SELF CARE ◽HEALTH

Self-Care Tips for the Body

Self-care can be a path to greatness — Here’s how!

Self-Care Tips — for Your Body

We tend to think of self-care in terms of skincare, diet, and working out. A 7-step listicle of self-care tips for Millenials. A celebrity’s mental health messaging on Tik Tok. We think of those daily decisions we make to keep our bodies strong and healthy, but there’s so much more to how we practice self-care for the body. We practice self-care in a myriad of ways but how we do it seems to change like a fad or a passing news report.

But self-care is so important. From how we manage stress to how we practice self-care when we have to be away from home, to how we demonstrate self-care to our children, our well-being is tied directly to how we view and care for ourselves; mind, body, and spirit.

Note: This month in September, Self-Care Awareness Month, I’m writing a lot about self-care, how we do it, how we feel about it, and how different types of self-care are necessary. Here’s where you can make sure to stay in this conversation and help make self-care a part of your daily life.

As a professional wellness living writer, I am addressing self-care in a myriad of topics this month to help you develop that self-care routine that provides the self-support you need. Besides, self-care tips are kind of my jam!

EASY NAVIGATION

You Are Your Greatest Advocate
How Do You Begin to Listen to Your Body?
Self-Care Activities for the Body
· ◽Put Your Self-Care on Your To-Do List
· ◽Increase Physical Activity
· ◽Drink Fresh Water Daily
· ◽Get Fresh Air Regularly
· ◽Practice Mindful Nutrition: Eat for Fuel
· ◽Healthy Physical Hygiene
· ◽Reduce Stress
· ◽Get Some Shut Eye
· ◽Hobbies & Leisure Activities
Your Takeaway Today
  ∘ FOR MORE READING

You Are Your Greatest Advocate

Importantly, you are your best keeper. So, providing physical and emotional support for yourself is an important part of what you do to live and thrive. Fitting in a little exercise or stress management into your morning routine, taking part in a support group for moms, or setting aside a few minutes each day to quietly read a book, in your room with the door closed, to help reset your energies and feel energized — However you practice self-care, no one can take better of your emotional health and physical health than you. No one can fix your self-care shortcomings for you — but you!

Our well-being is tied directly to how we view and care for ourselves; mind, body, and spirit.

Let me ask you a few simple questions about self-care for your body and how we are all going about doing this:

• Do you even know what your body loves?
• Do you feel in tune with what your body wants and needs to be joyful, content, healthful, and positively functional?
• Do your self-care efforts sometimes feel more like punishments than self-love? (Diets that suck? Exercise that feels like a bore?)
• Do you experience low energy, pain, brain fog or squirrel-brain and other cognitive or mental health issues, lack of sleep, mood swings, lack of focus, or poor general health? Maybe, it’s time you take better care of yourself. How you care for yourself has a huge effect on your body’s health and your quality of life.

If you feel disconnected from your body — like there’s a wall of miscommunication between your mind and body — then you may possibly be doing your body’s self-care all wrong. This article will discuss some unique ways of improving your body’s care and your self-care practice.

How Do You Begin to Listen to Your Body?

The paths to a more well-connected mind-body communication may look a little different for each of us. For some, it simply means closing your eyes and sitting still, actively mentally checking in with various parts of your body. For others, muscle relaxation exercises, mindfulness, meditation, grounding practices, yoga, or spiritual activities like praying can help.

The common thread amongst all these methods is to take the time to do it with the intention of listening to your own body. And then, addressing the different ways you need to take care of your body.

Self-Care Activities for the Body

No matter your level of fitness, the shape of your body, or the quirks, intricacies, challenges, or skills your body emulates, it’s still cells, tissues, organs, bone, and skin. We all have an intricate physical body with varying needs — so, if some of these self-care tips need to be modified to fit your body’s needs, feel free to do so. There is no judgment here. We are all here to learn, and to converse about how we can take better care of our bodies through self-care that really works.

Here are some of my best self-care tips for your body to decrease stress, improve your physical performance, and ultimately improve your quality of life.

◽Put Your Self-Care on Your To-Do List

First and foremost, put your self-care on your to-do list each morning. When you prioritize your self-care for the day, you tackle each task putting your physical health at the forefront of your mind. Plus, each checkbox helps to also support your emotional health and mental health by building self-confidence and self-esteem. Spending time on yourself is just as important as spending time caring for all the other tasks on your list.

Make it fun and mix in some self-care items right into your morning’s to-do list. You’ll enjoy checking off the self-care tasks as much as you do the chores.

◽Take out the trash & clean the kitchen

◽Walk the dog

◽10-minute s of DANCING!

◽Work on tomorrow’s presentation

◽Find something to smile about

◽Write something with a pretty pen

◽Clear out the garage

◽Take the kids to dance practice — bring a book to read!

◽Cook dinner & clean up

◽Get in 4 glasses of fresh, cold water

◽Have face-mask time with the girls during homework time

◽Make a yogurt and blueberry dessert for everyone

Each of us will have a very different to-do list but write down your intentions to do fun and caring things for your body as a part of your day. Then, happily check them off. Each one done is another act of kindness for yourself and an opportunity to demonstrate mindful living to those around you whom you love.

◽Increase Physical Activity

Physical activity is self-care. When you move your body with intent toward wellness and greater health, your body listens to that positivity and responds accordingly. Your relationship to physical movement — is it a healthy one? Do you fear what your body can and cannot do? Are you intimidated by exercise? Do it begrudgingly? Or do you do it feeling very much like it’s self-punishment?

This month as we celebrate Self-Care Awareness Month, spend some time thinking about your relationship to physical activity and how you can make this more about self-love and self-care. It may just change the way you look at exercising regularly. The more you make it an enjoyable experience for yourself, the more you’ll want to keep it moving.

Health Benefits of Regular Physical Activity

• Reduce blood pressure — even taking regular walks can help to reduce high blood pressure and lower your risk factors for some diseases. Note: High blood pressure is a huge risk factor for women’s health and heart disease. Learn more here.
• Stress relief — Regular exercise can help generate positive feelings and release endorphins and oxytocin, all of which help to decrease stress.
• Longer life — “150 minutes of exercise or more each week increased life expectancy by about 7 years over those who didn’t do regular moderate exercise.” Allina Health
• Reduce anxiety and depression — Regular exercise helps the body to release “natural cannabis-like brain chemicals (endogenous cannabinoids) and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense of well-being” says Mayo Clinic. You can also take CBD supplements to help provide extra phytocannabinoids, which may help you to feel better.
• Physical activity can make your daily life easier as it increases your strength, and endurance bolsters your immune system, and helps you live in a greater, more healthy physical state.
• Regular exercise can help relieve pain. Ever wonder why you hurt more when you’ve been sitting still for too long? Get up and get moving! Even leisure activities count if they’re active!

◽Drink Fresh Water Daily

I’ve written recently about how America has a problem with sugary soft drinks. When I made the switch from soft drinks to water, I noticed some significant changes in my body, more than any health-kick change or dieting change I’ve ever made for my body. Stopping drinking soft drinks changed my health for the better and those changes have had a significant impact on my weight, my appetite, and cravings, and I feel recharged — yes, even without all that caffeine.

Here’s why:

• Dropping the caffeine improved my sleep so much that I feel naturally recharged. Now, I don’t need caffeine for healthy energy levels!
• Dropping all those sugary sodas also meant dropping 15 lbs.
• I don’t miss sodas. This was the biggest shock. Now I drink plenty of water each day, a half-calf and Carob coffee blend in the morning, and one glass of red wine with a healthy dinner.

How much water should you really drink each day? Drink more water until you do it regularly and comfortably. Don’t make the numbers game take the fun out of drinking your water. Learn to infuse water, drink as fresh a water source as you can (you may have to buy spring water or get a water jug service if your tap water isn’t palatable), and learn to enjoy feeling better.

How much water do I drink? I usually drink about 48 ounces of water each day, but I have a diet high in fruits and veggies so I get lots of water in my diet as well. This is why when I tried to do the whole “6–8 glasses of water each day” thing, I felt like I was drowning. Listen to your body.

And, as the water gets in your system and refreshes your whole body each day (instead of you consistently challenging your entire body and brain to function well through dehydration) you will feel better, refreshed, and you’ll look better.

◽Get Fresh Air Regularly

Ever walked outside, taken deep breaths of fresh air, and felt completely rejuvenated? This is because nature, fresh air, and open spaces do a lot for our mental health and physical well-being. Don’t believe it? Just take a look at how nature-depletion can have detrimental health consequences.

◽Practice Mindful Nutrition: Eat for Fuel

I’ve been working on my nutrition for some time. Being born and raised here in the American south, I really learned how to cook that down-home southern food we all love, but it has been slowly killing my system. All those comfort foods simply weren’t helping my delicate system riddled with food cravings, bouts of IBS that kept me isolated at home, and headaches that ran my life. I learned that through healthy eating a lot of these terrible dietary issues, to use a pun, simply melted away. I feel better today than I’ve felt in decades.

What are the biggest ways to self-care your diet into something that loves your body?

1. Make it a mission to try new things. Substitutes. Healthier replacements for things you already love. The change over to plant butter instead of margarine, sourdough (easier on IBD systems, as Anchored Nutrition Therapy reported in a Live this week on Facebook), or simply tossing out the oils in your kitchen that are full of unhealthy fats — these changes are easy when you find replacements you enjoy.
2. Make it a joy to explore new foods, new recipes, and new ways of preparing or serving foods to allow you to get in those fruits, veggies, and whole grains your body needs. This is such a fun way to self-love.
3. Learn to eat for purpose: eat for fuel. Food is fuel. What kinds of fuel do you want to put in your “gas tank?” What are you eating or drinking that serves little benefit to your body? Before you eat something, ask yourself: Is this good fuel for your system?
4. Practice intuitive healthy eating. Remember I said when I drank the recommended amount of water I felt like I was drowning? I listened to my body rather than forcing myself to drink, drink, drink. This is intuition. In fact, intuitive eating is a real thing. Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Anchored Nutrition Therapy has been talking about this all week on their Facebook page. If you have a negative relationship with food, visit their page and watch a few of her lives. Learn how to love yourself well through a healthier relationship with your body and how it relates to food.
5. Accept that your taste buds have been fooled. They’ve been tricked and lured and fooled into loving things that aren’t good for your body. But, your taste buds, when lots of sugars and processed foods and junk foods and fast foods are removed — suddenly begin to love the flavors of normal, healthy, various foods, which become more flavorful and savory to you. You may find, as I did, that simply savoring your food more slowly helps you to create a more well-varied and balanced diet that helps you look and feel your best.

Some foods are also touted as brain food. Consider adding more fatty fish with brain-healthy Omega-3s. Eat more leafy green veggies to ramp up your nutritive base. Greek yogurt can also keep your gut — and therefore your digestive health — feeling balanced and energized. Try fitting in healthy snacks throughout the day. Research shows that “quality” over “calories” is what really matters when it comes to your health. Plus, research also shows that a great diet helps you to avoid illness!

◽Healthy Physical Hygiene

If you’ve been following my personal story for any length of time, then you know I’ve been through more than my share of trauma, both mentally and physically. I often tell other people that when trauma hits you have to remember three things: eat, sleep, and breathe. But there’s one more important thing not to forget: practice healthy physical hygiene to take care of your body while you’re suffering.

It can make all the difference to how you feel to simply take a shower, shave, put on some nice clean clothes, and feel recharged. While the world today values the cosmetic approach to physical hygiene, make it more about loving yourself enough to take care of your body inside and out.

◽Reduce Stress

One way to take great care of your physical health is to understand the impact of prolonged stress on your body. Stress management isn’t a feel-good bumper sticker slogan but a seriously helpful tool for balancing the stress on your body and mind so you can stay healthy, well, and productive.

Get your Self-Care Stress Reduction List Ready!

• Take a hot bath.
• Green thumb? Growing things can help to reduce stress and improve your physical health.
• Take deep breaths. Deep breathing helps to reduce stress, makes you feel more calm, and helps you to live more presently.
• Practice meditation or do some yoga.
• Spend quality time with family members and friends.
• Remove stressful triggers from your schedule. It’s ok to say “no” when an activity or function is damaging your body’s ability to balance stress. Note: Spending money can often cause physical stress on your body. Take care of your finances so you can take care of your health! (Related reading: Coping with Financial Stress.)
• And by all means — get enough sleep!

◽Get Some Shut Eye

When it comes to self-care, important activities must include how you sleep. Did you know that sleep is considered an essential function of the body? Without it, your body could succumb to disease, disorderly bodily functions, increased anxiety, and depression, along with a long list of other detrimental consequences. Sleep isn’t a lazy activity, but a productive and necessary one. If you’re having trouble sleeping (as I have since birth!) try some melatonin or CBD supplements to help you get the restful and restorative sleep your body needs to be healthy.

Note: Take any supplements under the direction of professional medical advice from your doctor.

◽Hobbies & Leisure Activities

One of the most helpful ways to stay physically active, reduce anxiety and depression, and keep physically fit is to get involved with hobbies and leisure activities that bring you joy. Life is so short — enjoying your life is just as important as anything else on your to-do list, Consider it a side hustle that feeds your entire body’s health — mind, body, and spirit!

Want to learn a new hobby? Learn a new craft? Try a new project? There’s no time like this present moment to chase those passions. Your body will reap the health benefits of all that joy and curiosity — two feelings that for many people like me, often go hand-in-hand.

Your Takeaway Today

The true key to achieving greatness through self-care is to keep it balanced: Mind, Body, and Spirit. The wellness benefits of a good self-care routine are myriad, as we’ve outlined in this article. We’ve discussed your mental health and self-care already this month (see link below under More Reading), during Mental Health Awareness Month, so I hope you’ve enjoyed this follow-up on taking excellent care of your physical body.

Remember, this isn’t about whether or not you “like” the packaging you live in — but more about the quality of your life. Practicing self-care is not optional. You only get one body. Take great care of it!

FOR MORE READING

1. Self-Care Tips for the Mind
2. The Long and Difficult Road to Self-Love

This article is for informational purposes and not to be a replacement for professional medical advice.

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Meet your author: Christina M. Ward is a lifelong beauty and wellness enthusiast with a professional writing career in the wellness, health, and clean beauty industries. Her work has been featured in Today’s Health Science, LA Weekly and most recently, the Village Voice out of New York. Follow her writing newsletter or join her poetry community newsletter for more on how you can live your dream of writing for a living. If she can do it — so can you!

The true key to achieving greatness with self-care tips and through practice is to keep it balanced:

Mind, Body, Spirit.