To properly balance a healthy lifestyle and the love for placing bets might sound a little bit out of the pocket. Why should there be a balance between those two? Well, because placing bets can evolve into a very damaging habit that can turn your whole life around. A gambling problem is basically an addiction, and when your body is addicted, you are not yourself anymore.
Casino addicts tend to lie, neglect their responsibilities, waste money they cannot lose, hurt people around them, and, most importantly, ruin their physical and mental health. So, it is vital to understand that if you have this hobby, you should treat it with care and make sure you are making the healthiest decisions for your mental health.
Down below, you will find some guidelines and advice to help you maintain balance in your life while still enjoying the thrill of placing bets.
Responsible Gambling And A Healthy Routine
The thing with gambling is that you do not realize when it gets bad until it already is. So, there has to be a mix of responsible practices that should be applied in each betting session and a healthy lifestyle routine you should maintain every single day. Since responsible gambling is the only set of rules keeping you away from developing an addiction, we will start with that.
Responsible Gambling Practices
These are behavioral traits that one should implement and respect throughout the whole gambling session. Some will require preparation, while others are only situational actions that you must be aware of. Remember, these practices have the purpose of keeping your mental health in check and educating you in regard to how dangerous gambling can be.
- Setting your budget: There are two types of budget you must set before even starting your betting session. This rule applies to all kinds of sessions, no matter if you are claiming 10 free spins no deposit bonus or playing with your own money. You must set a losing and a winning budget. The amount has to be within your comfort zone, so basically, if you can afford to lose up to $500, that should be the maximum cap.
The same goes for winnings as well. If you are satisfied with being with $100 in profit, you should set that as a limit. So, why are you setting these limits? To avoid overspending and to make sure you are not spending your whole day in a betting loop, feeding your brain with dopamine unnecessarily. So, if you hit one of those two limits, you should end your session right there.
- Setting your time limits: There is a limit you can set for the time, too. Plan it ahead, and make sure you are choosing a realistic hour to start and an even more realistic hour to end your session. Most users will go and play until they run out of cash. This should not be the case. Casinos are for entertainment. So, before you start placing your bets, you should think about how much time you are willing to spend inside the casino. Now, if you think that two hours is enough, from time to time, you should take out your phone and see how much time you have left. If you hit that two-hour mark, end your session.
En-Yi Judy Lin talks a lot about quality-of-life measures and the time we spend in casinos in her “Time and Money Spent Gambling and The Relationship with Quality-of-life Measures: A National Study of New Zealanders.”
- Seeking help: Most of us should see responsible gambling as a solution, both for preventing problematic gambling and for finding help in case of need. You see, being responsible means that you are conscious of your actions but acknowledge the possible consequences.
So, being responsible also means that you should observe any addiction symptoms and look for help. ResponsibleGambling.org should be a good place to start. There are several free materials with plenty of information on how addiction settles in or how you can recover from it.
A Healthy Lifestyle
In order to achieve clarity and observe your behavior with a clear mind while gambling, you also need to live a healthy life, only a healthy body will help you ask the right questions and interpret the answers correctly.
Achieving a superior level of health is only possible if you are consistent and if you make good decisions every single day for a long or very long period of time. Basically, you have to build a routine and include some healthy habits at different hours of the day. If you need help with understanding what a healthy routine might actually look like, here is an example:
- Begin your day with a hefty glass of water and a quick workout.
- While having a healthy and consistent breakfast, you may also want to meditate, read some sports news, or focus on planning your next session.
- Combine your lunch break with a visit to the gym, or make sure you stay active throughout your day.
- Evenings are for you, and you should use that time to relax and finally place your bets. Set a budget and time limits, and focus on having fun.
- Before you go to sleep, think about how your session went and how you felt after losing or winning that cash.
It Is Possible
Gambling does not have to be bad or be seen as something people should never think of. If you want to enjoy a healthy and safe betting session, make sure you are healthy enough to make good decisions.
