5 Ingredients for a Wellness Routine
It is Spring of 2020, and COV-19 is here. Social distancing is a reality. Many lifestyles being thrown for a loop is a thing. So, amidst this instability, how can we maintain or even create a wellness routine? If you already had a wellness routine, the shifts in daily schedules may have influenced your current regimen. If you never had a wellness routine, then now can be an excellent opportunity to dive in!
Why have a wellness routine? Whether the world is all in order or things are a little crazy, our health should be a priority! How we take care of our mind and body can influence how we perceive the world, how we handle stresses/our resiliency, how we show up for our loved ones, and how we find joy, ease, or even get by.
Below is a wellness routine recipe consisting of five ingredients. There is no specific measurement, and one component is not more important than the other. I invite you to review these items, reflect on what could help you the most, and then use the checklist at the bottom of the post to track your progress! Tag @biologicbalance when you share your progress!
NOURISHMENT
Nourishment and food aren’t just about how your body looks. It is about our emotional and physical wellbeing! Simple tricks to keep in mind:
Eating real food. Think plant-based, whole greens, vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins!
Eat mindfully. If you are home all day or if your schedule is off, it can be easy to over or under-eat. Be mindful of how much you need!
Listen to your hunger cues by noticing if it is anxiety/bored eating, or actual hunger. When our stress response is on, we crave carbs, sweets, and fat. Be mindful of if you feel anxious, eat something carb-filled or sweet, then feel better. This cycle could be a hint that you are in a stress cycle!
MOVEMENT
Regular exercise has many scientifically supported benefits. Those benefits range from weight loss, anxiety, and stress reduction, feeling happy, more energy, etc. Some movement tips include:
Finding the right movement for you. If you used to hit the gym, then see if your gym is streaming live classes. If yoga is your go-to, check in with your yoga studios. Perhaps, you dance in your living room, walk with the family, garden, or clean. To more it fits your lifestyle, the more likely you are to continue.
If possible, do an activity that gets your heart rate up for 20-30 minutes 1-3 times per week. Also, see if you can do exercise that taps into strength 1-3 times per week. That could be bodyweight with Yoga and Pilates or resistance training with weights!
Lastly, in times of uncertainty, be forgiving with yourself! It doesn’t have to be perfect.
MENTAL HEALTH
Checking in with mental health could be more critical now more than ever! Our brain can adapt due to something called neuroplasticity. If you feel stuck, know that you are not. We may need to shift your focus by:
Practicing self-compassion and gratitude. These practices will help you to be gentle with yourself as well as acknowledge how blessed you are regardless of everything else going on.
Breathing deeply, meditate, pray, ponder, or write in a journal to get emotions/worries out of your head.
Have you gotten sucked into the news or social media yet? Tune out the noise for a bit every day. Unwind. Disconnect. Tune in to the moment around you!
SLEEP
Similar to exercise, sleep has some incredible benefits. It is an opportunity for our brain, specifically a part related to worry and stress, to reset. In addition to serving as a natural reset button, sleep can help our body regenerate, be beneficial for our health, our patience, and our appetite! You can try:
Getting in a habit of going to bed and waking up the same time each day!
Declutter your space every night before bed.
Have a calm, cold, quiet, and dark environment. Turn your phone on Do Not Disturb, dim the lights, lower the temperature, and get ready for some quality shut-eye!
DIRECTION
What does direction mean? It can be easy to get stuck in the flood of information that comes from social media outlets, the news, texts, our internal dialogue, etc. Checking in with your ‘direction’ means reflecting on the progress you’ve made as well as looking at where you are going. This process can help give you a sense of control, purpose, feelings of achievement, and more!
“Fail to plan and plan to fail.” Maintain a schedule each day and include goals or objectives. We can still be productive in quarantine!
Remember those goals and objectives? Keep some short-term as well as long term goals! It can give us little wins along the way and something to look forward to or work towards.
Celebrate! It can be easy to overlook the accomplishment of achieving a goal or completing a task. Celebrating gives us credit where due and is a great way to train our brain that we should do that action again!
Lastly, remember to be kind and that you are not alone!
Resources
Feel free to save this checklist as you begin to adapt or build your wellness routine. Below is an example checklist. You can pick and choose what ingredients are important to you so that you can tailor the wellness routine to fit your needs best.
