These days, you can’t get online or watch television without hearing or seeing something about how human and planet health are in jeopardy. As far as our planet’s health, the climate crisis alone is triggering disasters that are wiping out our natural resources and trimming years off of human life expectancy.

A stronger collective effort from the world is necessary to redirect human and planet health. However, it starts with the individuals. It starts with you. Welcoming sustainability into your everyday life can lead to a healthier you and ultimately contribute to the larger movement of planet longevity.

Let’s explore how embracing sustainability can benefit your mental and physical health, quality of life, and the environment. We’ll also leave you with a few tips for incorporating more sustainability into your daily life.

Living More Sustainably Can Lead to Better Life Outcomes

There are a lot of people who don’t believe their individual sustainability efforts will truly make a difference. On a grander, global scale, the impact may be hard to see. But, at the very least, living more sustainably can lead to better outcomes in your life.

Better health and well-being

When you incorporate sustainability into your daily life, you become more mindful of how what you do impacts you. Paying close attention to what you buy as well as put on and in your body fast tracks you to better health and well-being.

For example, plant-based eating is becoming increasingly popular for many reasons.

Plant-based diets tend to be full of the best foods for you, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. Fruits and vegetables, in particular, reduce inflammation, support immune function, and have antioxidants that fight off harmful free radicals.

In addition, the vitamins and minerals in plant-based diets can increase your energy levels. Fueling your body with these good foods positively impacts your mood and mental health as well.

For example, arachidonic acid (ARA) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid found in food that’s essential for the development and function of your nervous system, brain and cognitive function, muscles, and immune system.

In addition, according to the Journal of Advanced Research, “Endocannabinoids are oxidation-independent ARA derivatives, critically important for brain reward signaling, motivational processes, emotion, stress responses, pain, and energy balance.”

Plant-based and sustainable food sources, like black currant seed oil, flaxseed, and soybean, are good sources of ARA, and consuming them regularly can result in the positive mental and physical health benefits above.

The shift to a better diet, whether vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based diet, can better your health and well-being on its own. But sustainable living can also enhance your holistic health by way of a healthier home life.

Create a healthier home life

One of the simplest ways to incorporate more sustainability into your life is to replace things in your home that aren’t environmentally friendly with sustainable alternatives.

Take cleaning products, for example. Green cleaning products are made with toxic-free ingredients that aren’t disruptive to your skin, eyes, and respiratory health. A simple shift like this reduces your exposure to harmful chemicals and materials and improves the air quality, making your home life and environment much healthier.

Aside from eco-friendly swaps, you adopt other habits that improve your health, home life, and the environment when you embrace sustainability.

For instance, you may choose to walk or bike instead of driving to reduce your carbon footprint and stay active simultaneously.

You might choose to read more about sustainability and develop a mindset that helps you become closer to nature so that you’re more inclined to protect it. Or, maybe you incorporate more greenery into your home to promote cleaner air and better sleep.

Your life, health, and well-being will evolve when you become more sustainable. And so will the planet.

Improve the health of the planet

We can’t leave out how living more sustainably contributes to a healthier planet overall. A global effort can’t happen without individual commitments to adopting more eco-friendly practices. So, despite what many might think, your sustainable practices matter and put the world’s health in a better place.

For example, pollution is taking our world by storm. Cars and trucks are spewing huge amounts of pollution into the air. The coal burned to create electricity contributes to pollution. Garbage and sewage pollute our waterways.

Pollution drives global warming and is a huge threat to biodiversity. It’s also extremely dangerous for human health, causing:

• Respiratory issues
• Malnutrition
• Cardiovascular problems
• Skin diseases
• Compromised immune health
• Birth defects

Switching to eco-friendly transportation options, being mindful of how you dispose of waste, and other eco-friendly lifestyle choices can reduce plastic pollution, contribute to cleaner air and water sources, and improve health outcomes.

The Best Way to Embrace Sustainability in Daily Life

Being more sustainable in your life can lead to a lot of positivity for you and our planet. However, embracing sustainability in your daily life seems like a huge project, considering how many different ways you could approach it.

The best advice we can give you is to start simple. Do an audit of your lifestyle and home to determine what small shifts you can make to slowly but surely become more eco-friendly.

For example, you could replace all light bulbs in your home with energy-efficient ones. You could commit to commuting to work via public transportation once a week. You could read more books on sustainable living.

Buying reusable products, eliminating single-use plastics, shopping locally, and composting food scraps are also simple ways to welcome sustainability into your daily life.

Whatever you decide to do to be more eco-friendly, commit to it. Your quality of life and the health of our planet are counting on it.