Being on your toes all day at work or home takes a toll on your overall physical, mental and emotional health. As a professional, you may be caught up everything including commute which involves driving long distances in traffic or being at work long hours during which you do not get time to eat on time. Another set of people who suffer are those doing night shifts and those who travel a lot for work. Similarly, if you are at home as a full-time mom, you have a whole set of different challenges including being tired physically by doing continuous chores or not having enough time to take care of yourself.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle including a good oral health can be challenging but doing the following especially at work or when you’re busy during the day (or night) can help you maintain your health and also assist you towards improvement in your health if you already do other things like exercising regularly.
Increase The Intake Of Healthy Fluids
Drink plenty of water to not only keep yourself hydrated throughout the day but to prevent plaque, enamel erosion, gum disease and decay. Cut down or completely avoid sugary beverages, sodas and caffeinated drinks to protect your teeth and gums.
It is a good idea for professionals and stay-at-home moms to always keep a bottle of water handy so that they can keep sipping water easily throughout the day.
Quit Going On Smoking Breaks And Coffee Breaks If You Can
As we all know, smoking affects overall health seriously. It also ruins your oral health largely. Start with reducing the number of times you smoke and replace it with something healthy and delicious instead, like a few tasty crackers, nuts or berries or grapes. Cutting down coffee can be hard, but you can again, reduce the number of times you have coffee and opt for water-based drinks such as decaf green teas or herbal teas.
Although the above does not apply to those busy at home, like moms, they need to be cautious in other ways. One of the things moms of young kids or babies do is rush into drive throughs for coffees and other goodies that are high in sugar and fat. This is the easiest thing to do because it can be extremely challenging for them to have coffee or eat with babies around and so eating in the car is the easiest thing they can do. For busy moms at home, it is important to find those few minutes of peace where they can relax and enjoy healthy food so that they don’t rush to coffee and unhealthy food.
Opt For Healthy Snacks
Snacking on unhealthy foods is perhaps the easiest things busy people do. This happens because of easy availability of processed and packaged snacks through vending machines or even because of skipped meals after which you choose unhealthy options because of extreme hunger.
To eat healthy for overall health and dental health, you can easily pack some nuts, healthy crackers or bars, fruits, baby carrots, celery and cheese. You could also choose healthier options available at coffee shops instead of choosing sugary coffees, baked goodies and candies.
Plan Your Day Ahead
This applies to anyone who is busy during the entire day and perhaps night like doctors and nurses who do night shifts or moms of babies less than a year who wake up few times for feeds. Planning your day ahead helps tremendously in ensuring good health, good teeth and good gums. It is a good idea to plan meals, snacks, brushing and flossing times if you are mostly busy. Try to pack healthy lunches such as quick salads or bowls. If you travel for work, it is a good idea to pack dry healthy snacks or find out places at or near the hotel or work where you can stock up on your healthy foods. Many airports also provide healthy food kiosks that have fruits, salads and nuts that you can buy. That way you will not be forced to get McDonalds when everything is closed.
The reason you should plan your brushing and flossing times is that after a hectic day, you end up falling asleep and forgetting to brush. In this scenario, it is good to schedule a definite time to brush and floss, such as immediately after lunch and dinner, you could carry your brushing kit with you to work or outside. Last but not the least, make sure you are on top of your routine dental visits so that any cavities or decays can be addressed early on.