Three easy changes to boost your wellbeing

It doesn’t have to take a lot of money or even time to look after your body and improve how you feel. Just a few small tweaks can make all the difference. 

For instance, Yakult Plus is a delicious simple way to support a healthy lifestyle. The tiny bottle takes just a moment to drink, but is bursting with 20 billion friendly bacteria scientifically proven to reach the gut alive, is rich in vitamin C – which supports the immune system and helps lower fatigue - and contains fibre that feed the bacteria in the gut. Plus, it has a fruity citrus flavour, which tastes delicious.

“The gut microbiota consists of trillions of microbes in our gastrointestinal tract,” says registered dietitian Jennifer Low. “The bacteria in our guts are hugely important and can impact our health and wellbeing.”  

“The amount and type of fibre we consume can help to determine the diversity of our gut bacteria and eating a greater diversity of foods is associated with better overall health.” 

To help you make small yet smart changes, Low has suggested more self-care ideas alongside your daily Yakult Plus to support your wellbeing and body. 

1. Get some sun first thing

Many people struggle with sleep. “In a society that talks frequently about being busy and stressed, we spend a lot of our time fighting our body’s natural circadian rhythms, which is the 24 hour ‘clock’ that we’re designed to work on,” says Low. “Instead of listening to our internal natural cues to sleep, we use electric lighting, screens, caffeine and alcohol to keep us awake outside of the times we would naturally sleep.”

One effective habit you can adopt to improve your sleep is to expose yourself to five minutes of natural sunlight within 60 minutes of waking up. “This has been shown to help you feel more awake throughout the day and improve your ability to fall and stay asleep at night time,” says Low.

2. Practice everyday mindfulness

“Mindfulness is a compassionate way of coming into awareness of our own thoughts, feelings, body sensations, emotions and the environment around us,” says Low. “It is non-judgmental and does not require us to make a change, merely observe.”

There are plenty of meditation apps and classes to try, but an easier way to start is to be mindful during routine activities. Low suggests intentionally noticing how water feels on your skin when you shower or paying attention to air moving in and out of your lungs. We especially like the idea of noticing how food tastes and feels in your mouth.

As well as helping you get more enjoyment from what you eat, mindfulness can have bigger benefits. “Practicing mindfulness meditation has been associated with enhanced wellbeing in healthy individuals,” says Low. “By turning our attention to whatever is going on internally for us, we can slowly become an observer of our ‘self’ and by extending that awareness to our environment we can start to see how we react to our environment and people around us. When we can observe, we can choose to respond with awareness, rather than react unconsciously.”

3. Take a walk in the park

It’s easy to think that the only exercise worth doing is the punishing type, and that you’re not “an exercise person,” but something as simple as taking a stroll around a park, contributes to the NHS’s recommendation of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.

If you can combine it with mindfulness to connect with nature, you could even increase the benefits of your walk. “This is a relatively new area of research,” says Low. “It describes the way we experience nature, as opposed to just being in nature.

“We can walk through the park and not notice a thing, or we can walk through the park and connect with how the birds sound, or how the trees are outlined against the sky, how the ground feels under our feet. This is nature connection.  

“Studies indicate that if we have high levels of nature-connectedness, we are happier in life and have lower levels of depression and anxiety, feel more vitality, positive feelings and increased satisfaction with life.  

“Two hours a week has been found to be a dosage that significantly boosts health and wellbeing.”