Eco-Friendly Health Practices for Sustainable Wellness

It’s possible to live a healthy and active lifestyle while still supporting the world around us. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself that talking about adopting habits that are both healthy and sustainable is easier said than done. But, in reality, a few simple changes to your routine can have a noticeable impact on your life.

Here are a few easy ways to promote sustainable wellness in your life.

1. Begin Observing Meatless Mondays

Americans have a love affair with meat. Each year, the average U.S. citizen consumes about 224.6 pounds of meat. Unfortunately, meeting this sky-high demand for meat has led to unhealthy and unsustainable farming practices.

When asked to describe a farm, most people would list features such as a red barn with rolling fields sectioned off for different farm animals. Over the last century, however, farms have become much more industrial, with thousands of animals packed into small quarters. This method of raising livestock—particularly cattle—is linked to heart disease among humans who frequently consume it.

It’s also disastrous to the environment. By raising animals in unnatural environments in close proximity, industrial farms generate an enormous amount of CO2, methane, and ammonia, which can contribute to global warming. Cutting meat out of your diet one day a week can make a small yet positive impact on the environment while supporting your cardiovascular health.

If you enjoy meat, you don’t need to give it up entirely. Moderating the amount you eat by a small amount can, however, improve your health and cut down on emissions.

2. Walk Or Bike More Often

If there’s anything Americans love more than meat, it’s driving. More than 90 percent of U.S. households own or lease at least one vehicle.

It makes sense. After all, the United States is a country with relatively low population densities and underdeveloped public transportation compared to its peers. But our reliance on cars can come at a cost. In the short-term, driving can cause eye strain and muscle stiffness. Studies have also found that, over the long-term, driving can cause a range of issues, including high blood pressure, obesity, and mental health disorders.

Then, of course, you have the environmental impact of driving. Every year, the average passenger vehicle releases about nearly five metric tons of carbon dioxide. When you consider how many vehicles travel on roadways around the world daily, its devastating effects on the environment become clear.

Simply choosing to bike or walk to work or when you’re running errands is a great form of exercise that also reduces your environmental footprint.

3. Start Your Own Garden

If you need a bit of encouragement to include vegetables in your diet, growing them on your own can do the trick.

Vegetables are, of course, a part of a well-balanced diet. They’re high in fiber and other vitamins and nutrients your body needs to function. Plus, maintaining a nutritious diet can reduce the need for frequent visits to a wellness shop, helping you save money on health supplements.

But nutrition is only one of the health benefits of gardening. It can also reduce stress, improve your mental health, and offer the level of exertion your body needs to burn calories and build muscle.

On top of the health benefits associated with it, gardening is also good for the environment. Plants absorb harmful gasses in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, and convert them into oxygen. This, in turn, slows down the effects of global warming. Gardening can also protect local wildlife, including bugs and rodents, by offering them a home in a world in which many of their natural habitats are rapidly being destroyed.

4. Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Supplies

Every day, we use sprays and soaps to clean our counters, floors, and other surfaces. Many of these cleaning supplies contain chemicals that are harmful to our health and destructive to the environment.

The list of potentially dangerous chemicals used in air fresheners, detergents, aerosol sprays, and other cleaning supplies is long. It includes compounds that can damage the lungs, such as chlorine and ammonia, and cause irritation to the skin and eyes. Some of these chemicals are even linked to serious conditions like cancer and infertility.

Traditional cleaning supplies are equally damaging to the environment. After being poured down the sink, the chemicals in these cleaning supplies can end up in streams and rivers, which can harm plants and other organisms. Eventually, these chemicals enter drinking water sources and are later ingested, causing cumulative damage to our bodies.

Today, the packaging for many cleaning products includes claims of being “green” or “eco-friendly.” Unfortunately, this messaging can, at times, be misleading. Suppose you want to know whether a cleaning product you’re considering purchasing is free of toxic chemicals. In that case, the EPA maintains a database of cleaning products that meet the agency’s “Safer Choice Standard.”

Many of them can be purchased from a green store nearby. You can also make cleaning products at home using common items such as baking soda and vinegar.

5. Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Bottles

Take a walk through your neighborhood, and you’ll likely see at least one person drinking water from a plastic bottle. It may seem like a harmless practice, but drinking from single-use bottles is bad for us and the environment.

For one, studies have found a single plastic water bottle can contain about 240,000 microplastics and nanoplastics. While the effects of these plastics on the human body are still being studied, some of the chemicals used in manufacturing them are considered carcinogens.

Even more importantly, plastic bottles are incredibly damaging to the environment. In 2019, people worldwide consumed more than 490 million metric tons of plastic. Much of this plastic ends up in landfills and, eventually, waterways, where it is consumed by fish and other sea creatures. Producing plastic also consumes a significant amount of fossil fuels, which contributes to global warming.

By drinking from a reusable water bottle, you can play your part in slowing environmental destruction while protecting your health.

Get Started Today

None of these measures take much time or effort to get started. So, why wait? Start living a more healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyle today.