Lifestyle advice: Your guide to a healthy lifestyle

Healthy diet

Eating a balanced diet is essential for maintaining good health and preventing chronic diseases. The NHS Eatwell Guide provides a helpful framework, recommending:

Woman in a chunky knit jumper smiling with her fingers near her mouth

Physical activity

Keeping active is one of the best things you can do for your body and mind

man doing push-ups with dumbbells at home

What are the benefits of exercise?

Regular physical activity can:

  • Help with weight management.
  • Lower the risk of developing chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and some cancers.
  • Prevent or manage mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.
  • Boost wellbeing and mood.
  • Improve muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.
  • Strengthen bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
woman crouching mid-exercise with a towel around her neck

How much exercise should you do?

To maintain a healthy lifestyle, aim for:

  • 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity (e.g. brisk walking, cycling) per week, or
  • 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity (e.g. running, football, aerobics).
  • Include strength exercises on two or more days a week to target major muscle groups.
two people jogging together outdoors through tall grass

How can I become more active?

Finding an activity that fits into your lifestyle is key. Whether you're a busy parent, an older adult, or looking for family-friendly activities, there are options for everyone.

Here are some tips to get started and stay active:

  • Track your activity to stay motivated.
  • Work out with friends or share your progress with a support network.
  • Build a routine that works for your schedule.
  • Choose sports or activities you genuinely enjoy making it fun.

Understanding BMI

Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a simple way to assess whether your weight is within a healthy range.

  • A BMI over 25 suggests being overweight, which can lead to:
    • Low energy, breathing problems, and difficulty sleeping
    • Increased sweating and discomfort
    • Back and joint pain
  • Long-term risks include:
    • Heart disease, strokes, and type-2 diabetes
    • Sleep apnoea, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure
    • Fertility problems, erectile dysfunction, and fatty liver disease
    • Asthma, low mood, and chronic conditions like kidney disease

How to lose weight safely

Weight management comes down to calories in versus calories out. When you consume fewer calories than your body uses, your body burns stored fat for energy, leading to weight loss.  Find out more about our weight loss programme.

Other factors, such as genetics or medical conditions like an underactive thyroid, can affect weight loss. For personalised advice, speak with a GP or Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP).

To lose weight effectively, you can:

 Approach

 What it involves

Change your diet  

Eat balanced meals with appropriate portion sizes. 

Increase activity levels 

Find enjoyable ways to stay active. 

Combine diet and exercise 

This is often the most effective approach. 

Frequently asked questions

Here are direct answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about healthy lifestyle changes.

A lifestyle modification is simply a lasting change to daily habits — how you eat, move, sleep, or manage stress — rather than a one-off fix. The goal is usually to modify habits gradually rather than overhaul everything at once. Because most major health risks are modifiable, these lifestyle-based, health-promoting and preventive changes are often the most sustainable way to protect your long-term health, alongside more targeted behavioural support where needed.

Guidelines generally recommend a mix of aerobic exercise and resistance training each week. Whether you walk, cycle or swim, each of these can help you aerobic-train, while sessions that help you cardiovascular-train regularly also build cardiovascular fitness. Alongside this, resistance-based work such as weights or bodyweight exercises helps strengthen muscles and bones, so most people benefit from combining both types rather than focusing on just one.

Too much sedentary behaviour — including high screen time —  is linked to weight-gain and can make it harder to manage or loose weight over time. Simple steps to reduce these like standing up more often, can help.  Good sleep hygiene also plays a bigger role than many people realise: both sleep duration and sleep quality affect appetite and energy levels, so strategies to improve sleep are often included in advice for weight-management support. 

Your dietary intake and overall nutrition affect far more than weight — poor nutritional habits are linked to obesity and a range of chronic conditions, which is why many services aim to diet-optimise and nutritionally-educate as part of ongoing support. Stress management matters just as much:  stress-reduction techniques help you reduce day-to-day stress, whether that’s learning to meditate or building a mindfulness-practice routine, and these can support both physical and mental-health-related wellbeing. Simple social steps — like making time to connect with friends or family — and practical changes such as workplace-ergonomic adjustments to your desk setup all contribute to a more wellness-oriented, psychological and social sense of balance.

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