The hardest part of getting healthier is forming new habits. Despite the common myth that habits can form in 21 days, research suggests that good habits take an average of 66 days to become a part of a person’s routine.
Summer, coincidentally, often runs about that long. For families in particular, summer vacation often lasts from mid-June to the end of August.
Use that period of about 66 days to achieve these simple, achievable health goals:
1. Eating More Fruit
Since summer offers a variety of fresh fruit, it is a great season for getting into the habit of enjoying a sweet, nutritious treat daily. One of the reasons eating fruit is an easy habit to form over the summer is because you can find it conveniently. Fresh fruit is featured at most social outings, in roadside stands, and can even be grown at home. Some of the most popular fruits to enjoy in summer include watermelon, blueberries, tomatoes, and raspberries.
2. Drinking More Water
When it is hot outside, people are naturally thirstier. Rather than guzzling water every time one feels dehydrated, using that heat motivation to start drinking water regularly throughout the day. Once the habit of bringing water everywhere one goes has been formed, it is difficult to break the cycle. That’s good news for the body, since dehydration is an issue year round.
3. Exercising More Often
Many people find that exercise and summer are a natural pair. Warm, enjoyable weather and sunny days encourages people to spend time outside. Taking the time to get outside every day in the summer can be enhanced if simple outdoor exercise like walking, hiking, or spending time in the water can be included in the fun.
There is a trick to making favored forms of exercise into habit over the summer though. On rainy days, perform a similar form of exercise inside. The mind will get used to that exercise being obligatory- even when the weather doesn’t cooperate.
