In the pursuit of health improvement, so much of our success comes down to improving our awareness. It is easy to breeze through life on autopilot, however when we stop for a moment to reflect and become more aware, we often find the solutions we were searching for.
Take for example weight loss. One of the simplest and easiest steps to take is writing down or recording what we are eating. In doing so we bring more awareness to our food choices and the decisions we make. This awareness can be the simple difference between a more appropriate and healthy food choice. In addition to helping up with decision making, it also gives us the ability to understand where we may be going wrong. Looking back through our record of meals we may discover that our portion sizes are too large or that our meal timing is inappropriate.
Awareness is extremely important when it comes to posture. It is not uncommon for people to mention that they were unaware of their poor posture until someone else pointed it out, or they caught a glimpse of their reflection in a mirror. As we get lost reading books or spending time on the computer it is easy for our posture to gradually deteriorate without us realising it. A simple strategy to overcome this is to keep an eye on the time and set reminders every 10-15 minutes to become aware of our posture and adjust it accordingly.
Having greater awareness is also better for our mental wellbeing as it makes us “present”. When we stop to think about the sounds, smells and images around us it makes us appreciate things that would otherwise go unnoticed. It is easy to integrate greater awareness into our everyday life and the benefits to our health are well worth it. Try and set yourself a goal of having 5 minutes a day being more aware of your health and surroundings.