How can I maintain a healthy lifestyle while managing a busy schedule?

Life is constantly getting busier - trying to fit in family, work, alone time, chores, hobbies and a social life.
And on top of that, we are meant to prioritise health?!

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle while managing a busy schedule is indeed challenging but not impossible. By using these below tips, you will be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle and improve your health and wellbeing while managing a busy schedule.

1. Nutrition preparation

   The three elements here to incorporate weekly that will help are:
   Meal planning
   This can be as specific or broad as you like - choose whatever is going to fit your lifestyle and personality best.
   Sometimes, our planner is Monday breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner etc. Other times, ours is more generic with 5 different dinners, a few
   brekky/lunch/snack options.
   - ensures lots of variety in your diet
   - saves time standing in front of the fridge/pantry trying to work out meals
   - saves money buying a whole heap of random foods that you won’t use
   - avoids the 3:00pm slump by having nutritious foods that will keep you fuller for longer and give your brain energy
   Food shopping
   - saves time dashing to the shops after work
   - limits the ‘unhealthy’ food in the house by sticking to your meal planner
   - saves money buying random snack bar foods
   - gives you a fully stocked fridge of nutritious goodness
   Meal prep
   - saves time each morning and takes the guess work out of your days eating
   - saves money making foods a bit more ‘in bulk’
   - gives you a fully stocked lunchbox so you avoid the vending machine or kiosk

2. Exercise

   Movement is SO important for not only our physical health but mental health too. It is absolutely something I recommend prioritising.

   Plan in advance
   - type of exercise and what time - the more specific you are, the less likely excuses are going to pop up
   - share with family for accountability, support and ensure everyone is on the same page
   Go short and sweet
   - ignore the stigma around needing to be in the gym for an hour to get a benefit from it (that’s a whole lotta BS!!)
   - a 10 minute bike ride, 15 minute HIIT session or 20 minute strength workout is plenty if that’s all you can manage
   Make it accessible and enjoyable
   - don’t let rain or driving time put you off doing anything
   - walk around the block or jump onto YouTube and complete an online yoga session or lounge room workout
   - find exercise you enjoy - classes, weights, sports, running, yoga (you will find 1000 excuses to avoid the boxing class if you hate it!)
   Kill two birds with one stone
   - tick off social life/family time and exercise together
   - catch up with a friend over a walk, go on a family bike ride or make phone calls while you’re walking

3. Sleep hygiene

   We all know that when we are tired, we do not fire on all 4 cylinders, we are cranky and irritable and we are unnecessarily emotional.
   Morning and evening routine
   These will improve our body clock and therefore our sleep. An evening routine will allow us to wind down and get a longer, better quality
   sleep which will improve work performance, relationships and emotional regulation.
   - morning: get out of bed on first alarm, drink glass of water, cold shower, write 5 intentions for day
   - evening: no phone after dinner, hot shower before bed, herbal tea, meditate, read
   Audit your sleep space
   - invest in good quality pillow and mattress - we use them on average 8 hours a day, 56 hours a week, 2912 hours a year…
   - take any TV and electronics out of your room
   - make it temperature controlled (17-19 degrees)
   Limit caffeine after 12.00pm
   Have a consistent wake up and bed time (even on weekends)
   Only be in bed when you’re tired - if you can’t sleep, get out of bed and read a book or have a tea until you are tired again
   Have a journal in your bedside draw to write down any thoughts that pop up to stop you pondering and overthinking

4. Boundaries and Relationships

   Setting clear boundaries of your time with yourself and loved ones will improve not only your relationship with them but also the relationship with yourself.
   If you go see a friend for coffee at a time when you are stressed about the other 389975283 things you need to do, you aren’t going to be truly present with them. It might be more beneficial to reschedule to a time where you will show up as your best self.
   Be transparent with people about your boundaries, don’t try and overfill your schedule to keep others happy, people understand.
   Always seek support if you are struggling, friends and family are more than willing to help where they can so never suffer in silence.

   Prioritising yourself is going to be the most important part in all of this.
   It is likely if you do not prioritise yourself, you could get sick or burnt out and then that busy schedule you have goes down the toilet anyway!!

   We have a whole ‘Setting Boundaries’ e-book so reach out if you would like a free copy!

5. Routines and Planners

   Setting routines allows us to pre-plan our lives and prioritise things that are most important.
   Now, this is not everyone’s cup of tea however if you want to live a healthier lifestyle, doing a little bit of prep work is going to come a longgggg way!
   Treat your tasks as ‘appointments’ - you wouldn’t just skip out on that doctors appointment so don’t just skip out on your workout.
   As you can see, a lot of the abovementioned things can be planned in advanced to avoid guess work and wasted time. I use a weekly planner which was about $3 from K-mart and spending 20 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday planning my week.
   It means I wake up Monday with clarity of how my week will look rather than being flustered and overwhelmed when I am trying to fit everything in.
   Things like spending 30 minutes each night getting your outfit out, packing your lunchbox and writing a to do list for the next day will save you a good hour or two the following day fluffing about.
   Some of the things I add to my planner are:
   - people I want to connect with (this might be a face-to-face meet up, a phone call or just a message)
   - exercise and meals
   - appointments or reminders
   - work tasks to be prioritised
   - personal tasks or errands that need doing
   

I hope one or a few of these things helped and are things you can slowly incorporate into your busy schedule to create a healthier lifestyle for yourself, your family and those around you.

I always remind my clients to practice self-compassion through these kind of tasks.
It takes time and patience to changing habits however you are here and putting the effort in so that is incredible and deserves a pat on the back!
If something doesn’t work for you, try something else. Not everything on this list will feel good for you or fit into your life and that is so fine.

If you would like more information or would like help which is a little more personalised for you, just reach out!