Taking small steps toward healthier habits may help you feel better while living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is easier to begin exercising, managing stress, and eating a healthier diet if you start slowly and develop sustainable routines over time.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and joint damage. It can impact other parts of the body besides the joints, such as the lungs, eyes, heart, and/or kidneys. RA symptoms and disease activity are typically managed with a treatment plan that may include anti-inflammatory or antirheumatic drugs. Changing your lifestyle habits can also be part of managing your RA.¹

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases recommends lifestyle habits like exercise, healthy eating, and stress management to support physical function and mental well-being for people with RA.² In general, healthy habits have also been shown to lengthen life and reduce the risk for other diseases.³

How To Start Making Healthier Habits

If you’ve ever struggled to change your habits, you’re not alone. Our routines become “hardwired” in our brains, making it difficult to veer away from our normal activities. While it may not be easy to change habits, it’s not impossible.⁴

Psychological research shows that healthy habit formation can start with simple goals and actions. Recommendations for initiating a healthy habit include:

Developing Healthy Habits That Are Sustainable

Repeating a healthy action on a daily basis helps form a habit. There is evidence that a simple habit can form over 90 days if the action is consistently repeated.⁶

Cultivating better habits may also require breaking unhealthy habits. You may need to make a habit of avoiding a favorite ice cream shop or bakery if it leads you to unhealthy eating. Our brains are geared toward habits that we enjoy, even if they aren’t beneficial.⁴

It is not uncommon to fall off the wagon and lose momentum with a new habit. Getting off track can be frustrating and may cause some people to feel bad about themselves or give up entirely. If you get off track, you are not a failure — the effort you’ve made thus far isn’t wasted. You can start again with the same small actions that you took when you first started working to cultivate new habits. You can try incorporating new tools to help stick to new routines, such as including family who can support you in healthy eating and physical exercise.⁷

Healthy habits can become an important part of your arthritis care, in combination with your rheumatoid arthritis treatment, as you see results and feel better.

Better Habits for a Healthier Diet

A balanced diet is beneficial for your overall well-being. Reducing high fat and sweet foods may help with RA symptoms. Red meat, beer, sugary drinks and desserts, and diet soda were some of the foods and beverages linked to worsening RA symptoms in a survey of people with RA.⁸

Take small steps to improve your diet. Start by swapping red meat for fish on certain days of the week. Have a piece of fruit instead of a processed snack food that may be high in fat or sodium.

Find out more about developing healthier eating habits.

Getting Into the Exercise Habit

Physical activity can have tangible benefits for people with RA. It can improve joint health, range of motion, and balance. Exercise can also help improve your state of mind, reduce symptoms like pain and fatigue, and help prevent osteoporosis.^9,10

The American College of Rheumatology recommends regular exercise as a part of your arthritis care. Work with a physical therapist who can advise you on safe, low-impact aerobic and weight-bearing exercises you can do at home, outside, or at a gym.¹⁰ Your rheumatologist can provide a referral for physical therapy to start developing routines to help increase your physical activity.

Learn more about starting new habits for movement and exercise.

Healthy Habits To Help Reduce Stress

People with rheumatic diseases like RA are prone to psychological stress due to the challenges of living with the condition, along with physiological aspects of the disease itself. Stress has been shown to exacerbate arthritis symptoms and disease activity by affecting hormones which can trigger an inflammatory immune response.¹¹

Simple habits for rest, relaxation, and lifestyle changes can help improve your mental health. Start small with self-care routines at the end of the day, such as a warm bath or shower followed by quiet time to ease stressful thought patterns.¹¹

Ask your rheumatologist or primary care provider for a referral for mental health counseling if you need help reducing stress.

Read more about stress management habits to help you feel better.

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