Self-care may seem like a recent concept to many, but the idea is not new. The hippie movement actualized self-care during the ’70s, and it refers to any activity that you do deliberately to tend your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Engaging in self-care can boost your confidence and self-esteem, improve productivity in your work, and build your resistance to illness and diseases.
Although self-care is a tried-and-true concept, many people overlook it. Here are some ideas for making self-care part of your daily life so you can glean the many benefits.
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Exercise
Exercise is an excellent way to eliminate stress while keeping fit. It’s best to make exercise a habit to make it easier to integrate into your daily or weekly routine. One way to do this is to get a motivator that helps you get going. A fitness tracker is especially helpful at both motivating you and gauging your progress.
The recently launched Apple Watch Series 5, for instance, comes equipped with features such as step and workout tracking, an always-on Retina display, fall detection, a heart rate monitor, and an on-demand ECG. If an Apple product isn’t your style, there are other suitable tracking options, like the Fitbit Charge 3. TechRadar points out it’s fully waterproof and has a large, easy-to-read display so you can eyeball your progress while you’re in motion.
Other exercise motivators may be anything from a fitness partner to a cool athleisure outfit. Think about what will make you look forward to your workout, and add it to your lifestyle.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is the simplest way to take care of yourself, and without enough of it, your waking hours suffer immensely. The benefits you get from sleep are extensive: your stress goes down, your memory becomes sharper, your skin glows, and you wake up in a better mood.
While getting enough sleep is essential, good quality sleep is critical. Some poor sleep-quality signs are repeatedly waking up at night, feeling tired or sleepy after waking up, and presenting with sleep disorder symptoms like snoring or gasping for air. It helps to get an excellent mattress to prevent back and joint pain.
Take Time to Relax
Yes, when you push yourself, you will get more done, but at what cost? Some studies show that your health suffers when you do not get enough rest. Unfortunately, relaxing has a bad rep in many cultures. Many think that relaxing is merely the absence of work and fail to realize its essence and value. Others believe that relaxing equates to laziness.
Rest is an essential part of working smart and well. It helps to improve your focus, increases your energy, and allows you to recover quickly from a body strain or a workout. Relaxing every now and then also gets you motivated to complete your work or projects after spending some time away from them.
Set aside time to do things that you enjoy. Read a good book, lounge in the sunshine, or spend time at a dog park with your pooch. Whatever it is that you find soothing, make some time for it every day.
Practice Meditation
As Psycom explains, ten minutes a day of meditation can change your life, reducing anxieties and other negative feelings. It’s a deceptively simple exercise; at its core, meditation involves focusing your attention to calm your mind. Breathing is a common meditation focus point because it helps remove distractions, restlessness, and worries. It also means tuning in with your inner self, allowing you to settle and contemplate.
Meditation, as a form of self-care, acts as a valuable antidote to the fast-paced home and work environment in today’s technology-driven culture. What’s more, meditation is accessible to everybody, and you can tailor it to accommodate a variety of demanding responsibilities, time constraints, lack of peace, and even physical disabilities. You can simply set aside some space and time, add a well-chosen app to your phone, and focus.
Self-care is something that you cannot and should not compromise on. You should nurture your mental health and well-being using practical self-care tips, like exercising, sleeping well, relaxing, and meditating. Never feel guilty for being kind to yourself, because you deserve it, and you’ll be healthier from doing so.
I hope you enjoyed this guest post by Brad at http://selfcaring.info/!
I would love to hear from you in the comments below on what self care routine you have. What methods are you using that you think will benefit others? How do you incorporate them into your daily routine?
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Love and Light
Lauren x
