If the last year hasn’t made you think closely about your health then it’s hard to imagine what it would take to give you the impetus to do so. We’ve all been invited to consider the available options to keep ourselves free from the Covid virus, and to avoid transmitting it to others, and it’s only natural that it makes us think about our health more generally.

The truth is that health really isn’t so much about doing one simple thing. There is no “This One Weird Trick” that will hack the whole concept of health and change things around for you. In fact, being healthier is about looking at how you do everything, and seeing if there is room for a different way of doing it. As we will detail below, a few examples can help you to understand the kind of decision you can make if you want to live more healthily.

Have a set bedtime and getting-up time

Of course, the time we get up is usually dictated by outside forces such as working hours anyway, but the more important element of this idea is the time we go to bed. Having a routine around bedtime will allow your body to appreciate when it is time to power down and, even if you don’t get to sleep right away, you can take the time to simply rest. During restful awakeness, your body can perform a lot of the repairs and processes it usually does in sleep.

Live a purer life

There are so many elements of diet and other parts of life that can be considered “contaminating”, and it’s probably not worth the effort of trying to give them all up – but you can cut a lot out through simple changes that won’t cost much. Buying and running an air purifier in your home is one way you can avoid environmental pollution even when just sitting around, and not be subjected to how free radicals affect the body. The same effect can come from drinking purified water – and if you live in an area with significant air pollution, consider wearing a mask. They don’t just reduce viral transmission.

Learn to enjoy silence

Almost everything that we do these days, we do against a backdrop of some soundtrack or other, simply because the feeling of silence is a little eerie to so many people. However, silence is good for us. You don’t need to meditate, although it’s no bad thing if you do. The key is the quiet time, which can help to lower stress levels and blood pressure, promote brain health and even help the immune system. Not everything in your life needs to become part of the silence, but if you can add some peaceful time into your day somewhere that’s currently loud and distracting, you’ll reap the benefits.

Some new habits in your day, like taking vitamins or learning yoga, can be a positive boost to your health as well, but in truth nothing will help like simply changing how you do things that you already do. The above changes are simple and can be adopted with little impact in your everyday life – and they’re all highly effective.