3 Tips for Taking Control of Your Health in 2021

The year 2020 has been loaded with stress and uncertainty. If you haven’t been able to get to the gym, you may have lost muscle tone. If you’ve been homeschooling your children, you may have lapsed into poor eating habits. Finally, if the stress is weighing you down, you may feel isolated. To get back on the right path in 2021, break things down into small steps.

Set a Goal Each Month

Set a fitness goal each month. For example, in January, you might add 20 plank pushups to your day. You can do them five at a time if you want, but consider using a daily reminder to get these twenty push-ups done at some point in the day, then mark it off on your calendar or color in the square of a paper calendar.

For the next month, keep doing the plank pushups and add another activity. You could also switch to a food choice or water intake goal for the next month. Part of the challenge of 2020 was that so many things just came to a crashing halt and we were left scrambling to create a sense of normal. Coming into 2021, we need to build our own bridge that will bring us out of the pandemic in the best way for our personal health and our families.

Tailor Your Supplement Routine

It’s easy to get overloaded when trying to determine the best supplements for your health and fitness goals. You may also find it a challenge to decide what supplements you can take under what conditions. For example, some supplements can be hard on your stomach if you don’t take them with food, and others absorb best on an empty stomach.

As you add a healthy activity each month, consider adding a new supplement each week until your routine is working well. Check out your options on online supplements Canada, and don’t forget to check out protein powder options if one of your goals is to add a weight training routine to your physical activity. Whey-based protein is particularly helpful for boosting your muscle-healing power.

While adding to your supplement routine, keep a journal of what you ate, when you took the supplement and any stomach issues you may have faced. Review labels to see if the pill supplement you took needs to be taken with food or is fat-soluble. Finally, as you up your supplement intake, make sure you keep up or increase your water intake.

Focus on Connection

One of the most dangerous health considerations to come out of the pandemic is loneliness. If you’ve been feeling isolated or are down and struggling to connect with friends and co-workers in virtual spaces, put on your mask and get out into the world. This doesn’t mean you have to do anything dangerous or risky, but sharing a greeting with the grocery store delivery person or the gas station attendant can lift your spirits and help you to feel more connected.

Check local venues for heated patios where you can join friends for a socially distanced glass of wine or cup of coffee. If you have an outdoor heater, fire it up and have a friend over for some time on your patio or driveway. You can stay both safe and connected until the vaccination is more widely dispersed, so do your best to make some connection with another human every few days.

Loneliness is extremely hard on your heart, and the fallout from loneliness, such as

• anxiety
• depression
• poor sleep

can add to the health risks of loneliness. While there is now a light at the end of the tunnel, the fallout from the pandemic will likely continue for many months. Even if you’ve come through this event without catching COVID-19 or facing serious financial risks, you’ve been impacted by the virus.

The only way out is forward. Don’t beat yourself up about missed opportunities or choices that you could have handled better. Instead, focus on where you want to be and structure 2021 so you can make incremental changes in your exercise activities, your food choices, your supplement routine, and your social calendar. Strive for healthy connections and choices in every action.