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9 Absolutely Bad Habits for your Body

Some habits can develop without you even realizing it. Plus, you may not know that they are very bad for your body. It can be easy to become used to things that you do frequently. If you want to avoid habits that harm your body, read on about these nine body-damaging habits that you can overcome.

1 – Over-Exercising

Some exercise is good for you, but too much is damaging. Yes, you can exercise every day but there’s a fine line between working out every day and overtraining. A little soreness is normal and nothing to worry about. Being sore for a week or more and not being able to walk is another thing. Listen to your body and don’t be stubborn.

A good warm-up and remember to hydrate and stretch can go a long way here. Dehydration can have the same effect on the body as over-exercising. As you get into a fitness routine you will be able to handle more.

2 – Staying Up Late

It’s not going to harm you if you stay up late sometimes but doing it regularly and still getting up on time can truly harm your body. Lack of sleep can cause a whole host of health problems. You can end up having more cardiovascular disease and digestive issues if you stay up too late all the time. Sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your body. Sleep is when we heal and recover and when our muscles repair themselves.

3 – Sitting Too Much

One of the worst things you can do for your life is to sit all the time. That cannot be helped if your job requires sitting. However, it’s important to understand that sitting will harm your circulation, cardiovascular health, and contributes to obesity. The good news is you only need to exercise about 20 to 30 minutes a day for every four hours you sit to mitigate the damage. A fitness tracker can help with this. I have a Fitbit Inspire 2 in pink. It reminds me to get up and walk every hour. This is super helpful considering that I work in front of a computer Monday through Friday for 8 hours a day. Plus they have fun challenges you can do with friends. I’

4. Skipping Meals

It’s so tempting to skip meals when you’re busy, but this can be worse for you than you think. You may develop issues with your blood sugar, you might not get enough vitamins and minerals, and you may not be your best at work or at play without enough nutrition. Some major life happenings several years ago had me developing this bad habit.

There was a perior of time where I would forget to eat 2 out of 3 meals a day. This combined with other life stress issues had me losing 25 lbs in 2 months’ time! I went from a size 8 to a 6 to a 4 all in the span of 60 or so days. I did not really have that much weight to spare and it definitely was NOT a healthy way to lose weight.

The My Fitness Pal app really helped me to remember to eat as often as I was supposed to. It’s been a big asset over the years to maintain healthy eating habits and maintain a healthy weight.

5. Emotional Eating

If you find that you eat due to being sad, happy, or feeling any other emotion, it’s good to stop this habit because it can lead to obesity – or even worse, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

I know that it can be tempting to drown your bad mood in a tub of Ben & Jerry’s but that’s not going to help anything. Try to channel your bad mood into a positive action like exercising or try to take up a new hobby.

6. Not Hydrating

If you don’t drink at a minimum of eight glasses of fresh filtered water each day, you are probably walking around dehydrated. When you pee, your pee should be almost clear or a very pale clear shade of yellow. It should not smell bad either. If you do have dark pee and it smells, drink more water. Water helps you process vitamins, minerals, and rid your body of toxins via your kidneys.

If you don’t like plain water add some citrus to it. Try some lemon, lime or even grapefruit or orange! Try to not use a lot of things like crystal light or other water flavorings that have artificial sweeteners in it. Artificial sweeteners are 200-600 times sweeter than actual sugar. They stimulate your taste buds and affect your hormones and can even slow your metabolism!

Having a water bottle, you like can also help with this. I have this one and I LOVE it!

7. Poor Posture

If you don’t know how to sit, stand, or walk properly and you habitually do it incorrectly, eventually it will cause problems. Many people have severe hip problems simply from poor posture that limits mobility when they get older.
I know I am oftentimes guilty of this bad habit. As a woman poor posture can have a much greater negative effect on the body as we age due to calcium loss.

Years ago, I saw an episode of Oprah when she had Halle Berry on. Halle is a fairly short woman. She gave tips on seeming taller. One of them that stuck with me was to always stand tall!

8. Binge Drinking

Drinking a drink or two a day is not bad for you. However, if you tend to overdo it when you drink, you may want to consider not drinking. If you binge drink, you may make poor decisions while you’re drunk, or you may simply end up sick with alcohol poisoning.

When I was in college, I often drank more than I should have. Thankfully I had good friends that kept me from getting behind the wheel or making other poor choices. These days It’s rare that I have more than a glad or two of red wine 3-4 times a week at most. This has been shown to have positive health benefits.

9 – Smoking

Outside of sitting for more than four hours a day, smoking is the next thing on your list that is super-bad for your body. Smoking boosts your blood pressure, puts chemicals into your system, and can cause cancer, stroke, and heart attack.

I was a smoker for about 16 years or so. I’m so happy that I finally quit 5 and a half years ago, and it stuck because I changed enough habits in my life that it didn’t fit anymore. So many times, over the years I had smoked I wished that I had never started in the first place.

I mention more about what helped me quit smoking in THIS POST.

Here’s a post from my friend Sandra at Optimized Life that talks more about creating better habits. Check it out!

Ridding your life of habits that harm your body is a good choice. Don’t try to tackle every one of the bad habits at once. That can be super overwhelming, and it isn’t the way to set yourself up for success. Instead, attack one bad habit at a time. Work on replacing that bad habit with a healthy habit over 30 to 90 days to ensure you’ve beat it before moving on to the next.

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