Appreciating Yourself Lesson 4: Take Care of Your Body

"If you exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep, it will help your physical health. It will help your emotional health
as well. You can improve your mood with physical activity, healthy eating, and getting enough sleep. Enough sleep
will also improve your memory and help keep you healthy. Most women need about 8 hours of sleep a night.
You can learn more about physical activity and healthy eating in “My Bright Future: Physical Activity and Healthy
Eating Tools for Adult Women.” You can download a free copy at www.hrsa.gov/womenshealth.
You don’t have to make a lot of big changes to exercise more, eat better, or get more sleep. In fact, you will do
better if you try to reach your goals in small steps.

• Healthy eating habits: Decide on just one thing you would like to do to eat healthier. Keep
doing it until it becomes a habit. Then try to form another good eating habit. (If you aren’t
sure what healthy eating means, here is one definition: Healthy eating means consuming a
variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages within and among the basic food groups, while
choosing foods that limit your intake of saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, added sugars,
salt, and alcohol.)


• Physical activity: Add a few minutes of walking or some other form of exercise to your day.
Keep doing it until you have reached your goal. (One goal is to aim for at least 30 minutes of
walking or other moderate physical activity on most days of the week.)


• Set an earlier bedtime: Make your bedtime 10 minutes earlier. Keep doing it until you’ve
reached your goal.


• Develop good sleep habits: Write down your sleep habits for a week and look for ways
to improve them. Once you’ve found the right bedtime, try to go to bed at about the same
time every night. Try not to eat, drink alcohol or caffeinated beverages, or exercise right
before bed.

Posted in: Emotional Wellness, Reflections, Weight Managment