Avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits: avoid smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Make responsible use of prescription and non-prescription medicines. Self-care is an important part of living a healthy and happy lifestyle. Taking care of yourself both mentally and physically is crucial to taking control of your health.
Self-care is something you do for yourself, to take care of yourself. Practicing self-care can help you improve your life at home and at work, as well as your relationships. Although the idea seems simple enough, implementing self-care in a meaningful way is more than just choosing to take a bubble bath from time to time. To be effective, self-care must be a priority in daily life.
Self-care can be defined by the term itself: taking care of yourself. Self-care includes everything you do to stay healthy, physically, mentally and spiritually. While prioritizing personal care may seem like common sense, especially when you think about longevity, it's often the first thing you lose when you're in difficult situations, whether due to health problems, a financial crisis, the loss of a job, a divorce, or, in our current situation, the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why it's important to keep it in mind and not an afterthought, especially when we are in difficult times.
The International Self-Care Foundation focuses on personal care to preserve the well-being of healthy people, to help prevent the epidemic of lifestyle-related diseases. In reality, anything you do for yourself that makes you feel better or that you are cared for can be considered personal care. What is needed for the practical implementation of personal care is a description of all the elements positioned from the individual's point of view. The variety of definitions of personal care, together with the broad and disparate activities that are part of self-care, can make definitions of this type difficult to manage for practical purposes.
In fact, knowing when to see a health professional is an important judgment that a person who cares about themselves must make and should be the result of a self-determined decision-making process about self-care. To create a self-care lifestyle, disconnecting from technology for short periods of time should be part of your regular routine. A big part of self-care is committing to taking care of your body and being more in tune with your needs. Dedicating time to relaxing activities, such as taking a hot bath, listening to music, or practicing yoga or meditation, is another common topic of self-care.
However, it's important to note that self-care is also essential for people with an existing condition, and this is also sometimes referred to as “self-management” of the condition. Self-care is, therefore, the fundamental level of health care in all societies and should be considered an important public health resource. When focusing on how to develop your personal care plan, it may be useful to consider the 8 Dimensions of Wellbeing (SAMHSA) (source in pdf) of the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). However, if you take the time to take care of yourself, you can ease the pressures of everyday life and restart to return to a healthy point where productivity is at its peak again.
