Some common health mistakes you should try to avoid - check out our Health Tips page as well.

1) Skipping Breakfast
Breakfast is too easy and beneficial of a meal to pass up in the mornings. As you sleep, your body’s metabolism slows down, so when you wake up, your body needs food to get your metabolism going again. When you skip breakfast, your energy levels suffer. Although you may try skipping breakfast in an attempt to cut calories and lose weight, you’ll actually tend to eat more throughout the day to compensate for your hunger and may gain more weight. Studies have also shown that eating breakfast increases your ability to perform better mentally.

2) Skipping the Weights
Contrary to popular myth, lifting weights will not necessarily make you bulk up, an effect that many people, especially women, want to avoid. In fact, women actually lack the testosterone and often the time it takes in the gym to really get beefy. It’s true that when you start lifting weights or using a resistance training program, you generally gain a bit of weight before you start to lose it, but that’s simply because muscle weighs more than fat. If you want to get in shape, “pumping iron” will make you look trimmer and more toned, and will help you burn more calories even after your workout is done.

3) Avoiding the Doctor
Nobody can attest to doctor visits as being pleasant experiences; in fact, seeing the doctor can be time-consuming, require tons of paperwork and even be somewhat embarrassing, depending on why you’re there. Even so, having a checkup can mean detecting a problem and treating it early enough to avoid further complications. Women should visit the gynecologist yearly for a pap smear and breast exam, as well as a yearly mammogram once over the age of 40. Men should have their testicles examined for irregularities and should also be checked for colon cancer. You should also be visiting your dentist and general practitioner yearly. These doctor visits may be uncomfortable, but they can potentially save your life.

4) Not getting enough Sleep
Doctors have been telling us for years that most people need at least 8 hours of sleep a night to function at their fullest the next day, so why are you going to bed so late? Sleep deprivation not only makes you feel less than your usual perky self, but has been linked to weight gain, depression, anxiety, heart disease, and insulin resistance, not to mention the accidents that can occur from limited mental alertness. Many people find that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get things accomplished, so they sacrifice sleep. Instead, you should sacrifice less important commitments and set a regular bedtime to get a full 8 hours in to avoid the effects of sleep deprivation.

5) Drinking too much caffeine
Excessive caffeine intake overstimulates the adrenal glands so that they become ‘switched on’ all the time, and therefore make you feel constantly nervy or edgy. Caffeine also increases the heart rate, affects sleep patterns and can cause headaches and tummy upsets. Also, bear in mind that if you drink cappuccinos or lattes, you are taking in quite a considerable number of calories in every cup. The best advice is to go for quality rather than quantity and to really savour a few cups of tea or coffee, rather than to drink it mindlessly throughout the day.