Eva Humphries 
The world of wellness is full of expensive products, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that ‘getting healthy’ is an expensive hobby. In reality, the best health boosters are often the most cost efficient – music to our ears during the current climate. BANT registered nutritionist Eva Humphries looks at three overlooked ways to improve our wellbeing at no additional cost.
The great outdoors
Getting outdoors is hugely beneficial for our wellbeing; that’s not exactly new news, but there is far more to this than you may think.
Studies conducted in low oxygen environments made a pretty strong association between the lack of oxygen and low mood, even depression. Although these studies were mostly done at extremes, our indoor environments can also be devoid of the necessary levels of oxygen to keep us in tiptop condition.
Step into a woodland, however, and plentiful oxygen is just waiting to be inhaled.
Oxygen aside, a further study conducted in four European cities also concluded that getting outdoors every day does indeed improve our mood and may even lower anxiety.
The good news doesn’t end there. If you happen to wander outside on a sunny day, sunlight hitting the skin causes the release of potent chemical compounds that may help to lower blood pressure and encourage a greater sense of relaxation.
The key is consistency, so why not aim for 30 minutes or more a day?
Hydrate
This one needs little introduction. Drunk in the right quantity, the stuff out of the tap is a good way to look after the health of your kidneys and even keep fatigue at bay. Based on some pretty convincing science, dehydration is one of the leading causes of tiredness, once sleep and other variables have been ruled out.
Please note, caffeinated beverages do the opposite of hydrating us.
Aiming for around two litres of water a day is optimum for most adults.
Phone free evenings
Don’t worry, this isn’t a long spiel about radiation or the ill effects of social media. Rather, it’s a matter
of light.
You may have already noticed just how easy it is to wake up on bright, sunny summer days and how much harder it is to get out of bed on darker winter ones. Our sleep/ wake cycle, aka the system that wakes us up in the morning and helps us fall asleep at night, is very light dependant.
It is so light dependant, in fact, that the latest body of research is associating our increased evening exposure to artificial light – phones, tablets, TVs – to shorter and poorer sleep. In effect, those artificial lights are tricking our brains into thinking it’s not yet the evening, nor it is not yet time to fall asleep.
Since good-quality sleep is vital for our wellbeing, having a few tech-free evenings a week may go some way in resetting those restful sleep patterns.
Join Eva on a retreat
Join us for a relaxed retreat designed for real people. Enjoy a laid-back atmosphere, expert-led yet realistic nutrition sessions, delicious food (not kale salads), yoga designed for all abilities (even if you can’t touch your toes), wine with dinner (if it’s your thing) and zero pressure to stick to a timetable. Our retreats that feel more like a wholesome break where you can truly switch off.
• Ibiza Yoga & Nutrition Retreat – 7-14 October 2023. 3, 4 or 7-night options available
• Peak District Yoga & Nutrition Retreat – 24-27 November 2023
• Find out more at wholefoodwarrior.co.uk/retreats
• You can find more of Eva’s work online on wholefoodwarrior.co.uk or via social media under @wholefoodwarrior on most platforms.
