Everyday Health and Wellness: Focus on Self-Care Without Busting Your Budget

Everyday Health and Wellness: Focus on Self-Care Without Busting Your Budget

Keeping yourself healthy, mentally and physically, doesn’t need to cost a small fortune. You don’t need a pricey gym membership to stay fit or an exotic vacation to relax. Instead, practice everyday self-care strategies that promote head-to-toe wellness but don’t bust your budget.

Get Enough Quality Sleep

While you are asleep, your body heals, your cells replenish, and your brain commits new information to memory. Most experts agree that seven to nine hours of sleep each night is the proper amount for most people. However, according to the American Sleep Association, 35.3 percent of adults are getting less than seven hours of sleep each night.

Chronic sleep problems can lead to fatigue, impatience, irritability, and inability to concentrate. Over time, sleep deprivation affects immunity, metabolism, and weight. Lack of sleep is also linked to diabetes, heart issues, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer, and other diseases. You can reduce insomnia and other sleep problems by exercising regularly, as well as avoiding alcohol, caffeine, electronics, and overeating in the evenings. Talk to your doctor about lifestyle changes, healthy habits, and treatment options that may help you get a better night’s sleep.

Get a Massage Regularly
Stress can cause both physical and mental issues. If you love a good massage to relax and reduce stress, make it a point to get one regularly, whether from your partner or a pro. You can get inexpensive yet effective massages at a massage school. You might also consider purchasing a massage chair, particularly if you have a job that requires physical labor or standing all day. These come in a wide range of prices, but if you search online, you should be able to find some great deals on massage chairs. Additionally, look to sites like Rakuten for coupons and cashback offers to help maximize your savings. If you shop through Rakuten, you may also find deals for stores with free shipping. If all the massage chairs are beyond your budget, take a look at massage seat cushions instead.

Get Into Yoga

Regular yoga practice can improve sleep quality, energy levels, focus, and self-esteem. Physically, it improves balance, flexibility, muscle strength, blood flow, and posture. Yoga and meditation can also help if you are battling depression or anxiety, and can even reduce your risk of heart disease. You don’t need to pay for pricey yoga classes or drag yourself to a professional yoga studio every day. Instead, you can reap the benefits of yoga in your own home thanks to smartphone apps, video tutorials, and streaming YouTube channels.

Say ‘No’ More Often

It doesn’t cost a thing to say “no,” but it can improve your health and wellness. Being busy is often championed these days, but overscheduling yourself can cause health problems and burnout. Feel free to turn down invitations and requests to attend events, volunteer, work overtime, and so forth. There are only so many hours in a day. You don’t need to feel obligated to say “yes” to things you don’t have the energy, interest, money, and/or time to do.

Taking care of yourself — mind, body, and soul — is essential for your overall health and well-being. However, many people think they need to spend a lot of money to practice optimal self-care and healthy habits when, in fact, the opposite is true. A lavish vacation to a luxury resort or a personal trainer at the trendiest gym in town isn't what's standing between you and wellness. In fact, you don’t need to spend much money at all to focus on yourself and your health. Just follow these everyday habits and lifestyle changes to stay happy and healthy without putting a dent in your wallet.

This Guest Post was written by:

Jennifer McGregor

PublicHealthLibrary.org

Photo via Pixabay

Guest post

Female Beauty: 4 Ways to Keep Your Body in Shape

Female Beauty: 4 Ways to Keep Your
Body in Shape

Media, men and society require women to take care of themselves and look their best. We must invest in ourselves if we want to be beautiful, but you must remember to do it for yourself and not for anyone else.  

There are quite a few healthy choices women can make to feel and look better, from eating habits and regular physical activity to yoga and a little bit of pampering now and then. Just remember to accept who you are, with all your strengths and flaws, because how you think about yourself is reflected into all areas of your life.  

You are what you eat

The first thing you need to do to get in shape and stay fit is to be aware of what you eat. Whether you want a curvy figure or shed excess weight, food plays an important role in helping you achieve your fitness goals. The saying “you are what you eat” could not be any truer. You should begin by being completely aware of what you are feeding your body each day.

Start writing a journal or use online tools like myfitnesspal or sparkpeople. But you have to be completely honest and absolutely vigilant. That means that you should include that handful of chips you munched while putting away the groceries and the stick of gum that you popped into your mouth while waiting at the signal.

The second step is to start eating healthy. This means that the bulk of your diet should consist of leafy greens and healthy snacks such as fresh fruits, lean meats or a handful of dry fruits. You can certainly allow yourself a treat now and then, no need to swear off Belgium chocolate-chip ice cream for life, but you need to limit yourself to a scope rather than a pint.

Avoid fad diets, binge eating, and incorporate nutritious and wholesome foods that will give you the energy to perform your activities throughout the day.  

It doesn’t matter whether you have special dietary needs, healthy nutritious options are easily available.

No pain, no gain

You know the sauna belt they keep showing on TV that you just have to put on and it will melt away the inches while you sleep? It doesn’t work. Nor do any creams or quick weight loss solutions. Or even if they do work, they come at a price – they can affect our health and can be heavy on the wallet.

Exercising is what truly works wonders. Not crazy marathons like spending three hours a day in the gym for a whole week, but short sessions that can easily be introduced into your daily routine until they become a habit. Sure, there are women who have the time, resources and motivation to spend hours in the gym every day, but for most of us average folk, it is simply not sustainable in the long run.

Basic, no-equipment workouts will get you started on your road to having a better body, and are manageable and sustainable. Squats, triceps dips, lunges, push-ups, wall-sits, calf raises, planks and abdominal crunches are some great exercises to do at home. Do three sets of each at 10 to 20 reps for each exercise and try to do them at least once or twice a week. If you want to make some real progress, your exercise program should also include at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise three to five times a week, with some stretching before and after to improve flexibility and help the body recover. You can also try brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, rollerblading, gym classes or a game of tennis or squash.

Yoga

Practicing yoga can help you look more youthful and more radiant well into your old age, proving that the old saying “age is but a number” is indeed true. Regular yoga practice will not only help you achieve inner beauty but physical or outer beauty as well. The peace and wellbeing that fills your mind and spirit through yoga are reflected outward in the form of glowing skin and a lithe body.

Yoga helps lose excess weight and unwanted fat. It improves flexibility and helps maintain proper body posture, which is another essential element that makes you look more youthful. It also aids the absorption of nutrients at a cellular level, thus improving the body functions.

Best of all, practicing yoga regularly has been proven to considerably boost your mood, since it can greatly reduce stress levels, especially when incorporating pranayama or breathing exercises.

“Me” stuff

Pampering yourself and enjoying some "me time" are essential for your mental health and happiness. When you feel less stressed, you look better too. Most of us lead such hectic lives that we often forget to take care of ourselves and indulge a little. This can come in the form of a cup of soothing chamomile tea while we read a chick lit novel or a day spent at the spa, you name it!

Negative reviews at work, messy break-ups, gym and diet slip-ups are all discouraging. We need all the motivation we can get to stay on a healthy track rather than embarking on a marathon of pizza and chocolate.

Pampering yourself and being able to cheer yourself up through a new pair of dazzlingly silver high heels or a mani-pedi will make you look better, feel good and help pick yourself up and get back on your track.

Don’t just take our word for it, look at the stats! Researchers from Bishop’s University in Quebec who evaluated 15 studies involving more than 3,000 people are backing up our claims. The researchers found that those who were more self-compassionate—meaning they were kind to themselves when negative things happened rather than self-critical—also ate healthier, exercised more, slept better and stressed less than those who weren’t.

Doing something is always better than doing nothing. If you slipped up and had a doughnut on your way home from work, forgive yourself and go eat a salad. If you weren’t able to go to the gym today, do jumping jacks in the kitchen while the coffee brews.

If you have missed your yoga class, then a quick stretch before bed will help you sleep better. Keep in mind that your life is in your own hands and you have to make the right choices to stay healthy and happy.

Author’s bio:

Alycia Gordan

Alycia Gordan is a freelance writer who is simply crazy about chocolate. She loves to read and write articles related to health and lifestyle, sometime on health-tech as well. Alycia is also a contributor at BookYogaRetreats.com.