Self Care: Why Is It Important?

Self care can mean many things and everyone should participate in self care at some point in their lives. For some people, it is playing sports, reading a book, taking a bath, going on vacation, etc.

Everyone needs to find what helps them unwind and relax their body, mind, and spirit to help them regain the energy and motivation they need to be productive throughout the day and feel satisfied when the day is done.

Types of Self Care

Emotional

Physical

Mental

Practical

Social

Spiritual

In this program we will be focusing on the mental and physical types of self care.

Physical Self Care:

To take care of your body physically, you need to provide your body with essential nutrients and vitamins and minerals that will give you the energy you need each day.

-we have provided many recipes, grocery lists, and food recommendations in this program and the Health & Wellness Blog to where you will be able to provide your body with the necessary nutrients

You will also need to exercise regularly or make time for physical movement throughout the day if your lifestyle involves sitting at a desk for long periods of time.

-try standing and stretching every 30 minutes; normal recommendations say every hour, but why not every 30 minutes? You can prevent lower back pain, neck pain, and feel more energized.

-you can also try going on a walk on your lunch break, doing lunges, or simple squats on your lunch break for a minute or two to help keep your blood flowing properly

-at the end of the day, try taking a bath with epsom salts, reading a book, cooking your favorite meal, go to the gym, go on a bike ride, or take your pet for a walk!

Take the time to care for your body physically at least once a day to help you maintain your health goals. You will eventually establish some sort of routine or figure out the activities you like the most and you will have something to look forward to each day!

Mental Self Care:

Our mental health is super important for many reasons. We are able be as productive as our mental health lets us.

Taking care of our mental health can mean a range of things, such as: getting a massage/acupuncture to relieve stress, watching a comedy to help make us laugh, or spending quality time with people that we care about.

Write down in a notebook or type in your phone things that you like and times that make you feel good, relaxed, and happy. Once you have created your list, star or highlight the things that you think you could incorporate into your life everyday or every week. Make these things a priority to accomplish so you can support your mental health on a daily basis.

Along with mental care and physical care is skin care. We recommend making your skin and body a priority because not only does the inside of your body affect the outside, but the vice versa is true as well.

Skin care can be simple or complex depending on your interests. We recommend that the least you do for skin care be drinking lots of water, and there is no limit to how well you can spend time on your skin.

There are many different skin types and for most people, if not all, should wear sunscreen throughout the day to protect your skin from the sun. Even if you are not sunbathing, you can still damage your skin if you leave it unprotected.

Other recommendations for skin care to prevent aging include:

-vitamin E serums or other vitamin serums

-moisturizer

-eating avocados or wearing an avocado mask

-using products without parabens, sulfates, artificial fragrances, phthalates, formaldehyde, oxybenzone, etc. - these chemicals can damage your body

-eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy fats and oils can help prevent anti-aging

-SLEEP - do not forget to sleep!

-less caffeine - Caffeine may cause wrinkles depending on usage

-try not to strip your skin of oils with harsh scrubs or exfoliators often; these products are safe to use once or twice a week

-try cleansing oils over scrubs

-sunscreen, sunscreen , sunscreen,

-did we mention sunscreen?

Before applying these to your routines, check to make sure you are not allergic or sensitive to foods or products recommended. Applying products that irritate your skin, even though they may clean well, will accelerate the aging process.

Ultimately...Find what works for you. Not for someone else. And enjoy the time spent with yourself, caring for yourself, because you deserve it!