Did you know that stress was once considered essential for human survival? The origin of stress can be traced back to the days of our ancestors. Being hunter gatherers, our ancestors often had to confront a stronger beast where the only choice was ‘fight or flight’. This constant alertness acted as the trigger for the stress response in the body, characterized by the release of cortisol, preparing the body for quick action.
Fast-forward to today, we no longer face such threats out in the open. Ours is more of a psychological threat - like work pressure or financial concerns. Moreover, the present human is under prolonged stress. Though short-term stress is good, over longer periods, high cortisol that is released due to stress can be harmful.
What is cortisol and why is it important?
Touted as the "stress hormone," cortisol is released when one undergoes any type of stress because of the "fight or flight" response. Cortisol actively plays a role in controlling a chain of basic activities that includes metabolism and immunity, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.
Temporary increases in cortisol are primarily for dealing with acute stress. If high levels continue, health consequences such as weight gain, compromised immunity, anxiety, and cardiovascular concerns come forth. Cortisol, at appropriate levels, therefore, will be just as instrumental in good health to the extent that it would allow the body to respond to stressful situations but not suffer the adverse effects of such a long-term exposure.
Negative effects of stress on the body
Chronic stress can result in a wide range of harmful effects on the body. Some of the major influences are given below:
- Weakened immunity
Long-term stress reduces one's defenses against disease and makes you more prone to illness, such as the common cold and flu; and may even hamper the healing process.
- Cardiovascular disorders
The constant constriction on blood vessels due to chronic stress results in hypertension, heart disease, and stroke.
- Digestive problems
When the body is under stress, its normal digestive functions may change, resulting in a number of other problems: IBS, acid reflux, and ulcers, because the body prioritizes stress response over digestion.
- Mental health issues
Long-term stress is a significant contributor to anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. Furthermore, these mental health problems can reinforce the physical health problems in a cycle once again.
- Muscle pain
Stress often causes muscles to tighten up, leading to chronic pain, headaches, and even migraines that reduce mobility and quality of life.
- Fatigue
This is because of constant stress that depletes energy resources within the body by not letting them replenish; therefore, chronic weariness, impaired concentration, and a general sense of exhaustion occur.
Best ways to lower cortisol levels
Cortisol levels can be lowered, and health and wellbeing greatly improved through. The following methods are effective in lowering cortisol naturally:
- Exercise regularly
One of the best ways to bring cortisol down is through regular exercise. Stress diminishes greatly, and one's mood becomes high due to endorphins created during such forms of exercise-aerobic exercises such as walking, jogging, swimming, or yoga. But over-exercise must be avoided because too much physical exertion elevates cortisol levels.
- Prioritize sleep
Healthy sleeping is essential in maintaining correct levels of cortisol. Each night, one should be able to get 7 to 9 uninterrupted continuous hours of sleep. Have regular patterns of sleeping, have the pre-sleep routine relaxing, and make the sleep site conducive. Poor sleep or irregular sleeping patterns increase cortisol levels and hence stress levels.
- Maintaining a balanced diet
Eat a diet balanced by fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. A diet of this nature exerts a balancing effect on cortisol levels. Indeed, there are certain foods like dark chocolate, bananas, and green tea that have been noted to help contribute to lowering cortisol. Limit caffeine and sugar intake; these substances are known to raise cortisol levels.
How RightLife can lower cortisol levels
The RightLife app is a holistic health and wellness platform that offers various programs that can help you reduce cortisol levels. Among them, ThinkRight and MoveRight stand out as they can bring down your stress levels effectively which lead to a healthier lifestyle.
The ThinkRight program meditates on mental well-being through mindfulness practices, including guided meditation, deep breathing exercises, and positive affirmations. This will keep your mind in a tranquil mood, reducing the anxiety that increases cortisol levels within the body by showing relaxation and clarity in the mind. ThinkRight helps you in managing your stress more effectively.
MoveRight focuses on regular and balanced exercises, offering personalized exercise plans to support very effective means of stress relief but without overexertion. Activities such as yoga, walking, and light stretching raise endorphin levels and reduce cortisol. MoveRight ensures swift and easy maintenance of the active lifestyle needed to take care of the body's well-being, helping you to keep cortisol levels at bay.
That’s everything covered on how to lower cortisol levels naturally. Stressful events are inevitable, but when we do nothing in response then we’re setting ourselves up for even poorer wellbeing and mental health. Don’t let stress control you, join RightLife today and lead a healthier life.
Everyone goes through rough days once in a while, whether it’s a bad day at work, a family emergency or an existential crisis. For some, this is a brief feeling, while for others, it can spiral into depression. When we are at the lowest point of our life, we can sometimes cling to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as excessive alcohol consumption, drug use or overeating. While these habits give us a temporary sense of escape from reality, they actually do more harm than good in the long run. But how often do we turn to healthier alternatives, like exercise? Along with transforming our body and making us healthier, exercise can also do wonders for your mental health. Learn more about how exercise can ease depression in this article.
The relation between exercise and depression
Some evidence suggests that exercise might be a moderately effective treatment for mild to moderate adult depression. Exercise should, therefore, be considered an important lifestyle modification that is used in conjunction with other treatments for depression.
The benefits that can be obtained from exercise depend on the amount of exercise that is undertaken. Most studies showing that exercise was helpful used aerobic exercise, such as running or walking, for at least 30 minutes, three times a week, for at least eight weeks.
Tips to help you get started
It is hard to start an exercise routine during depression, but it is brave and a much needed step towards recovery. Here are some tips that can get you started:
- Start small
Begin with just a few minutes of activity each day. It could be anything-a short walk or a few stretches. If you keep the amount small, the thought of just getting started may not seem as big.
- Set achievable goals
Set realistic goals that one can realistically achieve. Instead of wanting to exercise for an hour straight, for instance, set a daily goal of moving for 10 minutes in any manner that gets one moving.
- Choose activities that are enjoyable
Find activities that you enjoy doing. These can be dance, swimming, biking or any form of sport. This will increase your odds of sticking to the daily routine.
- Seek support
Exercise with a partner or join an exercise class. Exercising with someone else can be a motivation for you, plus it makes the exercise period a much more enjoyable time. It's okay if this goes slowly. Focus on tiny victories, and remember any amount of movement builds on improving your mental and physical health.
The RightLife app can support you on your journey to overcome depression and also achieve a healthier lifestyle through its MoveRight program. Here’s how.
How MoveRight can help with depression
Through a diverse range of exercises, RightLife’s MoveRight program helps manage depression. By offering live classes, yoga, and breathing techniques, the MoveRight program provides a comprehensive approach in battling depression.
- Live Classes
Live classes on the MoveRight program introduce various exercises right from cardio to meditation, that suit everyone’s taste and ability. Such live classes promote a sense of togetherness which can help reduce feelings of loneliness - an emotion that is usually accompanied during depression. Interacting in real time with fitness trainers and other RightLife members can inspire consistency and therefore make it easier and more comfortable to create a regular habit of exercising.
- Yoga
Yoga is a central part of the MoveRight program, and there are considerable benefits from yoga in easing depression. Yoga combines physical postures with mindfulness practices that help in calming the mind and decreasing stress. The gentle flowing movements in yoga can be especially helpful to anyone suffering from depression since these induce relaxation and decrease muscle tension. Yoga also encourages the release of endorphins, considered natural mood enhancers.
- Breathing techniques
Controlled breathing, as in the MoveRight program, is yet another strong tool in the fight against depression. Deep breathing and other controlled breathing practices help control the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and create an overall feeling of calm. These techniques often complement the practice of yoga or can be practiced on their own to allow a person to cope with stress more effectively.
If you exercise regularly but depression or anxiety symptoms still affect your daily living, see your healthcare professional or mental health professional. Exercise and physical activity are great ways to ease symptoms of depression or anxiety, but they don't replace therapy or medicines. You should begin to feel better a few weeks after you begin exercising. But this is a long-term treatment, not a one time fix
RightLife provides the tools you need to manage depressive symptoms naturally. By promoting a healthy lifestyle, building resilience, and fostering a supportive community. With these added to your daily routine, you're taking giant strides toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join RightLife today and start your journey!
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping a healthy immune system has been everybody's priority. We have seen how important our immune system needs to be to combat illnesses. Diet is one of the major things which greatly affects immune health. The food that you eat can either help in providing nutrition to your immune system or weaken it.
Why do food ingredients matter?
The ingredients that go into making your food have the power to make it taste better. However, they may not always be good for your health. Foods that are highly processed, full of added sugars, unhealthy fats, and artificial additives are bad for your immune system. Excess sugar or fried foods for example, weakens the immune responses and makes the body more susceptible to infections. On the other hand, whole, natural ingredients provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that promote overall well-being.
Most unhealthy food ingredients for your immune system
Your immune system is your body’s first line of defense against infections, and the foods you eat play a significant role in keeping it strong. However, certain unhealthy food ingredients can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness.
- Added sugars
Foods like sugary drinks, candies, and baked goods are loaded with added sugars that can harm your immune health. Too much sugar intake has been considered one of the most harmful ingredients to your immunity. High sugar intake can suppress the immune system’s ability to fight off infections by reducing the effectiveness of white blood cells. In addition, sugar leads to inflammation throughout the body which compromises the functions of the immune system and leads to chronic health problems.
- Trans fats
Trans fats are generally used in fried foods, processed snacks, as well as baked goods that weaken the immune system. These unhealthy fats encourage inflammation along the body and this diminishes the efficiency of the immune response, aside from exposing an individual to chronic diseases such as heart diseases and diabetes. Foods with partially hydrogenated oils on the food labels must be avoided to protect your immune health.
- Refined carbohydrates
Refined carbohydrates are foods like white bread, pasta, and pastries that have fiber and nutrients removed. These foods spur serious elevations in blood sugar levels very quickly, as do added sugars, thus suppressing immune function and promoting inflammation. Refined carbs can also lead to weight gain, which can weaken the immune system.
- Artificial ingredients
Immunity can also be harmed by artificial additives such as preservatives, flavor enhancers, and colorings. These initiate an inflammatory response and can offset gut health, which is very closely related to immune function. Foods with high amounts of artificial additives are usually processed and completely devoid of nutrition, thus being entirely detrimental to your immunity.
- Excess salt
A high intake of salt weakens the immune system. High intake of salt may be derived from most processed food items such as chips, canned soups, and fast foods. High intake of salt can give rise to high blood pressure that causes inflammation in the body and therefore breaks down the activity of your immune system.
How EatRight
RightLife's EatRight Program provides the right steps towards a strengthened immune system through comprehensive support in meal planning, educational workshops, and the "food as medicine" approach. Here’s how it will help you:
- Meal planning
The personalized meal planning feature from EatRight creates balanced menus rich in nutrients, with an exclusion of harmful ingredients such as added sugars, trans fats, and excessive salt. In this way, the program focuses on whole foods to provide your body with all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants for a robust immune system. Easy meal plans will guide you through each step to healthier choices, with minimal temptation for processed or otherwise bad foods.
- Workshops
EatRight offers interactive workshops conducted by nutrition professionals, where one gets to understand specific food ingredients that affect one's immune system. In these workshops, a lot of value is drawn on how to read food labels, understand the ingredient list contained therein, and thus make informative decisions on what one eats. From this workshop, one can gather knowledge and tools on how to avoid food that badly affects your immune system.
- Food as Medicine
It focuses on food as medicine and encourages you, through the EatRight program, to think of food not just as a source of nutrition but also as a strategy that can help in improving your health. That is all about incorporating into our diet those ingredients that are useful to keep the immune system healthy, such as anti-inflammatory foods, and avoiding those foods and beverages that are damaging to health. This leads to the idea of using food as medicine to create an optimal diet for immune health and overall wellness.
Join RightLife’s EatRight program today to take control of your health and build a stronger immune system. With personalized meal planning, expert-led workshops, and a focus on using food as medicine, EatRight provides everything you need to avoid unhealthy ingredients and make nutritious choices that support your immune system. Don’t leave your health to chance - start your journey to a healthier, more resilient you with RightLife now.
From mood to metabolism, energy levels to reproductive functions, digestive health to heart health – hormones play an important role in regulating every aspect of health. And for women, hormonal balance is one of the key aspects of health as it isn't just about physical health but also mental health and emotional well-being.
Hormones are chemical messengers in the body produced by the endocrine glands and travel throughout the body to optimize body functioning, regulate functions, and take care of vitality. Hormones like estrogen, progesterone, insulin, cortisol, and thyroid play a key role in women's health as it influences not just body functioning but key health attributes like puberty, menstrual cycles, menopause, body weight, feminity, stress levels, etc.
However, due to unhealthy lifestyles, eating habits, stress levels, etc, these hormones tend to get imbalanced resulting in a myriad of health concerns. The need is to build a healthy lifestyle and practice wellness that helps women balance their hormones.
Here’s how you can balance hormones for optimum health and wellness.
A nutrient-rich and balanced diet
Food is medicine. And it is rightly so when it comes to balancing hormones. An unhealthy diet can not only reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients but also impair the digestive system. This results in regulation in hormone production and regulation. Follow a nutrient-dense diet that is well balanced i.e. a good mix of whole grains, green vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. A well-balanced diet supports hormone production, maintains healthy blood sugar levels, supports metabolism, and reduces inflammation. All of it helps the body function optimally and regulate hormones.
Regular exercises
Exercising regularly is essential for keeping the body fit and active. Exercise doesn’t just promise physical fitness but also helps in maintaining a healthy weight and insulin resistance. Regular exercises can help lower cortisol levels, improve mood, and support hormonal balance through stress reduction. Incorporate a good mix of cardio and strength training exercises to build muscles, reduce fat, and maintain a healthy body weight. Exercises like yoga, pilates, running, jogging, etc are great too for stress management, and enhancing mood and hormonal balance.
Stress management
Stress is one of the biggest reasons for hormonal imbalance in women today. The new-age living keeps women on the edge of physical activities, emotional problems, and mental challenges. As such, women tend to stress over more issues than before. Thus, this heightened stress results in high levels of cortisol leading to fatigue, anxiety, etc. Manage stress effectively by practicing techniques like meditation, deep breathing, mindfulness, and positive affirmations.
A healthy sleep routine
Sleep is the time when the body rejuvenates, recharges, and revitalizes. But due to an extremely busy lifestyle, stress, and emotional struggles – often sleeping becomes a challenge. Prioritize a healthy sleep routine by aiming to sleep at least 7-9 hours daily. For this, simple wellness practices like deep breathing, body stretches before bed, and meditation before bed can be of great help. Moreover, create a sleep-conducive environment by keeping your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet.
Stay hydrated
Staying hydrated is key to optimizing digestive health, nutrient absorption, and detoxification. Hence it is important to drink at least 8-10 glasses of water daily. Adequate water consumption flushes out toxins from the body, optimizes body functioning, and regulates hormones. It is important to cut out caffeine and alcohol from your diet as these can cause dehydration and disrupt hormone regulation.
Healthy Gut
A healthy gut is essential for the effective digestion of food, nutrient absorption, body functioning, and hormone regulation. An unhealthy diet, high stress levels, and a sedentary lifestyle can disrupt your gut health and lead to inflammation and hormone imbalance. Foods like sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, and fiber-rich vegetables can support gut health and help regulate hormones.
Limit exposure to endocrine disruptors
We are constantly surrounded by plastic, chemicals, and blue light that can disrupt endocrine functioning. Hence it is important to limit exposure to such substances. Opt for organic food to reduce the consumption of pesticides, hormones, etc in your food. Use personal care products that are free from paraben, phthalates, and other hormone-disrupting chemicals. Avoid plastic containers, instead use glass, stainless steel, or BPA-free containers to store food or other items.
Maintain a healthy weight
Body weight plays a very important role in how the organs function and how hormones impact health. Apart from making healthier choices, it is important to maintain a healthy body weight suited to your age, height, lifestyle, and health concerns. Engaging in a consistent exercise routine and consuming food as per your daily lifestyle can help achieve an ideal body weight. Avoid going on extreme diets or exercise burnouts.
Regular health checkups
Nothing helps you keep a check on your health more than regular health checkups. While simple wellness practices can elevate your hormone regulation and improve health holistically, it is important to keep a check on your vitals for optimum health. Regular testing of hormone levels can help detect imbalances early on and prove helpful in taking necessary steps for hormonal regulation. Consider seeking a healthcare professional's advice for better hormone regulation practices.
RightLife App: Empowering women to take charge of their health
From daily household chores to never-ending work deadlines – women today are on the forefront of a busy lifestyle. In this fast-paced life, stress and unhealthy lifestyle can foster into creating a challenging health situation. To help take care of your health in a holistic and fulfilling way, RightLife App helps you take charge of your health.
Through its modules like MoveRight and EatRight, the RightLife App helps women design their daily exercise routine and food plans that best support their health and hormone regulation.
The SleepRight module helps women understand the role of sleep in their health, and create a healthy environment to catch up on at least 7-9 hours of sleep daily.
The ThinkRight module of the RightLife app helps women address their mental health concerns with specific tools like journaling, meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and positive affirmation. This helps counter feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression for optimum health.
Balancing hormones takes a holistic approach and consistent effort to build a healthy lifestyle and practices that nurture body and mind. Once you have created a sustainable routine for yourself, you can support your hormonal health and experience improved energy, better mood, and overall well-being.
Sticking with a fitness routine on a daily basis means that you have to maintain the same level of motivation every single day, which is a challenging task in itself. Having to juggle adult life right from work to family and socialising, maintaining a healthy lifestyle seems like a task. However, there are effective ways in which this can be looked after and easy ways to be motivated to get through this.
Effective Ways To Stay Motivated Daily
Set Clear Goals
Setting achievable goals is the first and most crucial step for staying motivated. With the help of these goals, there is a direction and an aim towards which to work towards consistently. Defining SMART goals, even for fitness, helps to create a plan and track overall progress. SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Breaking down goals in this manner makes it manageable and reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed out in the rush to achieve things. Using RightLife helps not only track overall progress, but you can log your workouts, celebrate your achievements, and be in a community of like minded people to further encourage and keep your spirits up.
Creating Fun Workout Routines
Working out in the same way everyday can get monotonous and boring. However, bringing in a variety of different styles every once in a while can stir up the regular routine and create an overall energetic and fun environment to keep the working out going consistently. It helps to create a sense of engagement with oneself and also helps in building a well-rounded fitness routine. The RightLife app offers a range of workout options that helps in exploring the different activities. Moreover, the app also has features of joining various workout challenges with the community and competing against your own records or others on the app to make it more playful and keep the motivation running high.
Finding A Workout Buddy
Having a friend or workout partner automatically makes exercise seem all the more enjoyable. It helps in creating a sense of accountability. Discussing the goals and working on them together helps you in staying committed to your routine as well. Moreover, having someone to encourage everyday and achieve the targets together helps in creating a more positive approach towards exercise in general. Providing mutual support and encouragement, celebrating targets achieved, and having someone to rely on during times of feeling discouraged, helps with a healthier take towards working out on a daily basis.
Use Of Technology
One of the best supports in today’s times is the use of technology in your daily workout routines - right from fitness watches to apps. Fitness apps like RightLife help in creating and building personalised workout plans basis on the level of fitness and the intended targeted goal one has. It also has various features right from tracking progress, diet plans, wellness experts, and with a holistic approach to one’s wellness, it also incorporates a special aspect of diet, sleep, and mental health.
Create The Right Environment
Build a space for yourself that will keep you motivated and makes you feel energised. This could be with the help of posters, plants, setting up a good speaker system, or even watching something while working out. A well organised and inspiring environment makes exercising all the more appealing and easier to do on a daily basis. People also find it useful to follow the live classes on the RightLife app while working out to create a sense of belonging with the online community and fitness experts. Moreover, wearing good workout clothes, investing in the gear that is going to make you feel good about yourself, is a great step to consider in feeling encouraged everyday. The more you feel good about yourself physically with the clothes you wear while working out, the stronger it will make your mind feel towards being disciplined everyday to maintain your routine and being motivated.
Positive Visualisation
Visualising your target and goal everyday helps create a mindset to constantly stay motivated and keep focusing on that final step. It helps to boost confidence and determination. Build a vision board with pictures, words, and quotes and keep it somewhere that you look at everyday. It helps to subconsciously keep thinking and working towards that goal, and serves as a constant reminder of your commitment and progress.
In conclusion, staying motivated is not an easy task at all. However, incorporating small and easy steps towards the fitness journey can make it feel all the more enjoyable and easier. Setting clear goals, variety in the workouts, tracking progress, and staying true to the commitment by using the RightLife app, is an excellent tool to start with regardless of the fitness level and final goal. Let RightLife guide you towards achieving your fitness goals.
Tiring work day, endless tasks, relationship problems, and health concerns – an average person today handles almost all of it every day. Of course, stress has become an unavoidable part of our lives. And yet, after you return from work or even if you are mentally tired, you sit on the couch, scroll through social media, and sleep.
What if we told you that some movement can help you counter stress more than you thought?
Indeed exercise, apart from physical fitness, is a game changer for managing stress. Here’s how!
Exercise boosts endorphin production
One of the most immediate benefits of exercising is its ability to make you feel good. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins (or the feel-good hormones). Endorphins are neurotransmitters responsible for elevating mood and act as natural painkillers too. So, when you indulge in physical activities like running, jogging, swimming, dancing, yoga, etc, your body releases endorphins which counteract negative emotions, relieve stress, and help you feel more relaxed.
Reduces Stress hormones
Exercise is known for its ability to regulate hormones and is not limited to endorphins alone. When you start exercising, your body starts balancing your hormone levels, including cortisol and adrenaline. High levels of hormones like cortisol can lead to anxiety, weight gain, fatigue, etc, and with regular physical activity, you can keep them in check. This leads to effective monitoring and managing of hormones and relieving stress.
Improves sleep quality
Stress often disrupts your mood, temperament, and sleep. When you haven’t slept well, it can lead to further heightened feelings of stress, anxiety, etc. This vicious cycle can be broken by exercising regularly. Moderate to vigorous exercising daily can help you sweat out your stress, release dopamine and serotonin (the happy hormones), and thus relax your body for better sleep. When you exercise at least 30-45 minutes a day, you tend to get deeper and more relaxing sleep at night.
Movement is medicine
Most of the health concerns today arise due to inactive or sedentary lifestyles, bad food habits, or lack of exercise. Our daily stress isn't just limited to our thoughts it translates into physiological changes that can be best dealt with when you exercise. Exercising daily can counter the effects of stress on your body and help you clear your mind, making it work like medicine for your physical as well as mental health.
Changes the way you deal with problems
Exercising regularly be it weight lifting, yoga, or running, helps you immerse into a workout and shift your focus from daily worries to happiness. This shift from focusing on your daily problems, overthinking, stressing, etc to solution-finding, calculated approach, and mindfulness helps you clear your mind and take a break from stress. Activities like yoga, pilates, etc can inculcate exercises like deep breathing, meditation, etc which can be effective in helping you focus on the present, stay calm, and handle problems with a positive mindset.
Boosts confidence and self-esteem
Regular exercise contributes to physical fitness and mental clarity which can positively impact how you perceive yourself. Achieving your fitness goals doesn’t just make you physically look good but also leads you to feel confident about your appearance, take on new challenges, and have a stress-free and positive approach to life.
Helps you channel your inner feelings
Exercise can be looked at as a constructive way to channel your feelings. If you have been holding up on your anger, frustration, pain, or aggression, exercises can be a healthy outlet for you to release pent-up energy. Exercises like HIIT, Boxing, running, etc can help you take out your inner feelings in a healthy way and leave you feeling better about yourself. This also helps you clear your mind, experience relief, and approach your problems from a fresh and renewed perspective.
Builds social connections
You can choose to exercise alone at home, or go to the gym and connect with other fitness enthusiasts to bond over fitness. Join a group fitness class, play team sports, or join running clubs to meet like-minded people, take inspiration from them, connect with them, and make a network a valuable part of your life. Exercise helps you build social connections and these connections can act as stress relievers. Social connections don’t just keep you accountable and going in your fitness journey but also serve as positive motivation, boost confidence, and relieve stress.
Improves stress resilience
Regular exercise doesn’t just help you counter stress but also helps you build resilience to stress. By consistently challenging your body physically and mentally, you end up creating a mindset for you to be tough against problems and handle them with an enhanced resilience to stress. As a result, exercise helps you cope with the challenges and adapt to stressful environments without having to feel overwhelmed or stressed out. This renewed habit stays with you for life.
RightLife App: Exercise as a way to relieve stress
RightLife is a holistic health app that helps you take charge of your health sustainably and healthily. Instead of just focusing on stress and techniques to relieve stress temporarily, the RightLife app helps you inculcate habits that help you foster resilience to stress. The RightLife app through its MoveRight module recommends exercises that are best suited for your lifestyle, habits, health concerns, and lifestyle to help you build the habit of exercising and experience the stress relieving benefits of it. Moreover, the app also suggests simple stress relief practices like meditation, yoga, positive affirmations, better sleep, etc that can help you find temporary relief from stress.
Exercise is more than just a tool for physical fitness – it can be a powerful ally to counter stress. As you make exercise a regular part of your life, you can reap the benefits of it to improve your mental health and emotional well-being, boost your mood, and build resilience against stress. So wear your sneakers and do that exercise, because the path to a stress-free life can start with a simple run too!
There are some people who can eat the same thing everyday without getting bored. However, there are others who find it difficult to even stick to a day’s diet. If you are somebody who thrives on variety, eating the same meal every day can become monotonous. After all, it’s human tendency to crave different flavors and textures in your meal.
In most cases, eating the same food everyday can lead to food boredom. This is especially true when you are on a healthy diet where you need to restrict sugar, fat and any type of junk food. Over time, the same diet can reduce your enjoyment while eating and may also lead to cravings for junk food. Remember, the moment your meals become predictable, it becomes easy for you to get bored and lose any motivation whatsoever.
Why is healthy eating important?
Healthy food is crucial for maintaining the overall health of your body. Nutritious foods fill the body with vitamins, minerals, and energy required to accomplish various vital functions of the body, including immunity, metabolic rates, and mental health. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats avoid diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and weight problems.
Moreover, a healthy diet helps an individual maintain the ideal weight which can help reduce the risk of several diseases. Proper nutrition ensures that the brain functions optimally, enhancing mood, good memory, and quick thinking. Its prime role is also played in ensuring bone health and strength, good skin, as well as a strong immune system to safeguard and protect the individual against infections and diseases.
High intake of foods that are high in processing, sugars, and other unhealthy dietary fats can lead to nutrient deficiencies, weight gain, and a higher risk of falling prey to chronic diseases. Healthy eating not only affects performance or how one feels today but also their long-term.
Tips to avoid getting bored of healthy food
Many times, healthy food makes a person experience food boredom, especially when one has to eat the same meal every day. Here is how not to get bored with healthy food:
- Try new recipes
Having a fun diet means trying new recipes regularly. Try new types of cuisine, new cooking methods, and flavor profiles. This does not only bring variety into your diet but also will let you find new healthy ingredients you like.
- Avoid heavy restrictions
While many people believe that dieting involves the elimination of foods, this isn't necessarily so. While sugar, alcohol, or carbs are some of those things you may want to lessen, you don't have to cut them out completely. Actually, it is removing certain types of foods completely that may cause you to crave them more and ultimately give in to your cravings. Avoid carbohydrates and sugar intake altogether and do so on a gradual basis. You can still enjoy desserts or snacks that you love if you learn to set moderation and balance with healthy eating.
- Spice it up
Spices and herbs are the best ways to turn an ordinary meal into an extraordinary one. Try new spice combinations to add flavor to your meals without adding calories. Fresh herbs, such as basil, cilantro, or rosemary, will give more flavor to your meals and make healthy eating more exciting.
- Choose healthier options when dining out
Many who attempt to eat healthy may feel restaurants are out of bounds. You can eat healthy when eating out. You can eat more salads and soups, which often hold more nutritious and filling ingredients. You also can choose lean meat meal options like chicken and fish or vegetarian-based entrees. Avoid greasy or oily foods and substitute vegetables for carbohydrate sides.
How RightLife can help
RightLife's EatRight Program helps you fight food boredom while keeping you on target to reach your health goals. From meal planning tools to a variety of recipes and fun, interactive workshops, EatRight will keep your healthy diet tasty and maintainable.
- Meal planning
EatRight's personalized meal planning lets you create a weekly menu that will feature several cuisines, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and nutritional balance in a balanced way. You avoid repetition of dishes by doing this and make your diet more interesting with new ingredients and new dishes every week.
- Recipes
EatRight provides inspiration for a variety of food with its vast library of healthy recipes-from quick weekday dinners, creative salads, and indulgent yet healthy desserts. The program boasts a grand variety of recipes catering to different tastes and dietary preferences to make sure ideas never run out. With healthy recipes you can prepare in three minutes or less, you can significantly reduce your meal preparation time. This will help you eat healthy consistently while saving time and money.
- Workshops
EatRight also hosts workshops led by nutrition experts where you get to learn new cooking techniques, explore fresh and innovative ways of preparing your healthy meals, and uncover traditions from other parts of the world. Access recipes to prominent dishes from a variety of global cuisines and tailor them to suit your taste
By utilizing these resources, the EatRight program from RightLife will help you move past food boredom and make healthy eating a positive, sustainable part of your life. So, what are you waiting for? Join RightLife today and combat food boredom by improving your life with healthy eating habits.
In today’s hectic, fast paced everyday life, juggling or being able to find the balance between work, family, and friends might seem like an impossible task. Balancing these crucial aspects of life might seem stressful and exhausting, and at the end of the day leaves us with a feeling of guilt or wondering if it could have been handled better. There is always a solution to every problem, and this one presents itself with RightLife - your personal guide to bringing about a balance and calm to this very tumultuous situation.
The Art Of Balancing Work, Family, Fitness
As of today, economies around the world are on a bullet train to success. This has led companies across every industry to increase working hours, shorter deadlines, and the constant pressure to outperform every quarter that not a single person has the time or even the energy to do anything else. Plus with the rise of hybrid work models and work from home, the clear divide between work and personal life has been becoming invisible as tasks keep piling up. This leads to a strain on the family commitments and values that could otherwise be rewarding too. However if the attention goes only to work and then the family, then there is a bigger compromise being made - that of yourself - especially your fitness above it all. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a dedicated workout routine is highly important for overall health and well-being. Daily exercise is easily overlooked because of work or family time, thereby leading to much severe consequences.
Strategies For A Balanced Life With RightLife
With thoughtful strategies and easy to follow plans, there are effective ways in which harmonious equilibrium can be found across all the major aspects in our daily adult life. Following these simple steps can help us to achieve wonders and bring about a peaceful environment.
- Prioritise and set goals
By setting clear priorities of what matters the most, it is easy to track down achievable goals right from spending time with the family, slotting in an hour of workout, or even completing tasks to bolster the career front. RightLife helps you track your goals across fitness, family, and even work. Creating customised plans and reminders so you can stay on track of everything you have set out for the day - Create a structured schedule
Schedules help in managing everything - right from the most crucial task to the most insignificant ones that are easy to forget. Using a calendar or planner helps in visualising the schedule and make adjustments as and when you feel the need to. Using RightLife to understand your fitness goals and even sleep target, will help you understand how to better your schedule for the day and how to incorporate more tasks that you can easily carry out stress-free - Time Management
In order to balance out various responsibilities and multitask, time management is of utmost importance. Trying out techniques like the Pomodoro where there are well timed intervals between tasks or the Eisenhower Matrix helps prioritise what needs to be completed first and helps you focus on what truly matters. With our range of experts, RightLife connects you with them to provide guidance and support in various aspects of life - Set Boundaries
One of the most difficult yet the need of the hour for all of us is to be able to set clear boundaries between work and family. With everything being so fast paced, and life almost going by in a blur, it becomes almost impossible to be able to clearly distinguish working hours and time with family. Boundaries help in managing expectations and also helps in reducing feeling stressed out or overwhelmed. RightLife focuses on helping their users with a holistic approach with special care and attention towards one’s mental health as well, which can help navigate through the worried thoughts and direct in aligning clear boundaries that are easy to maintain - Bring Family Into Fitness
One of the easiest and fun ways to merge family time with fitness is to bring them both together. This helps you spend time with your family and also creates an overall motivational atmosphere from working out alone. Whether it is playing a sport together or even going for a walk, this approach helps to foster stronger bonds and helps the family stay healthier together. While using RightLife the range of workout options available there makes it easier to help pick one that could be a family activity and with the customised diet plans provided to users, you could also cook together as a family to make being healthy far more enjoyable
Being able to successfully and easily balance work, family and fitness is going to be a constant challenge. However, it is easy to achieve with the right tools and guidance. The opportunity to transform life and experience these benefits should be accepted gracefully and mastering the art of balancing these aspects of life can be manageable without it feeling like a stressful task.
Who doesn’t like to slouch on their couch in front of the TV after a hectic day at work? Catching up on the latest episode of our favorite shows or rewatching classic hits has become everyone’s favorite pastime before hitting the bed. But while it’s tempting to sink into the couch and binge-watch until bedtime, this habit can actually impact our sleep patterns. Wondering how? Let us explain.
Why do we love watching TV at bedtime?
Sitting down in front of the television at the end of a long day is one of the most convenient ways to get away from the stress and demands of daily life. This is usually the time for many to unwind and put their hair down. It gives a sense of routine and comfort to many people.
And moreover, with the extremely accessible OTT platforms which offer an abundance of movies and shows as options, it’s highly tempting for most people to say “Just one more episode before I sleep”.
Reasons why watching TV before bed is bad for you
If watching TV before bed feels like an easy way to relax, then you better think twice. It can in fact be associated with quite a few negative outcomes both for your sleep and for your overall health. Here are some major reasons that may substantiate why you should change your habit:
- Disrupts sleeping patterns
Blue light from TV screens interferes with the normal sleep-wake cycle of the body as it hampers the secretion of melatonin, which is a hormone in the body responsible for regulating sleep. This can make falling asleep more difficult and may reduce overall sleep quality, resulting in grogginess and fatigue the next day.
- Overstimulates the brain
This can be watching an interesting TV show or movie, especially if it is exciting or intense, because it excites your brain, which is what you do not want when trying to fall asleep. All this mental activity makes it hard for your mind to slip into a restful mode, and consequently, it has difficulty in settling to sleep.
- Causes poor posture
Slouching onto the couch or even in bed while watching TV can lead to strained muscles and general discomfort, which last through the night, and negatively impact sleep quality. Poor body posture during the viewing period is also to blame for occurring back and neck aches.
- Eye strain and fatigue
Excessive use of screen time has been associated with various health conditions, from eye strain to mental fatigue, especially when one is about to go to bed. This can make it harder to relax and fall asleep. Less screen time before sleep also contributes to a person's mental health and results in more restful nights.
Healthy alternatives to watching TV before bed
Apart from watching TV before bedtime, there are healthier alternatives that will help you develop a proper bedtime routine. And it's so tempting to just catch your favorite shows, but all of these other activities will actually make you feel more relaxed and really enhance the quality of your resting time.
- Read a book
Reading a book before sleep is a good practice. Blue light emitted from TV screens is often the leading cause of poor sleep. Reading a good book keeps your mind engaged and reduces stress and anxiety which is common at night. A person who reads, usually sleeps better.
- Listen to calm music or a podcast
The best way to get better sleep is to go to bed right after listening to great soothing music or a podcast. These kinds of auditory events send your mind into a relaxed mode without the actively engaging influence of screens. Heart rate due to soothing music can also go down and reduce stress, while gentle podcasts allow the mind to take it away from stressful thoughts.
- Meditation
Including mindfulness meditation as part of your bedtime routine can do wonders for your sleep health. Meditation basically helps to reduce stress and calm your nervous system through a higher focus on breathing and emptying of your mind about worries. It would, therefore, be a procedure that readies your body for sleep-to fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply.
The SleepRight program at RightLife discusses an approach to sleep quality that goes beyond the benefits of night-time TV viewing. Although this may be a deceptively easy and painless way to unwind from a day, it can disrupt sleep and prevent the body from getting rest equal to its needs. SleepRight takes you through the important habits of sleep hygiene and the setup for deep restorative sleep.
- Sleep Aids
The SleepRight program offers various bedtime sleep tools: guided relaxation, soothing sounds, and breathing techniques - all scientifically recognized to fall asleep quicker and sleep longer. Unlike overstimulating your brain with TV, which interferes with melatonin production, these sleep tools are specially designed to lull your mind and prime your body for rest. By incorporating these tools into your nightly routine, you can substantially improve your sleep quality.
- Sleep hygiene
SleepRight also focuses on sleep hygiene-good practices that can help someone continuously get quality sleep. The program gives personalized tips on maintaining a regular sleep schedule, creating a bedtime routine for relaxation, and optimizing your sleep environment. This will involve advice like reducing noise and light, keeping your bedroom cool, and avoiding stimulants like caffeine close to bedtime. On the other hand, TV might just make you stay up longer and interfere with your circadian rhythm, hence leading to a bad sleep hygiene, tired, and cranky for the next day.
RightLife’s SleepRight program is a far better alternative to watching TV at night, providing you with the tools and habits needed to achieve deep, restful sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. So, if you want to turn off the TV and get involved in healthier nighttime habits, join RightLife today!
Achieving fitness goals on a budget can be a challenging task. But getting the time to actually focus on working out in the day, even if for the bare minimum time, does seem like one that comes with its own set of difficulties - the most important one being the toll it takes on the pockets. However with the hyper paced life of today, and the ease with which multiple options are now easily available, RightLife app makes it effective and pocket friendly to take out the time in your own comfort zone and availability to focus on your workout from your own home.
Being able to workout from your own home comes with its own range of benefits. The most important one being that of flexibility - whether you get the time to workout first thing in the morning or anytime during the day, it takes away the added pressure of having to reach the gym at a particular time. More than the timing, the cost adhered to paying for the gym and then the additional cost of a personal trainer, all of which gets cancelled out when the home workout option is considered with the best tools ready to be used. One of the most important advantages of home workouts is the consistency with which it is maintained - because it is your private space and you get to dedicate your time to it in the day thereby maintaining an overall routine for the week.
There might however be the concern of how to set up a home gym or maybe that might be the additional cost that is otherwise not talked about often. However, setting one up in your budget is the easiest thing to do because without too much of a heavy investment, everything is still right there at your disposal to make the best use of things in your own home. Of course buying a few basic items like resistance bands, a pair of dumbbells, jump rope and a yoga mat will be the basis of all your workouts, but using household items like a chair, water bottles, or anything heavy enough for that added weight lifting creativity goes a long way.
With various home workout options now available right from body weight exercises, high intensity interval training, dance workouts, online fitness classes, yoga and pilates, and various apps now promoting different workout styles, RightLife comes in with the perfect routine to enhance numerous health benefits for an overall holistic approach towards your health with focus on - physical and mental health, diet, and sleep.
The RightLife Advantage
By using the RightLife app for your home workouts, you get to give yourself the right type of training and motivation to achieve your daily targets towards your fitness goal. Here’s how RightLife stands out:
- Personalised Workouts: depending on your target, your fitness level, and the overall aim for yourself, RightLife builds a customised workout plan to suit your needs and abilities.
- Workout Variety: with a range of different workouts available on the app right from full body workouts, to yoga, with a proper focus on breathing exercises too, RightLife knows how to keep people engaged and keep them moving with the right level of interest. Explore new exercises and routines with our experts who are there to guide you and train you into feeling fitter everyday.
- Community Support: to keep the motivation going, RightLife helps you join an online community of supportive users to share your progress, join different workout challenges, and interact with others to not let it feel like a very lonely affair of working out from home. This engagement helps in keeping the users active and accountable.
- Progress Tracking: monitor workouts and track overall improvements within the app to stay focused on your fitness goal. RightLife lets you log your workouts, set goals, and review progress that encourages you to celebrate your milestones and achievements.
- Affordable Pricing: without the burden of paying the full price of a gym membership, RightLife offers various subscription plans depending on your budget and overall fitness goals to make it easily accessible whether you are starting from the first step or if you are someone who comes with proper training and workout experience. Easily pick a plan that aligns with your needs and budget and you are ready to start on your home workout journey.
Staying fit on a budget may seem like a daunting task at first, but with the right tools and guidance, it is one of the easiest ways to keep going everyday without the pressures of burning a hole in your pocket. Home workouts provide flexibility, convenience, and are super cost-effective. The RightLife app enhances this fitness journey with its wide range of workout options, customising it according to your needs, and providing a supportive community. This is your sign to start your fitness journey on a budget and transform your routine with guidance from the comfort of your own homes.
The rise of technology has changed the way we view everything that life has to offer us - including our fitness. Traditional gyms are not the only way that one views fitness or visits for a structured workout anymore. With the rise of technology, there has been a huge surge in the fitness apps that have now emerged and continue popping up. They are an effective and powerful alternative with a variety of workout options, and incorporating social features and wellness experts to create a more holistic and all encompassing experience for users. They provide an interactive and engaging approach to fitness that helps transform a single person into feeling highly motivated on a daily basis. Moreover, using these apps from the comfort of one’s home comes with a range of advantages, the biggest being flexibility of time and being pocket friendly.
How Fitness Apps Enhance Motivation
One of the biggest advantages of fitness apps like RightLife is the way they have created an online community of like minded people. This helps in building new connections and working out with people who connect on the same level. Right from online fitness challenges to social interactions, motivation levels tend to stay on the higher end because it creates a feeling of belonging and accountability. The biggest complaint with online workout is the boredom it tends to create, but the right apps offer a range of workout options with live classes and expert guidance like RightLife offers. The variety of classes and the flexibility to choose keeps the routine very exciting and fresh overall, keeping a very engaging momentum towards the fitness goal.
Discover RightLife
RightLife is dedicated to help you navigate through all fitness challenges in a very holistic way. Exercise, diet, sleep and mental well-being - are all what the app offers you. It helps in creating a customised plan according to your fitness levels, intended targets, and the budget you have in mind, to stay aligned with your goals, without creating a sense of being overwhelmed. With a variety of workout options and live classes that will be curated for you, you can join them at your ease and comfort, be a part of the online community and interact with people to be a part of the group to keep motivation high and also challenge yourself to push your limits with people who are part of the online class. RightLife also provides an in-depth analysis to help you understand your progress and make informed decisions of how you need to proceed next and meet your next set of targets. Be it exercise or diet, RightLife has it covered for you in every way. Beyond general recommendations, it curates a personalised plan right from workout to diet and helps you connect with experts to understand your targets better, making it more effective overall.
Benefits of Group Fitness Apps
Group fitness apps help in boosting motivation and provide ways in which one can overcome obstacles and feel like they are a part of a group of like minded individuals. The ability to track progress, receive encouragement, and also get the guidance from experts all help in feeling a heightened level of self-confidence.
Through the app, when you are a part of a group workout, it makes the exercise feel far more enjoyable and easy to follow. Sharing mutual experiences of the workout via virtual classes reduces the effort and the difficulty which comes in through otherwise exercising alone. There is a sense of excitement that gets built seeing everyone around you pushing themselves and trying harder that is almost infectious and understanding the effect that group workouts have on people, RightLife caters to building this community for precisely this reason. Another great feature of having group fitness apps is celebrating your targets and achievements by collecting badges and milestones. This helps in creating a healthy competitive environment with the online community that keeps one staying committed to their fitness goals.
Group fitness apps are only going to grow and evolve from here. In the future, with the scope of virtual reality now being a big game changer, apps are only going to think about integrating the same and making it a possibility for everyone to see and work towards their fitness goals in a more comprehensive and holistic way. AI and machine learning are only going to make the experience so fascinating and heightened, there will seem to be a long term switch to apps like RightLife where users will focus on home workouts and joining online communities from around the world. With a wealth of opportunities readily available for people, seeking motivation and support with online workout can be possible with the use of right apps that offer an all en-compassing approach to bolster commitment, dedication, and creating a more fun experience.
Are you struggling to lose weight? Do you have PCOS?
You’re not alone.
Did you know that almost 70% of women with PCOS struggle to lose weight? This is because weight loss is the hardest symptom to manage for women with PCOS, as the hormonal disorder makes your body resistant to traditional weight loss methods.
But does it mean that you cannot lose weight if you have PCOS?
The answer is no! With the right strategy and lifestyle changes, it is not only possible to lose weight but also maintain PCOS symptoms effectively. Here are some effective weight loss strategies for women with PCOS that help them lose weight and also maintain it effectively.
The role of insulin resistance
Most women with PCOS have insulin resistance. Insulin Resistance happens when your body has difficulties utilizing the insulin produced to effectively convert glucose into energy. This ineffectiveness often leads to weight gain, especially around the abdomen. To counter this, the simplest way can be to follow a healthy diet, one that stabilizes blood sugar levels.
Choose low Glycemic Index (GI) Foods: The Glycemic Index or GI is a number between 0 to 100 that ranks food according to how quickly it raises blood sugar levels. Foods with low glycemic index are better digested and lead to a gradual rise in blood sugar levels, hence helping stabilize blood sugar levels.
Eat Fiber-rich food: Foods that are high in fiber help control blood sugar levels and improve digestion. Include enough green vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in your diet to regulate your sugar levels.
Strength Training
While exercise is crucial to lose weight or keep your sugar levels balanced, some forms of exercise tend to benefit women with PCOS more than others. Strength training helps in building lean muscle mass and aids fat loss. Strength training increases muscle mass, helps boost metabolism, and also improves insulin sensitivity. Compared to cardio or high-intensity workouts, strength training is a better exercise format for women with PCOS.
Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is about staying in the present moment and completely relishing the food that you are eating. Instead of eating your food while watching Netflix or talking on the phone, take time to completely dedicate your attention to food, sit in a comfortable position, and eat with complete awareness. This includes touching the food with your hands, taking in the aroma and warmth of food, eating your food slowly, chewing your food right, and eating at a slow pace to savour each bite. Mindful eating enhances digestive health, and nutrient absorption and establishes a healthy relationship with food. It also helps prevent overeating and build an understanding of hunger and fullness cues.
Stay Active
Staying active is of utmost importance to keep your body working optimally and build a healthy lifestyle. While you may exercise 30-45 minutes daily, it is important to include small walks, physical movements, and activities throughout the day to stay active. Make sure you take a 5-10-minute break every hour during your work timings to stretch or move around. Indulge into some household chores to keep your body moving. Go for post-prandial walks for better digestion. Play a game in the evening to not be sedentary watching TV. Small changes can bring big progress to your weight loss routine.
Healthy Sleep Cycle
Sleep plays a significant role in hormonal balance, mental health, and physical health. Restful sleep of at least 8-10 hours daily is as important as it is to exercise and stay active. And so, ensure that your sleep cycle is healthy. This includes waking up early, eating food at least 2-3 hours before going to bed, winding down to sleep on time, and taking 8-10 hours of restful sleep every day.
Managing Stress
Stress can worsen PCOS symptoms and make your weight loss journey even more challenging. Stress leads to a rise in cortisol levels in the body which leads to fat storage (particularly around the abdomen), and can disrupt your mental health too. Practicing even simple techniques like walking in the park, meditating, yoga, and deep breathing can help manage stress and its symptoms. Prioritize sleep to manage stress and hunger-induced stress.
RightLife App: Aids weight loss for women with PCOS
Losing weight with PCOS requires a holistic approach. This means one shouldn’t just be focused on diet alone, the kind of workout, insulin resistance, active lifestyle, hormonal balance, wellness practice, etc play a big role for women living with PCOS. Hence, RightLife App takes a comprehensive approach to helping women take their weight loss journey forward even with PCOS. The App helps design a lifestyle that is easy to follow and supports weight loss with PCOS through simple practices that women can follow in their daily lives with ease and ace in their weight loss journey.
The MoveRight feature has workouts and exercises suited for women with PCOS and recommends individual workouts as per their fitness levels, lifestyle, and needs.
The EatRight feature highlights dietary changes that one can follow to deal with insulin resistance and aid in balanced sugar levels.
The ThinkRight feature recommends simple but effective yoga practices, meditation, position affirmations, etc that can help deal with stress, hormonal balance, and active lifestyle.
The SleepRight feature promotes an understanding of healthy practices that help build a better sleep routine.
The RightLife App is a holistic way for women to design their lifestyle around the effective management of PCOS symptoms and lose weight holistically and sustainably.
Every woman’s body is different so its important to find out what works for you and stay committed to your goals. With a dedicated tool to help you in your weight loss journey, you can make the most of your efforts towards weight loss and start seeing results in just a few days.
