Places Pointer: Self Care
Take time for you
Self-care is more than just a buzzword, it’s an important part of your routine to consider for your current and long-term health!
This doesn’t mean working out every single day or following a strict diet, it’s more about incorporating little, everyday habits and behaviours that better your physical, mental, and emotional health. Even the smallest steps can make a big impact.
Need some inspiration? We’ve noted some areas that you can focus on to enhance your self-care:
Exercise
Being active in any form does your body good. You don’t have to be an athlete or have a certain goal in mind to reap the benefits of exercise. By pumping up your endorphins and reducing the negative effects of stress, staying active naturally lowers your physical and mental tensions, helping to put more spring in your step!
Getting out into nature is beneficial too, especially if you’re trying a new sport outdoors! Being outside in natural light can aid people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that is experienced during certain times of the year due to changes in weather or temperature.
Nutrition
You can also make self-care a part of every meal. After all, you are what you eat! Good nutrition means different things to different people, but the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals we consume reflects on to how we care for ourselves.
Good nutrition doesn’t stop at food though, hydration is just as if not even more important for our health!
Sleep
Self-care doesn’t have to be all systems go, you can take care of it by having consistent, good quality sleep! Along with keeping our heart healthy, improving memory retention, and reducing stress levels, sleep can also keep our immune system strong.
A bad sleep can lead us to feel tired, down, and struggling to concentrate, so practicing good sleep hygiene is vital too. Ensuring that our daily actions and environments prepare us to nod off healthily shouldn’t be overlooked.
Social Life
There’s a huge link between quality social relationships and positive health outcomes. Supportive social ties have been proven to help reduce your blood pressure and stress hormones, while calming your heart rate. Research has also shown that friendships can quite literally take away pain!
There isn’t a certain number of hours you need to dedicate to those around you, it’s more important to figure out what works for you when it comes to socialising, and plan how you’re going to make this a priority.
Now that we’ve got those areas covered, here are some ideas of activities you can incorporate to boost your self-care and these areas of focus even further:
- Read a book or magazine
- Try out a new recipe
- Experiment with adult colouring in books or other forms of art therapy
- Drink more water - aim for at least 6 to 8 glasses a day of fluids, and extra if you’re unwell
- Meditate before bed
- Volunteer
- Find a hobby that gets you outside
- Video call a friend that you haven’t seen face-to-face in a while
- Listen to a podcast that will teach you something new or make you laugh
We should note that self-care isn’t a one size fits all plan though, the demands of your daily life will indicate what kind of self-care you may need to focus on the most. Somebody who works in a sedentary job may consider incorporating more exercise, whereas a busy student may need to make sure they’re getting enough sleep.
How you prioritise the points we’ve mentioned above should be customised to your own needs; a little will go a long way!
Sources: Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress (Mayo Clinic) | Mental health problems – an introduction (Mind) | Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy (National Library of Medicine) | Friends ‘better than morphine’ (University of Oxford) | The gut-brain connection (Harvard Health Publishing) | Eating a balanced diet (NHS)