We could all benefit from living a healthier lifestyle.

And today we’re going to go through 3 practical ways to do so.

1. Make Tryptophan Your New Best Friend

According to the CDC more than a third of adults don’t get enough sleep.

The thing is:

A good night’s sleep is really important for good health.

So how can we improve our sleep?

Maybe a more interesting way of putting it:

What if we could improve our mood and enhance our sleep through the food we ate?

Well the good news is, we can.

This is where our good friend tryptophan comes in.

What is it?

Quite simply, it’s an amino acid that is commonly found in protein foods.

These foods include but are not limited to:

• Bananas
• Eggs
• Milk
• Turkey
• Tofu
• Salmon
• Almonds

Let’s explore this a little further.

Eating foods containing tryptophan assists our bodies in producing serotonin.

Here’s the kicker:

Serotonin is super beneficial for us.

In fact:

It increases both our sleep quality and improves our mood.

To be slightly more particular, it affects organs including the brain.

Which in turn influences mood, cognition and sleep.

Eat good, feel good!

2. Get Enough Rest

It is estimated that the average human will sleep for approximately one third of their life.

That’s a pretty long time!

So it’s important we take the correct steps to improve our sleep.

The first thing on the sleeping agenda is our smart phones.

Spending too much time on our smart phones can lead to:

• Back and neck pain
• Problems with our vision
• Poor sleep

Constant use of our smart phones will expose us to a lot of blue light.

A lot of blue light suppresses melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep.

And suppressing melatonin means we’ll have a harder time falling asleep.

So one of the best ways we can improve our sleep is by reducing the amount of time we spend on our smart phones.

Another way we can improve our sleep and live a healthier life is by updating our mattress.

Some well-known mattress brands offer memory foam mattresses that are beneficial to both the environment and human health.

These products are made without producing harmful things including mercury, lead or ozone depleters and are known for alleviating back pain.

Setting a sleeping routine is also another great way to get enough rest.

Here are 3 tips that may help:

• Try not to nap in the evening
• Avoid drinking beverages containing caffeine late in the day
• Be consistent with your sleeping and waking hours throughout the entire week (including weekends)

Getting enough rest will help us get ready for the day to come.

3. Bench Press Those Bed Sheets

So we’ve stocked up on tryptophan and are now getting enough rest.

How else can we live a healthier lifestyle?

By bench pressing those bed sheets in the morning!

Now before we start focusing on waking up early, we need to keep in mind that sleeping at a decent time is really important.

Hopefully a few tweaks to our routines can help with that.

Now what are some of the benefits of waking up early?

Less Stress

Ever wake up late or have little to no time in the mornings?

For those of us who fall under this category and tend to wake up late, the mornings can be a time of stressing and rushing.

Instead, try to manage your sleep time, wake up early and get a fresh relaxing start to the day.

Productivity

For many of us, the mornings can be the most productive time.

With things being so quiet and with minimal distractions, a lot can get done.

Also, being productive during the day means we may free up time to enjoy it with our loved ones in the evening.

Exercise

Yes, we can exercise anytime during the day.

But sometimes leaving our exercise until after work can lead to it being cancelled due to many things.

However, morning exercises are less likely to get cancelled.

Not only is it a great way to start the day, it’ll also gear up our metabolism very early on.

One of the keys to living a healthier lifestyle is being consistent with our actions whether big or small.

And the great thing is, you can start today.

If you plan on doing so or have already, please share your experiences with us.