Nowadays, modern advances in the quality of everyday life have made America more and more convenient in many ways. People have the ability to find and order fast food at an even faster rate through sites like SkipTheDishes. They can work from home. Or if they do have to work outside of the home, they are typically working from the comfort of a desk or car for several hours or so.
While convenience is great at streamlining everyday needs, it does mean that we remain sedentary for more than what is good for us both mentally and physically.
According to the CDC, only 21% of adults are meeting the recommended 150 minutes of exercise a week. As a result, many struggle with being overweight, which can lead to a number of diseases, including heart disease.
Despite the downsides of not maintaining health, quite a few Americans see staying fit as a waste of time and money. And it’s not an unreasonable thought! We’re all busy bees that have many other needs we want to fulfill with our limited time and money. Time could be spent working more to earn more money. And in turn, that extra money could be spent on more interesting and fulfilling hobbies that make life worth living.
But you don’t have to forfeit your health for more time and money. Instead consider these cost-saving health suggestions.
KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR MEDICATIONS
A simple way to start feeling better without wasting much time or money is by simply managing your medications. According to Live Science, at least 45% of people under the age of 65 choose not to pay for their prescriptions because their insurance won’t cover the cost.
While this is an understandable response to extravagant costs, avoiding your physician-prescribed medications means you lose out on the ability to work and enjoy other activities at your healthiest.
Imagine trying to work or enjoy the sun while struggling to get through a mild or moderate asthma attack or not being able to manage any other condition properly.
It’s an unpleasant reality many face. But you don’t have to. There are many ways to make your prescriptions much more affordable.
For example, one option is to buy all of your prescriptions online through an international and Canadian pharmacy referral source, such as Rx Connected. Using Rx Connected, you not only can get all your medication from one place shipped directly to your home, but you can also buy them at a significantly lower price.
Because Rx Connected gives you the chance to buy prescriptions from sources outside of the United States, the price of your purchase is typically lower. This is because many other countries have stricter pharmaceutical price regulations than the States.
GET ACTIVE
Outside of lowering what medication costs you have, you can easily improve health by just moving about.
You don’t need to start getting a gym membership or anything that fancy or extravagant. All you need to do is meet the required weekly 150 minutes of exercise wherever and whenever you can throughout each week.
Sounds like a daunting number, doesn’t it? You can make it a much less scary thought, by taking those weekly 150 minutes and breaking them up into smaller chunks.
As noted by the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, doing your weekly exercise in smaller chunks will still give you the same health benefit that you’d get if you were doing longer bouts of exercise all at once. So you can feel relieved, knowing that shorter amounts of exercise means you’re focusing less on a chore but still getting what you need to be more active and healthy.
You can simply walk for 10 minutes each day, take a break, and do 10 more minutes at a later time.
Not a fan of the outdoors much? Then consider doing something as easy as a short workout every time the commercials come on your TV.
FOCUS ON YOUR NUTRITION
When it comes to mealtime, you might be craving all sorts of sugary and processed delights that are easy to order from the local fast food joint.
You don’t have to avoid these types of meals entirely, but maybe consider cutting back from them a little bit. Sugary items like soda usually have a lot of sugar with little to no nutritional value. And highly processed foods usually lose most of their vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other aspects that made them worth eating in the first place.
In their place, consider making delicious and nutritious meals at home with the following:
- Vegetables and fruits — these contain a number of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber to help you maintain a healthy weight
- Whole grain foods — with whole grains, you get a decent amount of fiber, protein, and B vitamins
- Various protein sources — different sources of protein will help you better build and maintain bones, muscles, and skin
Preparing these meals at home ensures that you know what exactly goes into your diet.
While it can sound like a lot of work, you can make all this meal preparation cost next to nothing to your time and money by using a subscription service like HelloFresh. With HelloFresh, you can pick various healthy recipes from a changing weekly menu and get the required ingredients shipped directly to your doorstep with accompanying step-by-step recipes. You don’t have to do any shopping or go anywhere; you just simply pay a little over $10 (with no shipping costs) and wait for your shipment. Then, you can quickly make it using the provided instructions.
Staying happy and healthy doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Your life can still be just as convenient, and you can still use the majority of your time and money how you see fit. Just consider ways you can ease your medication, fitness, and nutrition costs. Your mind and body will be sure to thank you!