Keep your wellness levels up during these difficult times

Some excellent guidelines on keeping your wellness levels up during strange and difficult times.

Wellness is paramount to a happy, peaceful existence; we must maintain our health as a whole, not just as a body, nor simply an emotional being, but our whole self. We must approach our emotional, mental, and physical health and find the necessary balance within the off-kilter world we are facing at present. It is possible to separate these pillars of our make up in order to focus on them intently and recognise any needs they individually may have. And of course there can be knock on effects if one part of us is not at its best, it can begin to pull another of our core constructs in the wrong direction as they are all intrinsically connected. Try the following guidelines to keep your whole self centred and well during times of uncertainty…

Physical Health

First let’s take a look at our physical health; how are our bodies doing? Are we acting out of sorts because the world as we know it is unrecognisable? Are we changing good habits, finding it difficult to become motivated? There are three ways we can keep our physical being on track and balanced. Simply; eating, exercising and sleeping. If we manage all three properly then our bodies will be able to maintain a good level of wellness and support the rest of our ‘self’ effectively.

Diet

Getting the vitamins and minerals needed to support a healthy nutrition intake is vital. Make sure you eat whole foods, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables – as wide a range as possible, greens, grains, proteins and fibre. Be sure to hydrate and stay hydrated.  A healthy gut supports a healthy mind as well as a healthy body.

Sleep

A minimum of eight hours uninterrupted sleep is the guideline for optimum health. Make sure your bedroom is comfortable, with the least amount of distraction possible. It must be a place where you feel relaxation all around you, limit the possibility of stimulation via digital devices and instead opt for a good book or perhaps a guided relaxation meditation to help you fall into the land of slumber. Find a nighttime ritual routine that works for you and delivers the message to your brain that this is wind-down time with sleep being the end goal.

Exercise

You may have limited space but moving the body is necessary to maintaining physical health. There are countless online exercise routines, some only taking fifteen minutes or so. Practice yoga where possible as this also provides mental and spiritual re-centring as well as physical. Whatever you do, make sure you do some form of exercise every day as part of your daily routine.

Mental and Emotional Health

Mentally we are under more pressure than usual; to maintain a balanced sense of wellness is difficult when everything around us is so unsure, unnatural and open-ended. To care for our mental and emotional health right now is imperative to keeping ourselves well. To release, express and accommodate all our emotions is how we manage them; to read our own emotions, to understand how we are feeling and why is essential to maintaining a balanced mind.

Express emotion

If we allow a build up of emotion whether negative or positive, or somewhere in between, we can become overwhelmed. So the advice from the experts, now and always, is to address your emotions and express them. Whether they are happy or sad they need to be shared to be made sense of. So let it all out, call a close friend or family member, therapist perhaps, and release all that you feel into the open.

Contemplation

To sit and approach our inner-selves, to reflect on the self is an important tool for wellness and self-management. Take time out of the day to contemplate all the positive things in your life, that for which you are grateful. This helps to ground us and recognise that we are fortunate, whether unsettled or not.

If you’re in close proximity to others it may be difficult to separate your feelings from theirs, i.e. if another is worried these negative thoughts and fears can pass between us and cause anxiety. Awareness and talking through everything can help us to calm our minds, and rationalise.  So let those inner feelings be heard; share them to keep a calm, balanced mind.

Connection

Being in isolation doesn’t mean that we should totally isolate ourselves from our fiends and loved ones. In fact, we need to connect now more than ever. There are plenty of ways in which we can stay in touch with the outside world; video calls are becoming a more regular way of life than ever. To see another person live can help us to connect more effectively, to note their body language and reactions makes the interaction feel far more realistic. You may find yourself getting in touch with friends you haven’t seen in years, it’s an amazing moment of reconnection around the world, another positive angle to arise from unprecedented times.

Positive energy

We all need to boost our positive energy in order to stay balanced and feel good. Put on your favourite music, share with a friend, dance around the living room, whatever you need to do that makes you feel good.

Disconnection

As important as remaining connected is to ensure that you also disconnect. The media can be overpowering and render us fearful. We cannot assume the weight of the world and so limiting our news and social media input will help to keep us grounded and rational. Take time out each day with no external distraction. Meditate, walk, stretch, relax, breathe – take a mental break.

Keeping our overall wellness in check will help us to feel balanced, real and on the right path. We need some stability and thankfully we have all the necessary tools to provide that for ourselves.