Happy Earth Day! 
Over the past year, I’ve given you many ideas to improve your wellness in the form of weekly wellness challenges. Today I want to link back to some of those, as well as a few articles from alternate websites that I love that I haven’t written about just yet! You can incorporate these ideas to improve your own health while helping the health of the planet!
- Walk more, drive less Sitting all day at work, and then going home to sit in front of the TV is dangerous for your health. Review Weekly Wellness Challenge #5 to find ways to get more steps in your daily routine.
- Spend time outside. There are benefits of spending time in nature including increased movement and sunshine exposure! As you spend more time out in nature, you will deepen your appreciation for our world and your desire to preserve and improve it! Get more ideas in Weekly Wellness Challenge # 12- Spending More time Outside.
- Buy Organic Produce. Reduce your exposure to pesticides and herbicides that are commonly used to grow non-organic produce. Learn how non-organic produce might be causing you to gain weight in Weekly Wellness Challenge #9.
- Clean without Chemicals. Did you know that traditional cleaning products contain powerful chemicals that have been linked to serious health conditions including cancer and hormone dysregulation? Learn to clean without chemicals in Weekly Wellness Challenge #7
- Move More, Move better- Review Weekly Wellness Challenge #11, to find ways to incorporate more functional movements into your daily routine! Doing this can help you cut down the need for man made devices to help you with everyday tasks!
- Sleep better. Did you know that exposure to artificial lights and screens after the sun sets can cause problems with your circadian rhythms and sleep hormones? I haven't written about this yet, but here is an article I love that explains this idea in greater detail.
- Eat Real Food. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know my passion for eating "real food". Not only is "real food" good for you, it is also good for the environment because it comes with less packaging and doesn't require factory processes to be created! Here is an article with tips for eating real food, and locally produced food on a budget!
- Improve your Social Wellness- Having meaningful relationships has been shown to improve your health and increase your longevity! Being with friends and family in person is another way to remove yourself from technology. Get more ideas from Weekly Wellness Challenge #14.
- Simplify your life by purging unnecessary items- I have yet to write about this concept yet, but removing extra "stuff" from you life is a great way reduce stress (less clutter, less cleaning, less money to spend on things, etc.) If you are wondering what to do with these items, here is a great resource for ways to reuse and recycle them!
- Prioritize your life- . Spending time to figure out what is important to you and making sure your time, energy, and resources match up with your priorities can have a huge impact on your overall outlook on life! Think about how important the earth and the environment are to you, and whether your daily routine matches up with that value or not? Are there small changes that you could make in how you spend your time and money that would make a big impact on our world? Read more in Weekly Wellness Challenge #19
I hope you are feeling inspired! Let me know how it goes on Facebook! Feel free to tell me about your own ideas to improve your health and the health of our planet!
- Dr. Jamie Thomure