Reasons to Invest in Your Health This Year

You may have heard it before: Your health is an investment, not an expense. This statement couldn’t be truer, but it can be easy to brush off investing in your health due to the cost. After a year where health has been so emphasized, this is the perfect time to really put a focus on your health and put it at the top of your priority list.

Here’s something else you may have heard: Health is wealth. Your wellbeing is priceless, but being healthy can make you wealthy in a number of ways. That wealth can be found in money saved on medical bills, or more importantly, it can be found in the additional time you get with your loved ones.

Taking charge of your health will bring you a happier and longer life. Read on to see the benefits of making your health a priority and some tips on how to invest in your health, from eating fresh ingredients to using healthy technology.

Benefits of Investing in Health

An Overall Improvement in Life

Your health needs to become a priority right now in your life, don’t wait. Each and every choice you make has a distinct impact on your future, and the sooner you start investing, the sooner you can reap the rewards of living a healthy life. There are many daily healthy habits that you can start adapting to right now. These changes and investments aren’t just a fad, they’re the smart things to do to live a happier and longer life.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

If you invest in your health today, you are fighting and preventing future diseases. We are lucky to have advanced healthcare to treat a number of illnesses, but treatment can, unfortunately, be very costly – both monetarily and physically. Investing in your health now can help prevent these illnesses in the future. This means your future self doesn’t have to worry about incurring those costs, which will more than likely be more than the cost of simply investing in your health now.

More Time with Loved Ones

How can you be there for your spouse, children, and family if you are sick or gone? The answer is you can’t. So, let this be the goal that drives you to take action. Start daily healthy habits now to keep you around longer. Go to the dentist regularly, do self-breast exams, get up and hit the gym, and start a new healthy grocery list. “What you do today determines your tomorrow.”

Ways to Invest in Your Health

Install an Infrared Sauna

Investing in an infrared sauna for your home might be one of the best (and most luxurious) health investments you can make. Installing an infrared sauna gives you access to maximum health benefits right in your home. Detoxification, pain relief, stress reduction, and weight loss are just a few of the benefits you can gain from consistently using a sauna for 20 minutes a day. Depending on your needs, you can request a quote today to start investing in your health this year.

Join a Fitness Program

Fitness memberships can really run the gamut. You can shell out $10 each month for a basics-only workout or up to almost $200 for a luxurious program. Whether you join a gym or take part in an online training program, the average monthly fee tends to be closer to $50 or $60, which, as long as you use it, is worth it. Working out regularly is linked to a lower risk for high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other chronic diseases.

Buy Healthy Ingredients

Sure, there’re inexpensive fruits and veggies that are good for you (think: brown rice and bananas), but it does tend to cost a little more to eat healthy food – about $45 more a month on average. Not sure it’s worth it to fill your cart with whole grains, fresh produce, and high-quality proteins? It is. Just like regularly working out, eating a healthy diet rich in produce can decrease your risk for heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers.

Have Health Insurance

Employer-sponsored plans, which more than half of Americans have, cost an average of about $138 a month. Individual plans, which are for people who buy insurance on their own, are costlier and average around $456. Health insurance isn’t cheap, but it’s still a smart health investment. People with health insurance are more likely to get preventive care, which can help catch health issues before they become major – and majorly expensive to treat.

Go to Your Annual Exams

With insurance, a typical doctor’s visit can cost somewhere between $25 and $250. Without health insurance, the average doctor appointment costs between $300-$600. These numbers can quickly rise if you need additional testing or prescriptions. By going to your annual exams for preventative care, you can keep an eye on your health regularly and monitor issues before they grow and start to cost the higher visit fees for those larger treatments and procedures.

See a Therapist

Does everyone need to do this? No. But if you have chronic stress or anxiety, talking to someone might be a good idea. It isn’t necessarily cheap, though. An hour with a therapist can sometimes cost $100 or more per hour, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. But it can help ease your mind, which in turn, can improve your overall health. Feeling stressed out all the time is linked to weight gain, menstrual cycle issues, and even heart attacks!

Take a Vacation

Taking a vacation might night be in the cards right now, but it’s definitely worth saving up for a trip once travel is on your itinerary. A trip might not seem like investing in your health at first glance, but it certainly can be! Sometimes a break from reality is what we need to realign ourselves. Whether you take a weekend road trip that costs you $150 or you splurge on a 2-week escape to go island hopping, vacationing can be great for your mental health.

Improve Your Sleep

Insufficient sleep has been linked to chronic conditions, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Of course, sleep is free and doesn’t necessarily require a monetary investment. However, you can still invest your time to ensure you have an adequate amount of sleep. Or invest in natural sleep aids such as aromatherapy, an infrared sauna, and good-quality sheets to help you have a restful night.

Your Health is Priceless

The thing about being healthy is that it isn’t always the cheapest option, but it is always the best option. Choosing to cook a nutritious dinner for yourself will usually cost more than a drive-through meal. And in the short term, not going to doctor’s appointments may save you some money on your copays. But at the end of the day, investing your time and money into your health can end up saving you a lot in the future. Preventative care can help save you money on future treatments and improving your overall health will save you time to do the things you love with the people you love.