Experts agree that diet and exercise form the cornerstone of healthy living. Elisabetta Politi, who is associated with Duke Diet and Fitness Center, says that to lose weight and live healthy, one needs to opt for a healthy eating plan and be more active. This means that healthy eating habits and regular exercise will always form the basis of a healthy lifestyle.

 Healthy Lifestyle,Alternative Strategies,yoga,meditation

Despite the role of balanced diet and fitness activities in good living, many people are willing to know if there are alternative approaches for leading a healthy life. Wendy Kohatsu, professor, University of California, stresses that apart from diet and exercise, one can always consider alternative approaches for healthy living. If you are interested to know about these alternative approaches, read on.

Acupuncture for a healthy lifestyle

Acupuncture is a famous branch of traditional Chinese medicine and contributes in a healthy lifestyle by balancing your emotional, physical and mental health. According to a report published by University of Maryland, acupuncture provides significant pain relief and people suffering from chronic low-back pain can opt for it. Another good living study conducted by researchers at Hull York Medical School and University of York revealed that acupuncture contributes in a healthy lifestyle by changing activities in particular brain structures. This in turn can deactivate the pain-related brain areas. This study has been published in the journal Brain Research.

Despite the role played by acupuncture in a healthy lifestyle, many will be disappointed to know that weight loss is not a goal of traditional acupuncture. However, Victor Sierpina, who is associated with University of Texas Medical Branch, stresses that certain aspects of acupuncture can help you to lose weight.

Choose meditation and mindfulness to live well

For leading a healthy lifestyle, you can opt for meditation. Experts say that meditation encourages focusing your attention on your thoughts and feelings, while mindfulness is about increasing your consciousness. According to a study conducted by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is associated with University of Massachusetts Medical School, meditation helped the participants to become calmer and more relaxed. Another article published in The Huffington Post revealed that meditation plays a crucial role in healthy lifestyle by reducing depression, anxiety disorders and distracting thoughts.

Apart from limiting negative and distracting thoughts, meditation and mindfulness contribute in a healthy lifestyle by allowing people to lose weight. Both meditation and mindfulness stress on enhancing your consciousness and studies have proved that being aware of your eating habits can help you in weight loss. Frederick Hecht, research director, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine says, “Based on our preliminary research, we do think both mindfulness and meditation may assist people in losing weight, especially in maintaining weight loss, but it would have to be in combination with diet and exercise”.

Opt for a healthy lifestyle with the help of prayer

Experts believe that praying has a calming effect on your mind and this allows you to lead a healthy lifestyle. Roberta Lee, who is associated with Beth Israel Medical Center, says, “Prayer can be a contemplative, peaceful event to help you control your life emotionally. Like meditation, it’s a great way to tune out mental noise and use your inner resources for positive reinforcement”.

Lead a healthy lifestyle with hypnosis

Research studies are yet to prove that hypnosis can help you to lose weight. However, this has not stopped experts from claiming that it can play a crucial role in healthy living. Steven Gurgevich, who has written book such as ‘The Self-Hypnosis Diet’ comments, “You learn to focus your concentration and enter a state of inner absorption, like a trance.”This helps you to lead a happier and more satisfying life.