colors and there are great little starter kits that will supply you with instructions, needles and enough wool to make your first creation! 

As an avid felter myself, I’ll warn you that you may stab your finger once or twice as you’re learning, but the relaxation you’ll get from poking the wool and the sense of accomplishment you feel when finished is worth the risk. 

Plus, felted creations make great personal gifts. 

10. Taking vitamins

Taking vitamins is not a new health concept, but it may be something that you struggle to make a habit. Taking vitamins every day is a great way to improve your daily health rituals. 

Try out some of these tips for helping you remember to take your vitamins:

• Set an alarm on your phone

• Get a fun pill bottle that you don't mind leaving out on the counter so you can leave them in your life of sight in spots like: 

                      - by your car or house keys 

                      - next to your coffee machine

                      - by your toothbrush 

                      - pack them in your lunch

                      - try personalized pack

                      - add it to your to-do list

Research shows that it takes about 1-3 months to see a difference in nutrient deficiencies while taking vitamins. Stick with it and you’ll see the benefits. 

11. Essential Oils

The use of essential oils dates all the way back to 1188BC! 

Essential oils are created from aromatic plants and have been proven to have disinfectant, anti-inflammatory, stimulating, relaxing and even anti-cancer properties. Essential oils are often used as natural alternatives to prevent and treat diseases. When properly used, they can be ingested, applied externally and their aromas can be inhaled. 

If you haven’t tried essential oils, the fountain of information you can find on the web about them can be a little overwhelming. 

Some tried and true favorites to start with are: 

• Lavender- antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory & smells great

• Tea tree- antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, can be used to treat skin infection

• Peppermint- pain relief, smooth muscle relaxant & smells great

Not all essential oils are created equally. To make sure you’re buying essential oils that are high quality and will be effective, look for:

• A strong smell

• A tightly sealed, dark glass bottle

• The label should state the common name and the latin name of the plant

12. Tackling seasonal depression

A new year means it’s January again - the winter season brings less light and for a lot of people, that means seasonal depression symptoms. 

Seasonal affective disorder or SAD can make you feel sluggish and irritable, decrease the quality of your sleep and put you in an overall negative mood. 

Some ways to combat SAD include:

• Light therapy 

• Staying active

• Spending time with friends and family

If you’re feeling affected by seasonal depression, it's important to motivate yourself to make the changes you need in order to feel better and feel yourself again. If your mood is feeling low, everything else in your daily routine may be negatively impacted. 

 

Want to learn more about how to combat seasonal depression? Check out 7 Science Backed Natural Remedies to Combat Seasonal Depression 

13. Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy is the use of water to improve health or treat diseases. Two forms of hydrotherapy that are trending right now & also have a long history of effectiveness are sauna and cold plunge. Modern interest in hot and cold therapy has skyrocketed since the 1950’s but historical evidence suggests that sauna and cold plunge have been in use for at least the last 5,000 years and likely originated in Northern European countries like Finland and Denmark. 

Some of the positive effects that your body undergoes during sauna and cold plunging include:

• Decreased tension

• Decreased fatigue

• Improved mood

• Pain relief

• Increased bioavailability

• Increased blood flow 

• Increased heart rate

If you want to participate in hydrotherapies but don’t have the ability to install a sauna or dedicated cold plunge tub in your home, check out your local gym to see if they offer access to hydrotherapies or consider slightly less traditional methods like at home sauna bags or adding cold water and ice to your bathtubs. 

14. Unsubscribe from junk emails

Email anxiety is a real thing - if you have hundreds or even thousands of unread emails clogging up your inbox they’re bound to stress you out and make it hard to discern what emails require immediate action and what can be left on read. 

Most email providers like G-Mail, Outlook and Apple Mail provide you with an “unsubscribe” button at either the top or bottom of each individual email. 

Take 5 minutes and scroll through your inbox hitting the “unsubscribe” button on unwanted mail chains as you go. Making this very satisfying practice a daily or weekly habit will drastically improve the volume of junk mail you see in your inbox every day and give you some well deserved relief from that email anxiety. 

15. Get a silk pillowcase

Silk fabric is so smooth, when used as a pillowcase, your skin and hair can benefit from this simple and luxurious upgrade.

The long, continuous nature of silk threads are what make them feel smoother in comparison to other traditional pillowcase materials like cotton or linen. Because the fibers are so soft, silk is considerably more gentle on your skin and hair while sleeping, even if you toss and turn - preventing frizz in your hair and damage to your skin.

Silk is also less absorbent than cotton or linen so it saps the natural oils from your skin and hair at a lower rate, leaving those healthy oils where they belong on your scalp and face. 

16. Go for a daily walk

Did you know that walking for just 30 minutes every day can have a huge impact on your physical and mental health? 

Most people know that physical activity is the best way to stay fit, maintain a healthy weight and keep your body healthy, but not everyone enjoys or is able to participate in high intensity workouts - try walking!

Research shows that routine walking can prevent strokes, mental illness and cardiovascular disease. 

When we walk, both our bodies and brains have a response. In our brains, the hormones serotonin and dopamine are released and both the right and left sides of our brains are activated. The outcomes of increased serotonin and dopamine are:

• Better sleep

• Better memory

• Increased mood 

• Improved EQ and IQ

• Reduced stress

• Better concentration

In our bodies, our heart rate increases which leads to improved blood flow and lower blood pressure. Joints are lubricated, muscles are strengthened and bone density increases. Overall, walking can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 12% and stroke by 11%! 

Bottom Line 

Adopting even just one of these habits can drastically improve your health and take your daily routine to the next level. Commit to being the best you that you can be in 2024!  

Disclaimer: These statements in this blog post have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information provided here is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice. It's essential to consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any dietary or lifestyle changes.

References:

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