Leading a healthier lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to transform yourself into a fitness fanatic or outdoorsy adventure seeker. It’s certainly possible to take good care of your health as a self-professed homebody. However, people who aren’t particularly active need to be conscientious about how their habits and healthcare management choices affect their general well-being. Here are some strategies for homebodies to stay on top of their health and wellness.
1. Make Preventive Medicine a Priority
Making time for preventive medicine can reduce people’s likelihood of developing chronic conditions. Even when you’re extremely busy or you don’t want to stray far from the comfort of home when you don’t have an urgent medical need that you need to address, preventive medicine is important. Make it a point to get screenings that can alert you to potential issues early on. In many situations, early detection can facilitate effective treatment.
Fortunately for homebodies, telehealth appointments have gained a lot of popularity and a growing number of healthcare providers are offering them. They’re great for people who struggle to make time in their work schedules for appointments with primary care physicians or specialists.
Diagnostic services that you can use from your home are another way to manage your health without having to worry about getting to appointments somewhere. Online STD testing is an excellent diagnostic option for people who feel anxious about testing and are more comfortable using a remote resource. Ultimately, taking advantage of virtual appointments and online testing services can put you in better control of healthcare management at home.
2. Plan Healthy Meals
Your diet is fundamental to your overall well-being, and making good dietary choices can be particularly important for homebodies. While you probably don’t have the same caloric or protein requirements of a person who is continually on-the-go, you still need to be mindful about hitting daily requirements for essential vitamins and nutrients. Also, prolonged periods of being sedentary may hinder digestive function, so you want to avoid foods that are going to impede digestion while purposefully choosing fiber-rich food staples.
Planning your meals in advance can help you optimize your nutrition. Being deliberate about what you reach for when you’re hungry is going to foster better choices than reaching for whatever’s easiest. Prepare a couple of days of meals in advance so you can avoid continually having to cook to eat something that’s nutritious.
Homebodies tend to be grazers so your approach to meal prep should have a strong emphasis on snack prep. For the most part, your snacks should be mostly whole foods. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts are satisfying snacking options.
3. Start a Home Workout Regimen
You can build muscle tone and support healthy joint function without leaving your living room. Exercises using your body weight are an effective way to develop strength in your upper body, core, and legs. You can start doing exercises with your own body weight for as few minutes a day and gradually work your way up to more time. It isn’t something that you need to spend considerable time on to achieve appreciable results, so this is a perfect strategy for busy homebodies who want to increase lean muscle.
Using resistance bands is another fantastic way to work out at home. When you first start using resistance bands, it will seem kind of difficult. After a couple of weeks, you’ll be amazed how much stronger you feel when you’re doing reps.
Of the people who don’t particularly like to spend their weekends doing recreational activities outdoors, a lot of them simply relish their time to rest. If you typically like to use your free time as downtime, there’s nothing wrong with that. You don’t have to feel guilty about not hitting the gym or deciding to spend a beautiful Saturday inside. So long as you’re enjoying the time that you spend hanging out at home and practicing the right amount of self-care, you can maintain relatively good health as a homebody.