Healthy Living

Summary

Many factors affect your health. Some you cannot control, such as your genetic makeup or your age. But you can make changes to your lifestyle. By taking steps toward healthy living, you can help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and other serious diseases:

• Get the screening tests you need
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Eat a variety of healthy foods, and limit calories and saturated fat
• Be physically active
• Control your blood pressure and cholesterol
• Don’t smoke
• Protect yourself from too much sun
• Drink alcohol in moderation, or don’t drink at all
• Get enough sleep every day
• Work on improving your mental health, for example by practicing mediation, relaxation techniques, or gratitude

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Find an Expert

• AMA DoctorFinder American Medical Association
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Related Issues

• Changing Your Habits for Better Health National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
• Disability and Health: Healthy Living Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Health Guides: Health Is a State of Mind and Body American Academy of Family Physicians
• Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health American Academy of Family Physicians
• Nurturing Healthy Neighborhoods: Communities Affect Health National Institutes of Health
• Plants: Partners in Health? Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and You National Institutes of Health

Start Here

• Creating Healthy Habits: Make Better Choices Easier National Institutes of Health
• Tips for Healthy Children and Families American Academy of Family Physicians
• What You Can Do to Maintain Your Health American Academy of Family Physicians

Reference Desk

• Definitions of Health Terms: General Health National Library of Medicine

Diagnosis and Tests

• Health Screening: MedlinePlus Health Topic National Library of Medicine

Older Adults

• Healthy Aging: MedlinePlus Health Topic National Library of Medicine

Patient Handouts

• Healthy living Medical Encyclopedia

Children

• Healthy Living National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Passing Healthy Habits on to Your Children American Academy of Family Physicians

Journal Articles

• Health promotion