Lifestyle Matters
Lifestyle matters and making tiny adjustments and embedding health promoting activities into routines can make a huge difference. This includes taking steps to eat and sleep well, taking time to connect with friends and family, challenging ourselves to learn new things and building in some physical activity throughout the day.
Examples and ways of doing this can be found across this website and this theme offers a short introduction that will hopefully help you to begin to think about small changes you can make to keep well by taking steps to maintain good brain health.
Try this lifestyle challenge.
See how many elements you can achieve in the next few weeks?
Take time to catch up with someone you haven’t spoken to for a while
Visit a local library and explore the resources and courses that are on offer there
Take a minute to look around the room you're in, and really notice what's around you – the shape, colour and texture of each object
Get physical by washing the car or tidying the house
Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you find relaxing
Dance around your kitchen or living room to a favourite piece of music or sit in your chair and move to the rhythm
Try cooking a new recipe
Go the local cinema to watch a film with your friend or family
Spend time outdoors doing something you enjoy (gardening, having a walk, birdwatching)
Challenge yourself by doing a cross-word, word-search or Sudoku
Share a meal with family or friends
Have a hot milky drink before bed
Learn a new word or phrase in a different language
Read a poem or a book or magazine
See how many different vegetables you can eat in a week
Sing along to music on the radio. If you enjoy this see if you can find a local choir you could join
Once you feel happy you are achieving the above why not take the 6 month challenge?
Arrange a health MOT
Work out how many units of alcohol you drink a week and try to reduce your intake by one unit each month
Work out your body mass index using a free online tool and talk about your result with a health professional
See what courses are available in your local community and enrol on something you haven’t tried before
Check out your hearing: book a hearing test
If you are a person who enjoys smoking or vaping try to reduce the number of cigarettes or vapes you have by two a month
Look at opportunities in the community for shared exercise: yoga, Tai Chi, aerobics or chairobics. Go along to a class and give it a try
Go to the opticians for a sight test
Check out the more section if you would like to connect with organisations/advise to help you achieve the above