Adopting a healthy way of life can lead to significant improvements to your overall wellbeing.

While making the right lifestyle choices is imperative for everyone, men are more susceptible to stroke, heart diseases, and diabetes.

Consequently, the average life expectancy of men is almost four years lower than that of women globally. The primary causes of these preventable diseases and a lower mortality rate are often the lack of self-care and rarely the biology of being a man.  

Here is what you can do to introduce a positive change to your daily habits to stave off the risk of chronic diseases and lead a healthier, longer life:

Eat a well-balanced diet

The journey of a healthy lifestyle begins with improving your dietary intake. Opt for a plant-based, whole-food diet including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

Leafy greens and vibrantly colored fruits are rich in antioxidants that help reduce cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Nuts and seeds are packed with healthy fats, proteins, minerals, fibers, and vitamins. The unsaturated fats in the nuts offer protection against heart diseases and regulate food intake and body weight.

You should also incorporate a wide variety of fish in your diet that is an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids, helping you reduce inflammation and heart diseases. Consider replacing beef and pork, which have a high-fat content, with lean meat and poultry. It allows you to feel more energetic while controlling your fat intake.

Try to eliminate processed food, refined carbohydrates, whole-milk dairy products, and sugary drinks from your daily meal plan. These food groups are high in calories and rarely offer any health benefits.

Nutritious eating habits improve your mood, energy levels, and learning abilities. Moreover, it does wonders for your reproductive health and fertility, thereby enhancing the chances of conception.    

Increase your daily physical activity

Exercising and adopting a generally active lifestyle is crucial for your physical and mental health. Experts recommend aiming for 150-minutes of moderate-intensity workout every week. The key to motivating yourself is to do something that you enjoy, like walking, running, swimming, cycling, or playing tennis. Also, invest in comfortable, breathable workout gear so that nothing distracts from a good exercise.

You can also increase your activity levels by moving for a minute every hour, installing a standing desk at your workplace, and taking the stairs instead of the lift. Prolonged sitting can lead to heart problems, diabetes, obesity, and premature death. Meanwhile, moving around and being active inhibit heart diseases and obesity and help prevent anxiety and depression. It also improves your sleep cycle and gives you a boost of energy for a more productive day.

Moreover, as you get older, you lose muscle mass due to the declining testosterone levels leading to frailty and body fat increase. Therefore, include resistance training in your exercise regime to help you build muscle mass and increase strength.

Improve your sleep pattern

A restful sleep repairs and restores you to set the basis for a prolific day. Your aim should be to get seven to nine hours of sleep every day, helping maintain a healthy physical and mental state. Moreover, chronic sleep deprivation can lead to a myriad of problems. It weakens your immune system, increases your chances of getting ill, has an adverse effect on your memory, slows down muscle growth, and impairs your metabolism.  

Moreover, grueling working hours and excessive exposure to screen time make it even harder to wind down and fall asleep. Therefore, try to maintain a fixed time for sleeping and waking so your body gets used to a particular sleeping routine.

In addition, put away your digital devices at least one hour before going to bed, and it is advised to minimize your alcohol and caffeine intake. Make sure that your bedroom is cold and dark for optimum sleeping conditions. Finally, invest in the right mattress, quality sheets, and comfortable nightwear, such as pj shorts, to ensure an uninterrupted sleep.

Avoid smoking and excessive drinking

According to research, men are more likely to indulge in smoking and drinking at hazardous levels than women.   

Smoking is one of the prevalent causes of various preventable diseases and premature death. It is linked with numerous cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), which causes shortness of breath and difficulty in performing necessary, everyday activities. It is also associated with several forms of cancer, including lung, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer. Smoking is responsible for 90% of lung cancer cases. Therefore, quit smoking if you wish to lead a long, healthy life.

Similarly, alcohol consumption requires moderation for longevity. You need a build a healthy relationship with alcohol if you wish to avoid high blood pressure, stroke, digestive issues, and liver diseases. Excessive drinking can also lead to dementia, depression, and seizures.

Educate yourself about the harms of smoking and consuming large amounts of alcohol so you can make appropriate changes to your lifestyle choices. Make use of artificial intelligence technology to quit smoking, such as electronic cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy. If mental health triggers like depression and anxiety cause you to imbibe excessively, consider counseling to solve these issues.    

Stress management

The demands of leading a prosperous life, a challenging work environment, and the efforts to maintain a work-life balance can significantly elevate your stress levels. However, chronic stress can impair your immune system, exposing your body to various illnesses. It can also trigger inflammation, increase the risk of heart diseases, and severely affect mental health. In addition, you might even become susceptible to stress eating, excessive drinking, and smoking to relieve your worries and concerns. 

Therefore, it is imperative to employ preemptive tactics for stress management. Meditation and yoga can do wonders to calm down your stress levels, control your blood pressure, and improve your mood. Take a few minutes every day to practice mindfulness, be present at the moment, and relax.

These simple self-care acts can help you be more optimistic and resilient in the face of difficult situations.  

Maintain social connection  

Human beings need to have healthy relationships to avoid loneliness and depression. In general, men tend to withdraw and isolate themselves when they feel down, overwhelmed, or stressed. However, this can further adversely affect your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Interact with your family and friends daily, reach out to someone you trust to discuss your issues, and volunteer to help within your social network. These are simple but crucial steps in your journey to lead a better, more purposeful life.

It’s a wrap!

The road to self-care is not necessarily hard but does require constant effort from your end. Simple lifestyle changes can lead to a marked improvement in your quality of life while also increasing your life expectancy.