5 Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Health
Spring is the perfect time of year to clean out and start anew. The days are longer, the flowers are blooming, and there is an overall sense of rebirth. This is a great time to reexamine our health and wellness goals as well. Maybe you had a New Year’s resolution that took a back seat, and it is something important that you want to revisit. Now is the perfect time! Below are 5 simple tips that can help you refocus and get ready for the busy summer to leave you time to enjoy activities with friends and family in a healthy way. Science suggests that taking some time to organize, refocus on your health and clean this spring can actually increase your productivity and make you feel better.
- Clean under appliances and furniture. With spring time comes an increase in allergens, such as pollen. In order to reduce allergens in the house, do a deep clean in places that you normally wouldn’t clean. This will help get rid of that dust that has piled up over time in the home and can help make the environment that you live in cleaner, which can benefit health, especially if you have allergies. The actual act of cleaning can also give you more energy and can make some people happy.
- Declutter your diet. Spring is a good time to clean out the pantry of all those snack foods, junk foods, and expired foods. Take some time to reexamine your nutrition and diet goals. Is your nutrition where you want it to be? Instead of high-sugar junk food, stock up on canned no-salt-added vegetables, like green beans. Order Medifast popcorn for a delicious portion controlled snack when you find yourself in front of the pantry. Take a look through your refrigerator, throw out expired foods and wipe out spills and dirt. Stock up on lean and green meal ingredients, like lean proteins and salad greens for a healthy dinner option. Making these healthy foods available and present in your environment automatically increases the likelihood of working towards your goals.
- Clean out your exercise clothes. Take all of your exercise clothes out of your closet and/or dresser. Try them all on. Donate exercise clothes that no longer fit, that you do not wear any longer or if they have simply accumulated over time. Use worn-out clothes as rags to clean under those appliances and furniture. Maybe a favorite exercise outfit made its way to the bottom of the drawer, and you can move it to the top of the pile! It’s like getting a new outfit without having to buy one. The clean out may give you extra room to go out and buy a new outfit. This may give you renewed motivation to get back to the gym and fit in exercise.
- Organize, organize, organize. Start organizing one draw at a time. Choose that junk drawer in the kitchen or the top of your dresser that seems to be the catch-all. Do one area a day for a week in 15 minute time increments. Before you know it some of the most cluttered areas in your home will be organized and you can go into summer more organized. Make quick decisions about your “stuff.” How long has it been sitting there? Can it be recycled, donated or thrown away? Practice makes perfect, so making those quick decisions every day can help you get organized quicker.
- Get outside for your vitamin D. The winter months tend to keep folks indoors which will naturally decrease vitamin D levels. Low vitamin D levels have been linked to depression, increased blood pressure and bone pain, however, a mild deficiency does not necessary produce symptoms. Simply getting outside a few minutes a day can help increase your vitamin D levels. That is why they call this vitamin the sunshine vitamin. Spring is a great time to recommit to getting outside through gardening, playing with the kids or simply taking a walk. A few minutes a day of sunshine can be just the activity you need to boost your mood and round out your spring cleaning regimen!
