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Leyal Fakhreddine

Prof. Silva

Kin 34

8 September 2019

How I Live a Healthy Lifestyle

When people tend to think about health, they often only think of physical health. It is

absolutely crucial that when one chooses to focus on improving and maintaining their health in

order to live a healthy lifestyle, they consider both their physical and mental health. While I

believe that people should be doing that, I aimed to reflect on whether or not I, myself focus on

improving both aspects of my health. Generally, I consider myself to be a fairly healthy person.

However, I found that in making that conclusion, I mainly considered my physical health rather

than my mental health. In regards to my physical health, I typically refer to myself as a healthy

person who is in good shape. I love working out at the gym and I am always careful with

maintaining my weight. However, I never restrict myself from eating what I want. I tend to go

through phases in which I am always looking up new healthy recipes to make in order to know

what exactly is going into my body and to ensure that I can at least be somewhat cautious with

my food. Nevertheless, I also believe that I am also in a good state of mental health although I do

not necessarily focus on improving and maintaining it. While I do believe that I am in relatively

good health both physically and mental, I stand by the idea that one should continuously aim to

improve both aspects of their health in ways that work for them.

Earlier, I had mentioned that I considered myself to be a fairly healthy person. I think that

I am able to be a healthy person because of the habits that I have begun to put on at a

considerably young age. I’ve made it a point to myself to work out for at least 30 minutes a day;
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whether that be walking around campus or going to the gym, I always find a way to fit in my

daily exercise in one shape or the other. Reflecting on my physical health has allowed me to

consider the idea that maybe I am in good mental health due to the fact that I maintain my

physical health. MentalHealth.org.uk explains that “Research shows that doing exercise

influences the release and uptake of feel-good chemicals called endorphins in the brain” thus,

people who work out may tend to be happier as these chemicals are being released.

Sustaining a healthy lifestyle is necessary in order to live a long healthy life. The

“Physical Wellness Toolkit” from nih.gov clearly states “Watching what you put into your body,

how much activity you get, and your weight are important for keeping your body working

properly. Positive physical health habits can help decrease your stress, lower your risk of disease,

and increase your energy.” High levels of stress, higher risk and disease, and low energy are all

factors that can put your entire life in jeopardy, that is why it is important to sustain and maintain

a healthy physical lifestyle. However, physical health alone is not enough, ensuring that one has

good mental health is also vital in sustaining a healthy lifestyle. Nih.gov’s “Emotional Wellness

Toolkit” emphasizes that “How you feel can affect your ability to carry out everyday activities,

your relationships, and your overall mental health.” While this statement may seem obvious, it is

a statement that holds a lot of value. The entirety of one's life consists of activities and

relationships, and if one does not have strong or good mental health, it can truly affect almost

every aspect of their lifestyle and being.

My three goals to improving a healthy lifestyle are: building healthy habits, getting

quality sleep, and brightening my outlook. My first goal is to build health habits. This is not

simply limited to watching what I eat or working out, but it also expands to taking time away

from my phone, or taking days off just for myself. However, the more physical aspect of
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building healthy habits can be not intaking so much foods that drain my energy such as junk

foods, and if I want to eat those foods, I need to burn off those calories by working out for more

than 30 minutes a day. Another way I can improve a healthy lifestyle is by getting quality sleep. I

believe that there is not as much of an importance placed upon getting a proper amount of sleep.

Sleep can affect how one’s day may carry out and how they function that day. I aim to try to

sleep everyday around 10 pm and reduce the amount of naps I take which actually makes me feel

extremely weak. My phone plays a huge role in disallowing me to fall asleep, so I plan to keep

my phone on a desk away from my bed. Lastly, and most importantly, I believe that brightening

your outlook helps to improve a healthy lifestyle. I strongly stand by this because brightening

one’s outlook allows for them to see purpose. Not only purpose in life itself, but also purpose in

maintaining the factors that give you life, healthy physical and mental wellbeing.

Ultimately, a healthy lifestyle cannot simply focus on only one aspect of health. One

should not favor physical health over mental health or vice versa. It is not healthy if someone is

in extreme physical health but very poor mental health, and if someone is in very poor physical

health but in excellent mental health. Rather, it would be in one’s favor to maintain and improve

both of these areas. This paper has allowed me to reflect upon my own life and realize where I

lack placing emphasis upon in regards to my health. Starting now, I want to attempt to treat both

my physical and mental health as equals; meaning that my physical health depends on my mental

health and the other way around. That being said, I truly believe that people should always

attempt to improve their physical and mental health to the best of their abilities.

Works Cited
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“Physical Health and Mental Health.” Mental Health Foundation, 27 Aug. 2018,

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/p/physical-health-and-mental-health.

“Emotional Wellness Toolkit.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services, 10 Dec. 2018, https://www.nih.gov/health-information/emotional-

wellness-toolkit

“Physical Health and Mental Health.” Mental Health Foundation, 27 Aug. 2018,

www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/p/physical-health-and-mental-health.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/p/physical-health-and-mental-health