5 keys to your best year yet for your body and mind.
WRITTEN BY THE LAKELANDER STAFF
Keep on moving.
Have you heard of exercise snacks? Not a slim jim (or maybe an organic natural meat stick to be more specific) in your fanny pack or an M&M for every set of pushups you do—but bite-sized workouts that you can do throughout the day without breaking much of a sweat or changing into workout gear.
Exercise snacks refers to short bursts of energy you expend exercising different parts of your body, for one minute or less, spaced throughout the day.
Popular examples include squats, jumping jacks, burpees, push-ups and planks. While at work, consider how you can easily implement quick hits like wall sits or calf raises.
Some ways to move more in 2026 can also include:
Committing to tracking your steps, whether through your phone or a smart watch (there are many entry level options for $50 or less that can do a great job.) You may have heard you need to hit 10,000 steps every day to stay on track, but a massive research study out of the University of Sydney found otherwise. Data from more than 160,000 adults determined a sweet spot of around 7,000 daily steps decreases a person’s risk of dying, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and dementia.
A morning or evening stretching routine. YouTube has a treasure trove of fitness experts ready to teach you how to increase flexibility and feel better, and regular stretching often leads to increased mobility.
Joining a gym for the first time or again, freeing up more time to actually use the membership you aren’t getting the most out of. According to our recent Lakelanders’ Choice results, you might want to check out Just Move, Earn Your Stripes or Crunch Fitness.
Taking up golf, pickleball or swimming. You do live in Florida, after all.
Quit reacting, start preventing.
As part of living your best life you should be in the habit of:
Scheduling your annual physical and get a standard bloodwork panel regularly. It’s best to actually confirm (or deny) that the way you feel properly correlates with your overall health. Spending roughly half an hour can help reveal underlying conditions you are unaware of, answer questions about symptoms you are experiencing and get you professional recommendations about how to improve your wellbeing in the future.
Using technology for reasons beyond streaming and earning a free combo in your favorite app. Consider using your phone, a smartwatch and/or other affordable devices to track heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or more.
Connecting with your primary care provider. If you aren’t satisfied with or don’t have a local primary care physician—get one! You have more options than ever before with providers like Lakeland Regional Health, Orlando Health, Watson Clinic and Central Florida Health Care, among many others. Having a team who knows your medical history should not only give you peace of mind, but ensures that you are receiving referrals and continuity of care from someone who knows your physical wellbeing better than anyone else.
Asking the trusted medical professionals in your life for wisdom on everything from what you put in your body to recommended natural remedies to ways to incorporate healthy habits throughout your days. See what they have to say about local services like infusion IV therapy or halotherapy (aka salt rooms), or hot topics like weight loss supplements or longevity.
Protect your mental health.
It’s OK to not be OK, but it’s even better to have people and methods in place to help you through the inevitable challenges of life before they hit.
Develop digital boundaries, and we don’t mean live your life within a five foot space of your phone at all times. Let your phone rest while you’re enjoying a meal, create specific modes for your technology to help you focus on important parts of your life and start a digital wind down an hour or more before bedtime. Less demanding messages and reminders of comparison culture give you space to breathe and be more present in reality. Remember, many app and phone developers have admitted they strive to create addictive products that you’ll never want to put down.
Don’t be afraid to consider and actually try therapy. It’s a proven fact—therapy will not solve all your problems. It will, however, usually introduce you more fully to yourself, help you understand your personality and your brain wiring and offer coping strategies and resources that are useful in the highs and lows of life. Check what your insurance plan offers, search for options through local churches or be vulnerable enough to ask friends what has and has not worked for them.
Practice gratitude and be more generous. Scientific evidence shows that being grateful for good things in life and bringing good things into other people’s lives is actually the equivalent of a mental workout for your brain. These practices help rewire your brain for increased positivity through feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin and reducing stress hormones. Do this enough and you might experience stronger relationships and regular moods that make your friends wonder what you’re doing differently.
Strengthen your relationships.
What’s the key to living a longer, happier life? According to the most comprehensive study into happiness ever conducted, Harvard University researchers concluded it is positive relationships with other people that matter most.
“We didn’t believe our own data at first,” said study director Robert Waldinger in a 2023 interview. “It stands to reason that you’d be happier if you had good relationships—those two things go together—but how could good relationships predict that you’d be less likely to get coronary artery disease or type 2 diabetes or arthritis?”
Researchers hypothesize that close relationships act as “stress regulators.” In essence, those relationships help our bodies calm down and return to equilibrium after being sent into a state of distress because of a volatile or challenging event.
To work toward improved relational health in 2026:
Make it a priority to share meals with family or close friends who are your support system or connect over walks at favorite local spots that include Lake Parker, Fort Fraser Trail, Peterson Park or Lake Hollingsworth, among so many others.
Join a community group, a club or a church. Lakelander staff may be partial to Trinity Presbyterian Church and Church for the One because of how God has used those communities to shape some of our lives, but great options abound. Maybe Lakeland Community Theatre or the AGB Polk Museum of Art would scratch your creative itch or getting plugged into a group like Bridge Local could expand your horizons as a small business owner.
Limit “doom scrolling,” and if you must scroll at all, check out great social media groups and pages with a purpose and a heart, like Lakeland Mom, We Live in Lakeland and I Have Questions, LkldNow or yes, even The Lakelander.
Eat simply, not perfectly.
You shouldn’t always “eat dessert first” as the old cliche states, but you also don’t have to cut out treats altogether to live healthier.
Your goal for 2026 could be creating sustainable eating and nutrition habits instead of hoping and praying a complex or extreme diet will stick.
The 80/20 rules popularized by many health experts and influencers says you should stick to healthy habits 80 percent of the time, and allow yourself to indulge for the other 20.
To make the most of the time where you are being disciplined:
Make some local health conscious stops part of your regular routine, including Vegetation Plant Food, SoFresh and The Juice Box.
Build meals around protein, fiber and healthy fats. Make sure to read all the labels at your favorite chain retailers or check out specialty spots like Chamberlin’s Natural Foods, Anthony’s Health Hut and Harvest Meat Markets.
Stock up on fresh, locally grown produce at places like Downtown Farmers Curb Market, Fancy Fruit & Produce or Uncle Frank’s Produce.
Take the pressure off preparing healthier meals by looking at options from local businesses who make a living by doing it for you. Resilient Meals has established itself as a local leader for healthy convenient options to help you stay on track, and Jonesin’ for Keto is serving up fresh, nutritional to-go meals as well.
