{"id":401149,"date":"2026-01-11T14:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/401149\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:02:23","slug":"five-healthy-habits-to-develop-in-your-20s-and-30s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/401149\/","title":{"rendered":"Five healthy habits to develop in your 20s and 30s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does that mean you need to start training for a marathon? Nope. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which authorized the most recent national physical activity guidelines for Americans<\/a> in 2018, recommends 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity, or a comparable combination of both. But here\u2019s the best part: Walking counts, and studies have shown it to be incredibly effective in boosting cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalking is a wonderful activity that many people can do and enjoy,\u201d King said. Recent research shows that aiming for at least 7,000 steps per day (not the oft-cited 10,000 steps) provides significant health benefits in multiple systems in your body. For even greater benefits, King recommends interval walking: Walk at your normal pace, then walk more briskly for a few minutes, then return to your regular pace.<\/p>\n

Something else to remember: Sitting for more than eight hours a day is equivalent to smoking in terms of health risks, even if you exercise regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you\u2019re getting those exercise recommendations, if you\u2019re sitting more than eight hours a day, it\u2019s going to negate a lot of that,\u201d Fredericson warned. Prolonged sitting reduces active energy expenditure and stops the activation of your skeletal muscles, leading to decreased blood flow. Over time, this affects your metabolism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The solution? Break up prolonged sitting with movement bursts. Get up every 30 minutes and walk around for three to five minutes, do some squats, jog in place, or go up and down a flight of stairs.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Eat for long-term health and energy<\/p>\n

For many people in their 20s and 30s, eating well takes a backseat to convenience. You\u2019re grabbing takeout between meetings, ordering late-night pizza with friends, or living on coffee and whatever\u2019s quickest. It\u2019s easy to think you can get away with it because you feel fine now. But the nutrition choices you make during these years are quietly setting up your metabolic and cardiovascular health for decades to come.<\/p>\n

The CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study<\/a>, launched in the 1980s, has followed more than 5,000 young adults as they age. Over 35 years, it has shown that people who ate less fast food and those who followed a plant-based diet from ages 18 to 30 had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance in middle age.<\/p>\n

Your 20s and 30s are your opportunity to build nutritional habits that become second nature. The patterns you establish now \u2014 whether that\u2019s cooking at home regularly, keeping healthy snacks on hand or learning to enjoy vegetables \u2014 will be far easier to maintain than habits you try to adopt later under the pressure of a health crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cFocus on whole foods,\u201d King said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be complicated. I\u2019m encouraged by the fact that the food industry is making eating healthier a lot easier than it used to be with things like grab-and-go fresh salads and healthier frozen options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Fredericson and King \u2014 as well as organizations like the American Heart Association \u2014 strongly advocate for the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes plants, whole grains, healthy fats and lean proteins while remaining flexible. Research consistently shows this approach reduces inflammation \u2014 a key driver of chronic diseases from heart disease to Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Some key priorities for your 20s and 30s:<\/p>\n

Get enough protein: Aim for about 0.8 to 1.0 grams per kilogram of body weight \u2014 roughly 55 to 70 grams daily for a 150-pound person.
\n Master the basics: Learn to fill half your plate with colorful fruits and vegetables, choose whole grains over refined carbohydrates, and limit ultra-processed foods high in added sugars and sodium.
\n Hydrate intentionally: Aim for adequate water intake, especially if you\u2019re active or drinking alcohol socially.
\n Watch your alcohol intake: The suggested guidelines<\/a> are no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two for men.<\/p>\n

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Addiction<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Establish good sleep hygiene<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re burning the candle at both ends in your 20s and 30s \u2014 whether for work, social life or both \u2014 you might think sleep is something you can skimp on now and make up for later. But chronic sleep deprivation during these years has lasting consequences for your physical and mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sweet spot is usually greater than seven hours,\u201d said Clete Kushida<\/a>, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and chief and medical director of Stanford\u2019s Division of Sleep Medicine.<\/a><\/p>\n

This recommendation comes from a 2015 consensus statement<\/a> from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, which Kushida helped author after reviewing hundreds of studies on sleep and health. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Research shows that people who consistently get less than seven hours of sleep per night have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease by middle age, even after accounting for other lifestyle factors.<\/p>\n

Many young adults fall into a pattern of sleeping five or six hours on weeknights and \u201ccatching up\u201d on weekends. But research shows<\/a> you can\u2019t fully compensate for chronic sleep deprivation with weekend recovery sleep. The metabolic and cognitive effects of sleep debt compound over time.<\/p>\n

King notes that the optimal number of hours of sleep for peak performance and longevity can vary between people and that a wearable device can help you gauge what is best for your body.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not just about quantity. Sleep quality matters too. To improve both, Kushida recommends establishing consistent sleep habits, including a regular wake-up time (even on weekends), morning light exposure and pre-bedtime rituals to wind down (preferably without screens, alcohol or strenuous exercise).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re consistently staying in bed for seven or eight hours of sleep but still feeling exhausted during the day, something\u2019s wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re getting enough hours of sleep but still feeling sleepy, it means your sleep is probably fragmented or you\u2019re not getting enough REM or deep sleep,\u201d Kushida said. \u201cIt would be a good idea to consult a sleep specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another alternative is to try out one of the current wearable watches or similar devices now on the market that have become increasingly accurate in measuring sleep stages and can provide further information on actual sleep patterns, adds King.<\/p>\n

You might have an undiagnosed sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea (which affects young adults more than many realize, especially those who are overweight), restless leg syndrome or insomnia. More than 50 million Americans have sleep disorders, and most are undiagnosed.<\/p>\n

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Addiction<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Manage stress like it\u2019s your job<\/p>\n

Your 20s and 30s can be some of the most stressful decades of your life. You\u2019re navigating career pressures, relationship decisions and financial uncertainty, and maybe you\u2019re starting a family. It\u2019s tempting to tell yourself you\u2019ll deal with the stress later, once things calm down. But chronic stress during these years doesn\u2019t just make you feel overwhelmed \u2014 it has measurable effects on your body that accumulate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to manage stress or stress will manage you,\u201d said David Spiegel<\/a>, the Jack, Lulu, and Sam Willson Professor in Medicine; associate chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; and director of the Stanford Center on Stress and Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re stressed, your body responds as if you\u2019re facing a physical threat. Your heart rate increases, blood pressure rises and stress hormones like cortisol flood your system. In short bursts, this response is normal and even helpful. But when stress becomes chronic, these physiological changes can damage your health.<\/p>\n

Luckily, Spiegel says that you can train your body to manage stress better. His research focuses on techniques that work \u201cfrom the body up rather than the head down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tend to think that the only way to manage the physiology of stress is to solve the problem that is causing you stress,\u201d he says. \u201cBut my research has shown that you should start out by calming your body, then you\u2019ll be able to think through better what the stressors are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spiegel recommends that young adults learn stress reduction techniques like meditation, deep breathing or self-hypnosis. Spiegel\u2019s research on self-hypnosis found that people who learned these techniques experienced significantly less pain and stress, and the benefits lasted for years. He has developed a mobile app, Reveri<\/a>, that teaches these skills.<\/p>\n

He also underscores that other areas of health are linked to mental health. Eating healthy, exercising, avoiding drugs or excessive alcohol, and getting enough sleep can all help you manage stress and anxiety better.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re feeling more than stressed out \u2014 helpless, hopeless or worthless \u2014 Spiegel recommends seeking professional help to manage your psychiatric health.<\/p>\n

Luckily, with help \u2014 and with practices like those that Spiegel teaches \u2014 you have more control over stress than you might think. If you start building those skills now, you\u2019ll have them when you need them throughout life. The earlier you start managing stress, the better prepared you will be for whatever challenges come your way.<\/p>\n

This article is part of a series on healthy habits for different age groups. Keep reading about building healthy habits for longevity in your 40s and 50s<\/a> and healthy habits to maintain independence in your 60s and 70s<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Does that mean you need to start training for a marathon? Nope. The U.S. Department of Health and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,193535,2102,269,12009],"class_list":{"0":"post-401149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-lung-health","12":"tag-men","13":"tag-nutrition","14":"tag-precision-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}