“You cannot be healthy and happy without discipline. If you want to measure the level of happiness in your life, just measure the level of discipline in your life. Your life could be in danger due to the bad habits killing you slowly.

“You will never have more happiness than you have discipline.” –Matthew Kelly

It’s evident that bad habits are not good for your physical and mental health. However, some people develop much worse lifestyle habits. It is a possibility that you may fail to find out which habit is bad in you.

Like when using social media you may feel satisfied and accomplished whenever you see a new message in your inbox or whenever you see a large number of likes and follows in your account. But, in reality, you are practicing distraction and will ultimately become good at it, because practice makes perfect. This negative distraction will lead you to an abyss of depression, and that’s true.

Therefore, some of those habits might even be killing you secretly (without you knowing it).

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy” — Dalai Lama

“Caring for your own self is the first and foremost step for the success of your recovery process”

Physical, spiritual, and emotional health are connected with one another. All three support and grow together.

Therefore, to ensure your health and the health of others around you, let’s see some everyday health habits that are secretly killing you according to the experts.

9 Habits you don’t realize are killing you slowly.

1. You live with a severe lack of sleep.

“Sleep is the best medicine, it has the ability to cure your body from growing ailment”

One sleepless night, and you start feeling rotten. You will be unable to find comfort anywhere. You will simply lie awake, unable to perform any productive activity. You will feel foggy accompanied by an unproductive day, but it won’t hurt you much.

But when you start losing sleep regularly and more often, you will notice some bad health effects quickly.

Severe lack of sleep can lead to:

> Reduced reaction time, which will lead to sudden accidents.

> Irritated mood swings like crankiness and short temper.

> Poor mental health.

> makes you more vulnerable to physical illness.

> Loss of focus,

> Poor performance, as metabolism decreases and the blood alcohol level rises.

> Weight gain, which is linked with cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

> Fogginess.

> Decreased immunity.

> Sleepiness all day long.

> Difficulty in decision-making.

> Reduced vital functions, seeing and hearing.

> Sleep deprivation increases your chances of accidents, including car crashes.

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” — John Lennon

2. You skip breakfast all the time.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it breaks the overnight fasting period. Breakfast replenishes your supply of glucose and restores the energy along with other essential nutrients to keep up the metabolism for the day, in the body.

Breakfast helps in:-

>> Better weight management,

>> Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and

>> Prevents heart disease, in the long term.

Despite all these benefits of eating breakfast, many people skip the morning meal, for many self-invented reasons. But, the good news is that the habit of eating breakfast can easily be developed in your life.

Skipping breakfast is a big mistake. You definitely need food in your belly in the morning, to stay active all day.

If you skip the morning meal, there is a nice possibility that later you may feel so hungry that you end up eating high-fat and high-sugar foods.

Many of us share the guilt of skipping the morning meal few days in a row or some days on and off.

The reasons for skipping breakfast could be: –

# Poor diet.

# Not enough sleep.

# Eating late at night and then feeling full in the morning.

# Due to rushing out to work.

# During the intermittent fasting for fat loss, etc.

Researchers found that those who skipped breakfast had a higher risk of heart attack or death from coronary heart disease. Those who skipped breakfast, are more likely, to have the habit of smoking, drinking, are less active physically, and working long hours.

Skipping breakfast may also lead to:

> Unwanted obesity,

> High blood pressure,

> Rise in cholesterol levels,

> Increased diabetes,

> Atherosclerosis and

> Cardiovascular disease, which are the major cause of death universally.

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases alone were responsible for 15.2 million deaths in 2016.

“Get busy living or get busy dying.” — Stephen King

3. You skip your exercise routine.

The benefits of regular physical exercise are evident.

Some of the important ones are:

> Improve your muscle strength

> Boost up energy levels.

> Empowers endurance.

> Delivers oxygen and other nutrients to your tissues.

> Improves cardiovascular function.

> Improves heart and lung health.

> Helps manage body weight.

> Helps fight depression, anxiety, and many types of cancer.

The list of its advantages is endless, but let us see, how skipping the exercise routine, could be killing you slowly.

Every day we have to go out for work or are involved in some or the other kind of physical activity. This may lead our body to undergo wear and tear, which should be repaired on a daily basis by the body itself.

The repair of our body depends on its metabolic activity. Exercise increases the metabolic activity in our body, Improves the heart and lung health, and gives us more energy to execute our daily chores.

“Your chances of an early death are substantially higher if you sit all day and get no exercise” – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“A lack of exercise may cause twice as many deaths as obesity”- University of Cambridge

No physical activity = confirmed risk of a premature death.

How does the lack of sleep harm you?

Now if you don’t exercise regularly or skip your daily workout routine, you could face long-term ailments that are mentioned below:

> It may become very difficult for you to get a good night’s sleep.

> You may suffer from high blood pressure.

> Could develop heart disease earlier.

> Your memory may fade away sooner.

> Will destroy your endurance.

> Heart becomes less efficient.

> The blood sugar levels will get out of control, which can cause multi-organ failure.

> Least recovery will result in an increased risk for certain cancers.

> You might experience joint pains.

> Bone density reduces and they might break easily.

> Depression will slip in easily.

> You will gain weight easily and become obese. Obesity is the reason for the origin of most other fatal health problems.

> You may lose muscle strength.

> Experience decreased stamina and easily fatigued.

There will be a very poor recovery of your body and the body will eventually give up and die sooner.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West

4. You text while you walk.

Incidents of people getting injured from texting and walking occur more often now and sometimes they get very serious.

The risk of injury is greater if you are having a habit of texting while walking and you are more likely to face incidents such as:

> Bumping into the walls,

> Falling down the stairs,

> Twist your ankle due to uncontrolled walking,

> Often cuts and bruises due to distracted walking,

> Strains, sprains, and fractures are a few injuries on rise and

> Stepping right into the traffic while texting is increasing every day and for one overwhelming reason, and the reason is “Distraction”.

“Your real competition is your distraction”

“If you don’t kill your Distractions, the Distractions will kill you one day”.

These days, everyone finds it difficult to walk down a street without using their mobile device. This trend is said to come into existence with the release of the “Pokemon Go” video game.

Experts say people are also getting hurt while listening to music on mobile, and talking to their friends.

Scientists tell that “When texting, the complex actions of walking are not in your complete control.

Talking on the phone is an evident distraction, but texting while walking is much more dangerous because your eyes can’t see the path in front of you, as they are busy elsewhere.

Recent studies have proved that the number of accidents involving distracted pedestrians is on the rise and increasing day by day.

Smart phones, social media, apps, digital video, and streaming music, all these have infiltrated almost every aspects of daily life, be it walking, cooking, eating, working, dancing, or sleeping, smartphones are always alongside us and it is very difficult to “Let go” this habit.

Pedestrian deaths are on the rise, while fatalities due to other traffic accidents are low in comparison.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”– Thomas A. Edison

5. You spend money you don’t have.

“Never spend more than you earn”. This phrase continuously reminds to live by the means you could afford because if you start the habit of living beyond your means, you will probably end up in debt.

You should:

> Always track your spending,

> Follow a planned budget, and

> Enjoy a vacation or any leisure time only after you have saved enough money for it in advance.

In reality, most of us are often mesmerized by the joy in spending for luxury via a credit card and then worry intensely about paying for it later.

This definitely leads to borrowing more money and ultimately leave you in debt.

What are the harmful effects of Debt?

Debt can cause mental illness and the mental illness in return cause more debt.

The mental health problems result in poor self-control that may lead to increased unwanted spending and ultimately mess up your financial judgment.

Researchers have found that worrying about debt triggers stress and then stress reduces the resistance of the body against all mental health problems.

Stress can result in:

> Lack of sleep,

> Loss of focus,

> Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and also

> Troublesome relationships.

Debt can cause Fear and Panic.

It will result in:

> Severe migraine,

> Shortness of breath

> Fast heartbeat,

> Dry mouth, and

> Panicked shivering.

You can experience severe episodes of Anger.

Anger can:

> Ruin relationships,

> Destroy mental and heart health, and also

> It can fail to resist infections.

Debt results in Depression.

During depression:

People experience low self-esteem, and hopelessness engulfs life.

Some people try relieving their depression by treating themselves to a shopping spree or by eating delicious food too much.  This will lead to more debt and increased obesity. Furthermore, this will lead to despair and more intense life-threatening depression.

6. You are staying in an unhappy marriage.

A good marriage relationship isn’t something you find, it is something you make and keep on making it through life.

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person” – M. Mclaughlin

An unhappy marriage is distressing for both the husband and wife. Stressful marriage can be harmful to the body as well as the heart. Men who are unhappy in their marriages experience a risk factor, similar to the one caused by excessive smoking. They are at higher risk of death, especially from strokes, -scholars in Tel Aviv University.

A study shows that married couples who argue often take a longer time to heal simple wounds.

In larger wounds, the delayed healing could turn septic, which can sometimes be life-threatening.

Arguments between couples in a stressful marriage often result in:

> Feelings of anger and rage,

> Severe migraine from shouting and thinking too much,

> Absent-mindedness,

> Loss of hope and happiness,

> Release of stress hormones, which when prolonged, could be fatal,

> Long Depression, anxiety and stress,

> Severe Lack of sleep,

> Poor productivity,

> Strokes and poor heart health,

> Inhibition of bad habits such as Smoking, Drinking or even use of drugs and

> Overall stressful living accompanied by decreased life expectancy.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage” – Lad Tzu

7. You overload your body with caffeine.

Coffee contains caffeine. It works great if consumed in lower quantities.

Caffeine boosts your:

> Mood and Metabolism,

> Physical and mental performance.

But high doses of caffeine may result in very dangerous side effects.

Such as:

> Anxiety,

Caffeine increases alertness, however, its high doses could elevate alertness to very high levels and which will result in anxiety, nervousness, and jitteriness.

> Increased heart rate and rapid breathing.

> Increased stress levels.

> Cause Insomnia,

Caffeine helps stay awake. But if consumed in large doses, it can cause difficulty to get enough sleep. It may decrease the total sleeping time and also increase the time it takes to fall asleep.

> Digestive Issues,

Caffeine stimulates bowel movements by increasing peristalsis, but high doses of caffeine may lead to loose stools or even diarrhea in some people.

> Frequent urination or inability to control urination.

> Muscle irritation and Spasms.

> Heartburn/Reflux.

> High Blood Pressure.

> Muscle break down.

> Easily fatigued.

8. Your body posture goes unchecked.

“A good stance and a posture reflect a proper state of mind” -M.Ueshiba

A good body posture has numerous benefits such as:

> Better breathing

> Improved metabolism

On the other hand, poor body posture results in:

> Prolonged back pain,

> Spinal dysfunction,

> Pot belly,

> Degeneration of the joints,

> Rounded shoulders,

> Bent knees, Body aches,

> Muscle fatigue, neck pains, and headache.

> Poor sleep,

> Improper lung function, poor posture can cause improper lung function at the time of breathing.

> Low blood circulation,

> Digestion problem: this will adversely affect your metabolism, which can further result in nutritional deficiency.

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”– Albert Einstein

9. You fail to give vitamin D to your body.

Getting enough quantities of vitamin d keeps body functioning well, as it helps build strong bones and helps prevent certain types of cancers. Lesser or Large doses of vitamin-d can have serious consequences.

Severe vitamin D deficiency can lead to:

> Lesser bone density, which can cause broken bones easily. This ailment is also referred to as osteoporosis.

> Cause rickets in children, where bones become soft and bend.

> Weak Muscles, body pain,

> Easily fatigued, tiredness and sometimes cause depression.

> High blood pressure accompanied by heart disease.

> Disrupted immune system.

> Increased infections,

> Diabetes,

> Bone and back pain.

> Slow wound healing.

You can get good amounts vitamin-D via certain foods, supplements, and carefully absorbed sunlight.

Vitamin D is produced by your own skin by using sunlight.

> It keeps the bones strong and

Helps in absorbing sufficient amounts of calcium.

What are the food sources of vitamin-D?

Some food sources for vitamin- D are:

> Fish oil,

> egg yolks

> milk and juices

> certain cereals and yogurt

Bonus self-care tips:

# Develop Healthy living habits, Take hygiene courses and find your passion in life.

# Eat only healthy veggies.

# Sleep is the best medicine, so get enough sleep,

# Exercise regularly. Follow a strict daily workout routine.

# Stay away from tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

# Go for regular medical checkups.

# Manage stress. Dance for 15 minutes continuously or listen to a subliminal audio song. Do anything that works out for you.

# Maintain your hygiene. Good hygiene is very important as it raises the quality of living and reduces the risk of illness. It also has many social, medical, and psychological reasons that depict its importance.

# Hang out with good company, make powerful, strong contacts get social, and raise your standard of living.

# Pick a task that you enjoy, and then do it every day. Be it painting, drawing, or writing your thoughts out, anything that works.

# Find or invent more ways to relax, and get creative.