Good news for early birds! The best way to lose weight is to exercise early in the morning – between 7 and 9am.

After looking at exercise habits, a new study shows those who work out in the morning tend to have slimmer waists, and a lower BMI. Plus, they eat fewer calories overall and have healthier diets.

Maybe working out early encourages healthy habits, or because the day begins with a workout, they’re more focused on health. And those in the study who worked out early spent more time sitting behind a desk than others.

So even if your workday is sedentary, you can still be healthy – just make sure you get moving first thing!

Image Credit: lzf / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Now that it’s getting much warmer, do you find yourself sweating a bit more than normal?

If you find that no matter the temperature that you sweat more than you’d like, there are a few steps you can take to curb it:

First – change what you eat – spicy food make us sweat, but so does sugar, caffeine, and alcohol – it all raises body temperature and makes us sweat, especially at night.

Drink more water – it might seem counterintuitive, but it will help to regular your body temperature.

Buy products that help – there are special full body anti-perspirants and wipes you can use.

Breathable clothing is important – you want clothes made of cotton, linen, and silk; not polyester, denim or fleece.

There’s also a chance you of something more serious – a condition called hyperhidrosis – so if these tricks don’t work, ask your doctor for advice.

Image Credit: CentralITAlliance / iStock / Getty Images Plus

If you had trouble getting your day started today, and it had nothing to do with staying up too, there are some easy morning habits you can start doing right away that’ll start your day off right.

First thing in the morning is to write down something you’re grateful for – if you begin being thankful, you’ll be in a better mood.

Instead of reaching for coffee first thing in the morning, go for water – whether you sip it or chug it, you’re hydrating, because we tend to get dehydrated while we sleep.

After you get up, make your bed – it’s easy to skip doing it, but if you spend a minute and make it, studies show that you’ll be more focused and task-oriented the rest of the day.

Now that the days are longer, go get some sun. Even if you open the shades, sunlight in the morning can help combat Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Finally, get exercise – even if it’s just light stretching, five minutes of engaging your body can make a big difference.

Image Credit: Photobuay / iStock / Getty Images Plus

If you have high blood pressure, your doctor will likely suggest going for walks to bring it down. But there may be a better option – and something you can do just as easily. Stretching.

A new finding shows that those with hypertension show be stretching more. High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is among the top preventable risk factors affecting your lifespan. And most of us think that stretching is simply about your muscles, but stretching also stretches the blood vessels, including all your arteries.

Doing that will cause less resistance to blood flow and that will lower blood pressure.

Previous studies have shown that before, but this was the first time stretching head-to-head with walking to see which was more effective.

using two groups of adults – one group did a whole-body stretching routine for 30 minutes a day five days a week; the other group briskly walked for the same duration – and the group that stretched was found to have far lower blood pressure at the end of the 8 weeks.

But walking still does your body good – the walkers lost more body fat off their waists.

The doctors recommend for those walking to reduce blood pressure to continue to do so, but to add in stretching – it does not even have to be at the same time – the stretching can be done wherever you find the time, even when watching TV at night instead of just sitting on the couch.

Image Credit: Daisy-Daisy / iStock / Getty Images Plus

As the days are longer, we’re more active than ever. But to keep active and stay active, you want your heart to be healthy to keep up with everything that you’re doing. The American Heart Association has some tips on how to have a heart-healthy summer:

Stay Hydrated – water is best, but plenty of fluids before, during, and after any warm activities – you’ll want to avoid caffeine and alcoholic beverages that dehydrate.

Try to work out in the cooler parts of the day – early morning or early evening, to help prevent sunburn or sunstroke.

Make sure you wear lightweight clothing – and light colored too!

Summer is a great season to try new veggies – if you’re grilling, throw some mushrooms, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes on the skewer.

When you’re packing for a beach road trip, throw in a football, soccer ball, or a frisbee to give you the incentive to get moving when you’re enjoying the sand.

Create your own fruit pops – mash up fruits like peaches or watermelon into paper cups and freeze overnight – you’ll save on a lot of money and sugar!

Wear hats when in the sun, and make sure you’ve got at least SPF 15 on.

And if the heat gets to be too much, head indoors – the heat will break eventually, and you’ll be able to keep up a healthy, active summer!

Image Credit: travnikovstudio / iStock / Getty Images Plus