Eating right and exercising are popular resolutions, and they're also great for your health. But you're not going to get very far if you're doing one of these seven things that could be sabotaging your efforts.

Poor sleep

When you have a lot on your mind and even more on your to-do list, sleep is often the first thing to go. Whether stress is keeping you from shut-eye or you're up too late trying to get things done, poor sleep can really sabotage your health.
It’s time to reframe the way you think of sleep. It’s not a luxury. It’s an essential component of good health.

A night or two of bad sleep will leave you groggy, but it’s the long-term effects of poor sleep that have a true impact on your health.

You know when you’re feeling tired. You probably even know that a few nights of poor rest can mess with your concentration. But what most people don’t know is that chronic sleep deprivation is linked to medical conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.
We have a lot to learn about the precise way sleep impacts our health, but we do know that sleep is crucial to overall health.

Try for 8 hours of sleep each night. Some people need more while others need less, so you can adjust as you feel necessary.

Stress

No one likes feeling stressed out, but too much stress can do more than just make you feel anxious. Over time, chronic stress could be making you sick.

Our bodies have a built-in “fight or flight” reaction to help keep us safe. This was designed for avoidable dangers like being faced with a lion.

When you’re in danger like this, your options are to fight or run. So, your body prepares for one of the two. It does this by quickening your pulse and offering an adrenaline surge to help you fight or run. The problem with the fight or flight reaction in our modern day is that our stresses don’t respond to fight or flight.

Chronic stress can lead to health problems like depression, gastrointestinal issues, asthma, heart disease and obesity.

Try to find a healthy outlet for stress to lessen its physical impact. Yoga, meditation, and exercise are a few examples that work well for many people.

Technology addiction

There's no doubt that mobile phones and tablets are useful, but they can also be addicting. And being connected to your phone all day may have negative health consequences. The blue light can mess with brain chemicals, metabolism, and appetite.

Make an effort to unplug for at least one hour every day. You’ll probably even find that you’re more productive with your time.

Unrealistic goals

We live in a fast-paced society that has conditioned us for instant results. Unfortunately, though, our bodies don’t work that way. If you’re eating right and exercising, it can take months to see any real results. It can take much longer to get a chiseled physique with six-pack abs.
Don't get discouraged. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll eventually reach your destination.

Binge drinking

You may not think of yourself as a problem drinker because you don’t drink every night. But if you drink more than four or five drinks in a two-hour period, you are guilty of binge drinking. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also defines binge drinking as drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on the same occasion at least once in the past 30 days.

In addition to putting you at risk for alcoholism, binge drinking can have a negative impact on your short and long-term memory. If you’re trying to live a healthy lifestyle, avoid binge drinking.

Dehydration

The body is made up of about 60 percent water, so staying hydrated is naturally an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Everyone is at risk for dehydration, but most people don’t realize when they are dehydrated.

For example, do you know that you’re already dehydrated whenever you feel thirsty? Our bodies are designed to go long periods without water, but that’s not ideal.

Water plays an enormous role in every bodily function, including lubricating your joints and eyes, facilitating proper digestion and helping to deliver nutrients to the body's vital organs. We lose water daily through sweat and respiration, and it's important to replace that lost water.

Once you’ve lost 1 to 2 percent of your body’s water, you will begin feeling thirsty. This is one of the first signs of dehydration. It’s your body’s way of telling you that hydrating has become crucial to your health.

If you don’t hydrate, you may experience symptoms like confusion, dizziness, sweating too much or too little and irritability.

Everyone's water needs will vary, but you can start by getting the recommended eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. Adjust from here if you feel you need more or less.

Dieting too hard

When you’re trying to reach a goal, it’s tempting to go hard. Cutting your calorie intake below 1,200 may produce weight loss results but they will most certainly come at a cost.
Cutting calories for a few days or weeks won’t have long-term effects on a healthy person, but long-term extreme dieting can have serious side effects.

Your body needs calories from your diet to fuel vital functions. If you don’t produce those calories, your body will begin to break down its tissues for energy.

Bottom line: Do not attempt a low-calorie diet unless you have approval and guidance from your doctor.

If you want weight loss results, combine diet and exercise. And use this formula for figuring out how many calories your body needs: If you’re active, multiply your body weight by 15. Multiply your body weight by 12 if you aren’t active.

If you want to stay healthy and fit for the long term, it's important to take care of your body and mind. Diet and exercise are very important, but be sure not to overlook the seven things on this list, or you may be sabotaging your good health.

Author's Bio: 

Misty Jhones