No generation has shown as much interest in establishing a fitness regime than the Millennials. Equipped with a fitness app on their smartphone and a wristwatch that serves as an activity tracker, they jog through life, from home to the workplace, and from the workplace to that little coffee shop around the corner that sells kale and chia seeds smoothies. All that goes without mentioning the bullet journal designed to track all positive habits, such as drinking enough water, working out at home, or even the number of steps you take in a day. Yep, in a word, Millennials are healthy, or so they appear to be. Unfortunately, in the digital age, people are more likely to become misinformed about the best approach to a healthy lifestyle.
How come? You can’t avoid the piles of online resources about health and fitness, and unfortunately, not all of them are sharing sound advice. In fact, despite the attention to leading a healthy lifestyle and follow the best fitness regime, it’s likely that Millennials are still committing a few mistakes on the way. Below we’ve listed the 7 most common ill-founded assumptions that can in the long term lead to mental or physical health complications.
#1. Being stressed out is NOT a mind game
Between heavy workload and tight deadlines in the workplace, and without mentioning the constant struggle to keep up your household bills, it’s no wonder that more and more people have to deal with acute stress and anxiety disorders. While the feeling might be disproportionate compared to the situation at hand, it doesn’t mean that telling yourself to calm down because it’s all in your mind can help. This common piece of advice in the online world – stress is only in your mind – is pointless. Instead, there are habits that you can incorporate into your daily lifestyle to reduce the risks of experiencing stress. Yoga, for instance, is beneficial to reset your mind and shut down the little door in which stress enters your life. Additionally, too many adults rely on hard substances to go through the day and deal with stress, from alcohol to nicotine. In reality, these substances don’t remove the feeling of stress; they only create a vicious addictive circle in which you are convinced that you need the particular substance to manage. The most helpful approach to stress is to acknowledge it. If you tend to experience regular panic or anxiety attacks, you might find that keeping a journal of when, why and how you felt at the time can become a helpful tool to gradually solve the underlying issues and reduce your stress levels.
#2. Your fitness budget is a motivation
You might have watched Rocky and wondered whether all you needed was a few steps in the middle of Philadelphia to keep yourself motivated. In reality, what motivates young adults to stay healthy and work out regularly is their dedicated fitness budget. In other words, the more you spend, the more you want to train. From high-quality cage squat racks for weight workouts at home to fashionable sports outfits, you need to invest in your fitness regime if you want to have a chance to stick with it. As silly as it might sound, if you’re excited about the clothes you wear and the tools you use, you’re more likely to pursue your fitness journey.
#3. You don’t need to track everything
Those who don’t own a fitness tracker raise your hand. If you’re wondering about buying one for Christmas, you may want to find out about the study published in JAMA last year. People who own a fitness tracker don’t lose more weight than those who don’t. What’s the point of buying a tracking device, you ask. None. In fact, fitness wearables make workouts more stressful as you need to hit a certain performance level.
#4. Vitamin supplements are probably pointless
If you’re the kind of person who takes vitamin supplements every morning for breakfast, then you may want to rethink your approach. For instance, taking a calcium supplement for your bones might, in fact, calcify arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Taking more than 22 IU vitamin E every day might be connected to the risk of cancers. Additionally, if you’re self-medicating with iodine supplement, you may want to consult a doctor as it’s associated with dysfunctions of the thyroid gland.
#5. Goodbye skinny girls, hello strong figures
The no-carb and long cardio workouts regime is, thankfully, dying out to be replaced by a healthier approach. However, magazines continue to promote the skinny girl figure, which can affect women’s attitude to health. Indeed, it’s important that young people understand that beauty is health, and not fitting in a size zero dress. A strong woman is a woman who knows what her body is capable of and who has taken it to its limits without starvation and pain. The combination of a balanced diet and strength is the new sexy.
#6. Ditch the protein shake if you’re not into bodybuilding
A typical gym evening may look like this: You get changed, you sweat, and finally, you prepare your protein shake in your favorite flavor. Everything would be perfect if the protein shake were actually doing you any good. According to a fitness trainer, these shakes are purely nutritional and are designed to help your muscle cells recover after workouts. However, unless you don’t consume any protein during your day, it’s likely that you don’t need any supplement. Besides, there’s no point for a shake if you’re not on a high level of training.
#7. Vegans and vegetarians don’t live longer
According to a recent study, a vegetarian or vegan diet doesn’t increase your life expectancy. In other words, eliminating meat and other animal products from your diet may not be as beneficial as some might say. The assumption that reducing the consumption of meat to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer has been proven unfounded. In other words, diet only can’t make you healthy!
The bottom line is that you shouldn’t rely on the diets, supplement advice and workouts found online to maintain your health. From indispensable supplements to ditching red meat, there’s a lot of incorrect information on the web. Don’t take chances and consult a doctor to stay on the right path.
