Self-care is an essential part of our health care. The best accessory you can wear is a stress-free glow. Here are some tips for self-care.
Understand How Stress Affects You
According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness stress affects your entire body, physically as well as mentally. Some common physical signs of stress include:
Headaches
Low energy
Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation and nausea
Aches, pains, and tense muscles
Insomnia
5 Tips to help you Wind Down
Prioritizing
Prioritizing reduces stress because it allows you to identify the most important tasks at any moment and give those tasks your attention, energy, and time. It also allows you to set aside time to detox from various routine tasks while still meeting deadlines. When we don't prioritize we can easily become burdened down with tasks that may not require our immediate attention.
Exercise
Exercise is a natural stress reducer and mood-improver. Exercise releases endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine.
Laughter
A self-care strategy I use often after dealing with stressful days is to watch a favorite cartoon with my girls. Of late, we watch Adventure Time because it's trippy and ridiculous and has humor at multiple levels. And there's a Rainicorn! That's irrelevant, though. The self-care involves turning the day off and being in the moment with my kids. Laughing." — Tammy Daily, Ph.D.
Be Selfish
Women tend to be natural nurturers which means we often put the needs of others before ours. It's OK to decline people or events that are unnecessary and draining. It's OK to decline friend's invites to dinner to instead stay in with a good book. Set aside some unrestricted me-time.
Be Still
We live in such a gotta have it now and over-stimulated society. Find somewhere beautiful – a park, the woods, your bath – and just sit there. Be still. Absorb the sound of the wind through the trees, the light and the shadows, the peace, and just appreciate the stillness. It’s calming, make time for stillness regularly. For those things you have on your plate that you have no control over, be still, hand those things over to the Lord, and rest in His peace.
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