How to Identify and Eliminate Bad Habits That Can Harm Your Overall Health

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(Photo : Alex Haney via Unsplash)

As we should all know by now, there are many habits that can affect our health - not only physically, but also psychologically and emotionally, as well. Although we've always heard that there are a lot of healthy habits that we should add to our daily routine, the truth is, it can also be just as healthy to avoid doing what can also harm you.

Seven Bad Habits That Can Affect Your Health

If you want to stay healthy, then it's best to avoid these bad seven habits:

• Skipping Breakfast. To start the day in the best way, it's necessary to take the necessary nutrients and calories to be able to keep all our organic processes running. Skipping breakfast can lead to exhaustion, loss of concentration, and a greater risk of binge eating.

• Smoking and Tobacco Products. As we all know, smoking kills the cells of the respiratory system and makes it vulnerable to different environmental pathogens. It should also be noted that smoking increases the risk of respiratory diseases, too, such as lung cancer, chronic cough, and breathing difficulties.

• Bad Sleep Habits. It's been suggested that you sleep between 6 and 8 hours every day. You'll not only perform poorly the next day if you sleep less than those hours, but there are higher hazards while undertaking tasks while influenced by exhaustion. This is in addition to being in a terrible mood the next day, of course.

• Excessive Alcohol Consumption. Alcohol has been related to liver issues and the possibility for addiction, almost as seriously as cigarettes. It has also been linked to an increased risk of cancer, too.

• Avoiding Exercise. Spending half of the day in bed without engaging in any form of physical exercise is detrimental to one's health, as it raises the risk of heart disease. You're also more likely to develop diabetes. And to top it all, a sedentary lifestyle also impairs your brain's ability to work properly.

• Eating At Inappropriate Times. People eat after typical meal hours for a variety of reasons, including boredom, stress, or just because the temptation is present. In the long run, snacking on potato chips, chocolate, or sugar outside of normal eating windows has been linked to a significantly increased risk of diabetes and obesity.

• Poor Stress Management. Constant stress may have a negative impact on both physical and mental health. Contractures, hair loss, poor concentration, and psychological issues such as sadness or anxiety are all possible side effects.

Habits That Cause Hormonal Imbalances

Hormonal imbalances can bring about disorders that can severely affect the quality of life, due to the malfunction of one or more hormones in the body. That's why when you feel that you're out of balance hormonally, it's important to look into hormone testing. That way, you can avoid the multiple risks that this can bring.

• Poor Sleep. Having any type of sleep disorder, or sleeping less than recommended, can greatly increase the risk of hormonal problems. In addition, it has been proven that there's a close link between the sleep cycle and the secretion of some important hormones, especially in women.

• Following a Low-Fat Diet. Avoiding the consumption of all sources of fat in the diet is one of the most serious mistakes that can be made when looking to lose weight. Although fats indeed provide a considerable amount of calories, it's not correct to think that all of them affect the body in a bad way.

Healthy fats (such as Omega-3 fatty acids) help to control inflammatory processes and facilitate the regulation of hormones, such as estrogens and progesterone. Limiting consumption increases the risk of being overweight, in addition to disorders such as irregular menstrual periods and cysts.

• Being a Sedentary Person. A sedentary lifestyle is highly associated with hormonal imbalances that affect both men and women. Physical exercise releases endorphins, a chemical released in the brain to generate feelings of well-being and energy. It also has a lot to do with the control of reproductive hormones, too, since it favors their activity to maintain a healthy drive.

• Overdoing It On Processed Foods. Processed meats and other industrial foods are very rich and can add extra delicious flavor to some meals. The problem is that these are full of added chemicals that, over time, can cause hormonal imbalances, in addition to serious metabolic problems and diseases such as cancer.

Developing the Right Habits

After seeing all the causes of the different things - both physical and psychological - that can affect us when leading bad habits of life, it's also good that we know some habits that can be beneficial to us, such as getting regular exercise, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables in a day, and getting enough sleep at night. 

While it's important to break habits that negatively affect us, there are also several things we can do every day to help improve our general health. And in taking an effort to do both, you can help ensure your overall wellness both today and in the years ahead of you!