We are all social distancing now, navigating through a world unlike any in living memory, but there are plenty of positive steps you can take to keep yourself well! Here are my top tips for keeping your spirits up in a time of uncertainty.
- Vitamin D & Sunshine! If you can, get outside for at least 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon. If you don’t have a garden – open the window and get some sunlight on your skin! Getting up and ready for the day is so important and I use the time ordinarily spent commuting for doing some exercise, taking a walk or at least just going outside – cabin fever can sink in pretty quickly if you are just moving from the bed to the desk!
- Sleep 7-8 hours a night! Extensive research links sleep to how healthy our immune system is. The key is to get enough, but not too much, and to have a regular sleep cycle.
- Eat healthy! The research says this means ditch sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, eat a lot of green veggies and fruits It is really important it is to be well nourished to recover quickly from infections. If you have a tasty recipe – share it with a friend!
- Exercise! Physical activity helps flush bacteria from lungs and airways, and it boosts your white blood cell’s ability to fight disease. Just 15 minutes in the sun walking is going to give you a boost. Get outside every day and get moving. Just keep your social distancing!
- Reduce stress! Sounds obvious, but this is huge for boosting wellness, even more crucial right now. Stress weakens the immune system, it is well documented – so try to avoid stressful situations if you can. You can start by limiting your access to the news – allow a couple of windows in your day to stay informed but close that liveblog!
- Stop smoking! Do you smoke? You should stop. Smoking messes up your immune system, promotes infection, lung disease, and cancer.
- Stay connected! You might be stuck inside, but it’s important to keep in contact with the people in your life – try to check in with those that you haven’t heard from in a while.
- Establish a routine! It’s really important to manufacture a sense of normality and you can do that by establishing a daily routine that works for you. Just make sure you schedule regular breaks!
I’d love to hear your top wellbeing tips, drop me a line on [email protected] if you’d like to share these with me.