Spring is in the air and that means it’s time to spring clean your health and take care of your bodies! Nothing we are going to mention today is earth-shattering or will be shocking to people, but a lot of times it’s the common sense stuff that people forget. We often look for a secret, a magical fruit or something we can eat that will make us healthy, but the reality is much simpler.

1. Exercise

That’s one thing we all have to do. Exercise is good for the body and it is good for the mind. Exercise improves your mood, because it naturally boosts up your endorphins and even if you don’t feel like exercising at the beginning, you always feel better after you’ve exercised. It boosts your confidence so you feel better about yourself and it sharpens your mind so you can think better. Exercise improves your posture and helps prevent pretty much any disease you can think of. Exercise helps to prevent heart disease, most kind of cancers, stroke, diabetes and more. It reduces inflammation in your body and boosts your overall immune system.

2. Go Outside

More people are getting outside now while still practicing social distancing. Many parks and beaches have reopened and allow for a perfect opportunity to enjoy a pleasant walk. There are reasons that it’s good for you. You get vitamin D from the sun hitting your skin, even though we have to protect our skin with sunscreen. Vitamin D is good for our bones, but it’s good for a lot of other things too. There’s good evidence that it decreases risk of certain cancers, decreases risk of things like diabetes and MS. Not only that, but the sun helps skin healing and it also gives people a feeling of overall wellness. It decreases your risk of depression and it helps people concentrate.

So being outdoors, not just sunshine, but being outdoors means you’re not inside on the screen. The level of activity you should start with depends on what you’ve been doing so far. If you haven’t done anything for five months, start slowly, don’t go for a run just yet. Start just with walking, because any movement is infinitely better than no movement. Try and make it a part of your regular schedule. Do things that you enjoy, do things with friends, because it’s always good to have that peer pressure, a friend who encourages you to get up and get moving.

3. Sleep

Sleep is important for a number of reasons. First of all it helps us heal but there are other things as well. If you’re sleeping well, it’s good for your mind and it’s good for your concentration. People who are sleeping better have decreased risk of high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. If you are not sleeping enough, it’s a risk factor for gaining weight. So if you can get enough sleep, that will definitely help you stay slim, active and focused.

4. Food

With the springtime we can start to enjoy our natural seasonal produce. It is not a secret that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but one of the things that people should focus on now is berries. We have great berries here in California and berries are natural antioxidants which actually protect the cells from damage. So eat some berries, and especially the organic local berries that you can get easily even during this difficult time, since many farmers markets are still open.

5. Skin

You have to take care of your skin. The skin is the biggest organ in the body. It protects us from infection and it protects us from getting dehydrated, because it keeps moisture in. So how do we protect the skin while being outside this spring? Wear sunscreen, wear a hat, and wear protective clothing to take care of your skin because it’s actually very important for your overall health and wellbeing.

We hope this helped and gave you some guidance on how to spring clean your health! As always, take care of yourself.