The demands placed on everybody in the current situation mean that self-care has become more important than ever. With that in mind, here are 3 things you can do to get the ball rolling toward a healthier more positive you.
1. Go back to basics
This first step does not involve throwing everything you own away and living in a cave, although some might not consider that a bad idea in the current situation.
What this involves is taking more care over what you put into your body and making sure that you get enough sleep. As you already know, this is much easier said than done so it needs to be achieved using small steps.
The benefits of correct hydration and a balanced diet are well known but finding time to implement them when you have a busy work and social life can be next to impossible, so the first small step is just to change a couple of things.
Replace a cup of coffee each day with a glass of water, or cook something from raw ingredients once or twice a week instead of a takeaway or microwave meal. This is not a major change but in three or four weeks you will start to feel the benefits or see them in the mirror.
Once you see the positive results, you can replace more unhealthy options with better choices until you reach a balance you are happy with.
The same goes for getting enough sleep. Studies show a person needs between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night to be at your best, so cutting down on late nights out (or even later nights in) will help you here. After all, that next episode on Netflix will still be there tomorrow and going into the day tired means you’ll be tempted to give yourself a boost from extra caffeine or sugar.
Again, the more sleep you get, the less reliant you become on those ‘boosts’ which improves your overall wellbeing and your ability to get even more sleep until you are getting the recommended amount almost every night.
2. Consider a hair transplant
Next on the list we have something quite specific, but that has an enormous effect on your wellbeing. You have no control over pattern baldness, yet it affects both men and women and can seriously damage self-esteem and cause mental health issues. One alternative to a receding hairline is to shave it all off (usually combined with growing a beard), another is to have a hair transplant.
Although this is considered a cosmetic procedure, the benefits to your wellbeing need to be considered against any worries you might have about accusations of vanity. The same goes for the myths, misconceptions and horror stories you may hear before you take a closer look.
Hair transplant techniques have come a long way from the early cases which gave rise to much of the ridicule and stigma that has grown up around the procedure. These older techniques of transplanting several hundred follicles at a time gave recipient tufts of hair whereas modern techniques transplant between 1 and 3 hairs at a time which results in a more natural look.
Much of the stigma has disappeared in recent years as many high profile clients have had successful procedures at places like The Harley Street Hair Clinic and have shown the results on both mainstream and social media. The cost of procedures will vary according to the number of hair follicles that are transplanted and the belief that the process is a painful one is incorrect.
The entire process is carried out under local anesthetic so patients will feel very little or nothing at all. The most common modern technique is FUE (follicular unit extraction) which takes the hair from areas unaffected by pattern baldness (such as the sides or back of the head – the classic ‘horseshoe’ area) and implants them in the affected areas.
While the effects can take a couple of months to be apparent, the changes are permanent and the long term benefit for your well being cannot be underestimated.
3. Learn how to ‘switch off’
The final point on this short but effective checklist is to learn to switch off. The stresses involved in your daily life can contribute to poor diet, poor sleep and even hair loss. While you cannot entirely escape 21st Century life, you can, like the mobile devices you spend so much time staring at, switch off.
Less screen time before bed can help the brain relax and aid a better night’s sleep. Taking time in the middle of the day to relax or better still go for a walk in your lunch break. The activity and change of scenery will have greater benefits for you than catching up on social media stories or trying to complete another level of that game.
Another thing to look at is who you spend your free time with and how you spend it. Again, playing video games can be relaxing but too many hours will have a negative effect. As much as you might choose to limit your time on social media, you could choose to limit your time playing games.
This also goes for the amount of time you spend with negative people. If you spend hours on end with somebody who is having a detrimental effect on your mental health, then you should consider limiting your time with that person.
This is by no means a complete list, but it is one you can use to take action today and to start to improve your health and wellbeing at a time when being at your best has never been more important.
