Simply put, most modern lifestyles are not conducive to healthy habits. The majority of us are extremely busy, and it is not uncommon for health to become a second priority when we are trying our best to get everything done. As a female who supported herself financially from a young age and chose to do things like build a corporate career whilst concurrently juggling two masters’ levels degrees and running a small international business, I must admit, there have definitely been times in my life where my health was a secondary priority.

A big part of why I am so passionate about helping others with their health today is because I know first-hand what an enormous difference it makes and how the smallest steps should be celebrated as they add up considerably over time. The starting point of any project is always to understand the problem. And yes, it is helpful to think of your health as a project—recognising things will not always go to plan and that certain adjustments may need to be made through the process is absolutely essential. Below, I have listed out some of the most common modern lifestyle habits that need to be considered as we go through this process.

The modern lifestyle

Firstly, my intention here is not to bash conventional lifestyles. Simply put, modern technological advances and systems of governance are a huge factor that has contributed to the development of the human race and had multiple benefits including improving our life expectancies and quality of life in many ways. To put it in numbers, as a species, we have had a system of democracy for about 2500 years, the steam locomotive for 200, the radio for 100, and the modern version of the internet for 30.

In contrast, it took us more than half a million years to evolve from our nearest ancestor with neanderthals. What this tells us is that, while we are consciously aware of the very fast-paced and often paradigm-shifting changes going on through our modern era, instinctively, we can easily fall prey to habits and modes of behaviour that are at odds with our biological system. Here are some of the most common lifestyle habits that have capacity to impact your health if left unchecked:

Sitting all day

Starting off our proverbial list of sins, a sedentary lifestyle is perhaps the most obvious negative consequence of the typical 21st-century way of living. And it isn’t exactly our fault—many of our jobs require us to stare at a computer screen all day or at the very least, sit at a desk. This worsened during the COVID 19 epidemic, where even school and other activities transitioned to an online format. I don’t think it needs to be explained in detail why spending the majority of your week in a chair is quite bad for you purely physiologically, but there are disastrous consequences for people who do not engage in even the most basic of physical activities. The severity of this problem, leads to quite easy-to-implement solutions.

Getting a standing desk, taking short 10 or 15-minute breaks around every hour to do some stretching, or even walking outside can be incredibly beneficial. The above are fantastic ways of getting some good blood flow in your veins and arteries, as well as healing eye fatigue. Another aspect of the sedentary life could be the constant want to multitask and do everything as efficiently from the computer as possible. While this doesn’t treat the crux of this need, watching videos on the treadmill or listening to audiobooks or podcasts while jogging or hiking is another way to healthily coincide these two aspects.

Eating processed foods

A deadly combo, our previous problem and our desire for quick and delicious food that not only doesn’t require cooking, but arrives straight at our door. While takeout can be a godsend for busy, ambitious businesspeople or uni students swamped by their workload, it can become a seriously tempting possibility to rely more and more on as our primary source of nutrition. Not just delivery, but processed foods in general, combined with a sedentary lifestyle has created an obesity and preventable heart disease epidemic across the entire world.

To understand how to tackle this, we need to understand why this has become a problem in the first place, and fortunately for us, it isn’t that hard to see. Processed foods can be easily mass-produced, making them affordable and quick, and because their manufacturing is in the hands of massive corporations, the optimisation of their flavour is the sole priority for massive research labs. Research suggests price, and even time, don’t factor in as much as one might think.

The main ingredient in this recipe for disaster is a lack of proper education on the subject. For example, many of you might have seen the so-called food pyramid, where bread and cereals are placed as the base of the structure and therefore implied to be the foodstuff we’re meant to consume the most. At the same time, foods like fats are placed at the top, meaning they should be rarely indulged in and should only be eaten in small amounts. This version of the food pyramid is a complete and total lie.

In fact, it is actually propaganda made up by American sugar companies during the mid to late 20th century to blame the country’s rising levels of obesity on fats rather than sugary and starchy snacks. If you don’t believe in conspiracies, a very clear indication of the fact this proposed “solution” was a sham is the fact that after its implementation, obesity and heart failure levels didn’t fall—on the contrary, they skyrocketed. What we can take from this is that simple, correctly-portioned, and well-timed meals can not only greatly benefit our health but often turn out tastier and cheaper than the expertly marketed junk food we may currently consume.

Take rice, for example, or the whole of East and South Asian cuisines. Maintaining the world’s largest populations on often quite harsh terrain for centuries while also being lauded as titans in the world of gastronomy can tell us they've definitely “cracked the code,” so to speak, on diet and deliciousness. This is mainly due to food that is both easy to prepare in masse for a large family (rice, soups, stews etc.) and rich in vegetables and spices. As well as the fact lavish and overly sweet desserts historically haven’t been popular outside of Europe.

Staying up late

Continuing on, another bad work-related habit is staying up late. Well, perhaps that’s actually a bit of a misconception and is often poorly worded. What recent medical studies tell us is that not having a consistent sleep schedule matters more than simply going to bed later than most. What that means is that the quantity and quality of sleep, as well as the time at which we go to and wake up from sleep are the true key factors in this equation. This means that as long as we get enough good rest, it doesn’t really matter if we sleep from 10:00pm to 6:00am or from 2:00am to 10:00pm, as long as we wake up around the same time every day.

Quality of sleep is also an important part of maintaining normal energy levels throughout the day. Plenty of electronic devices, such as computers and phones, have a built-in night mode the user only needs to turn on from the settings. These come in the form of blue light filters, which warm up your screen’s tone and brightness, making it more comparable to nighttime light and thus making it easier to fall asleep after you’re done with your work. One of the most important things you can do is limit screen activity in the hour before you go to bed. This has been shown to improve sleep quality and result in deeper levels of sleep.

Additionally, the overall time one needs to stay asleep is an important factor. Doctors recommend 6 to 8 hours of sleep per minimum, with the higher number being the optimal time when it can be achieved. Modern, fast-paced life has created an illusion that we can eat into our sleep time to achieve goals we don’t account for the length of during the day, but this belief can and should only ever really be applied as a short-term solution.

Smoking tobacco

Cigarette smoking most often tends to arise as a behaviour when people are confronted with large amounts of stress. The negative effects of tobacco have been listed over and over again for half a century now, but safe to say, they’ve all been proven, and they are all very, very bad.

From coughing and a distinctive stink, reduced lung capacity, and increased risk of many different types of cancer, the earlier one quits smoking, the better. Vape pens and e-cigarettes are good temporary solutions, but they are still dangerous, just not as much (perhaps). If you find yourself needing to use smoking as a social function, try getting a fidgety toy or object, or start chewing gum or candies as an oral substitute. Hypnotherapy is also a scientifically based solution that is likely to have big long-term benefits.

Drinking alcohol

The American national institute for alcohol abuse and alcoholism defines the upper limit of consumption as more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks per week for men. For women, the criteria are more than three drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week. While these aren’t exact numbers, the prevalence of alcohol in media and western culture, in general, has made the overconsumption of the drug an easily overlooked problem.

Though it can be nice to have a glass of wine, it is important to consider the amount of alcohol you are ingesting. It is essentially empty calories that hinders your performance and is likely to have ongoing health consequences. If you are going to drink, try to stick to the recommended amounts. There is evidence that suggests a glass of red wine has health benefits. Try to stick to this where possible as it is a good health option that gives you a boost of antioxidants.

Not exercising enough

Exercise is crucial to our wellbeing. You can afford to sit in a chair most of the day if you’ve hit the gym, run on a treadmill enough, or taken a long walk before you go to bed. At the end of the day, it is all about balance. But by applying seemingly insignificant and simple routines to our daily lives, we can effectively begin to counter modern life’s unintended side effects and start appreciating the bountiful age we are all living in. Consider looking into cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnotherapy, and hypnotic meditation as these target the root cause of the problem and can help significantly with behavioural change.