What defines ‘living healthy’ is often decided by you and what works best for your life. This may include physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual parts of your health that are important to you and your values. Living a healthy lifestyle may look different for you than it does for others.

There are things that you may consider in leading a healthy lifestyle or developing new healthy living habits:

• Physical exercise
• Sleep habits
• Nutrition and relationship to food
• Traditional cultural practices and traditional healing
• Mindfulness exercises
• Counselling and therapy
• Spiritual wellness
• Self-reflection and personal development
• Quality of relationships
• Making time for fun and leisure
• Stress management
• Educating yourself about your experience with substances; there are low-risk alcohol-drinking guidelines and ways to stay safer if you use other drugs

It’s important to focus on actions that are easy for you to do, and that you can maintain on an ongoing basis. One approach that can help is setting SMART goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and have a timeline.

Making healthy choices can improve your energy levels, your mood, and your ability to focus. Healthy living can also reduce your risks for some mental health challenges, as well as other health problems like heart disease and diabetes.