Since July 24 is International Self-Care Day, we thought we should share some of our best self-care tips with you. Why is self-care so important, and why should we all celebrate self-care day by taking care of ourselves? Self-care is about stress relief, taking care of our needs, pampering ourselves and focusing on our overall wellness.
It’s healthy to set aside a self-care day every single week if you can. Consistent self-care helps with your mental, emotional and physical health while regulating your mood.
Everyone’s version of self-care is different. Depending on your unique preferences, your mood and individual needs, self-care can take many forms. It’s all about what you love to do, what calms you down, what regulates your nervous system, and what you genuinely enjoy. For some people, self-care is spending time in nature or going on a hike. For others, it’s a warm bubble bath with relaxing music and scented candles. Many people enjoy simply reading a good book or watching a great movie in their comfiest loungewear.
Self-care is critical for your health because you can’t rely on someone else to take care of you. The number one person looking out for you and your needs will always be you. Sometimes you do have to put yourself first and treat yourself to what you deserve.
Practising self-care helps ensure you relieve your own stress instead of taking it out on others. It makes you a better person and helps you treat both yourself and others well.
There’s a difference between overall self-care and taking a self-care day. Self-care tips for general self-care include eating healthy, spending time in nature, getting enough sleep, getting enough exercise, spending time with loved ones, engaging in hobbies you enjoy, keeping a tidy house and furthering your education.
Taking a self-care day, however, might involve pampering yourself or treating yourself to some sort of activity or luxury you enjoy. Below are some self-care tips for celebrating self-care day today:
1. Go for a Scenic Walk While Catching up on Your Favorite Podcast
Fresh air and nature both do wonders for the body and mind. Go on a nice, long walk and preferably choose a scenic location or a beautiful tree-lined nature trail. Catch up on your favourite podcast during your walk (or listen to your favourite playlist) and take some deep breaths while enjoying the scenery. This is an especially great self-care activity if you have a lot on your mind. Walking helps get your thoughts circulating, and a lot of people find that long walks aid them in getting their thoughts in order. You may prefer to walk in silence or listen to instrumental music if you need to organize your thoughts. You’ll definitely come home from your walk feeling more regulated and relaxed.
2. Sing Karaoke
If you love singing, find yourself in an empty house or an empty room, and open YouTube. You’ll find your favourite songs (the karaoke version) and you’ll be able to sing along. Surprisingly, singing your favourite songs out loud is a very therapeutic and fun experience. If you’re alone, you can really let loose, belt out the lyrics and feel carefree. That’s always a healthy thing to do sometimes. You might even find yourself starting to dance, too, and that’s even better.
3. Do Yoga at Sunset
Watching the sunset is a fantastic self-care activity, but why not do some yoga at the same time? The health benefits of yoga are undeniable. It’s a form of meditation that calms the mind while also being a great exercise. Perhaps you have a favourite park, beach or lookout point where you can watch the sunset and do some basic stretches and yoga poses by yourself. Don’t forget to do some deep breathing and calm your nervous system.
4. Order in Your Favorite Food and Watch a Movie
Simply relaxing on the couch in your comfiest pyjamas and watching a good movie is an awesome self-care day activity. You may as well also order takeout from your favourite restaurant as well. This is about treating yourself, after all. When it comes to self-care tips, relaxing on a comfy couch with good food and feel-good movies is always a popular choice.
5. Float in a Lake (or Pool) in the Sunshine
Is there a scenic lake close to you, or an accessible pool? Grab a pool float, blow it up, and soak up some sunshine while lounging on a floatie. This is one of the most relaxing of all our self-care tips. The sound of the water, the feeling of the gentle rocking of water beneath you, and the sunshine all add up to a warm fuzzy feeling. If you have someone to cuddle on the floatie, great, but it’s just as nice to do this solo. People say sunshine is one of the best natural healers, but just remember to wear sunscreen. It’s definitely important to get your vitamin D, so if it’s sunny out, try this self-care activity.
6. Read a Book or Journal by Candlelight
Both reading and journaling are very calming self-care activities to do at home, especially by candlelight. The glow from the candle will be very relaxing, and you could spend hours enjoying a really great book. Alternatively, you could journal about your thoughts, feelings, goals or aspirations.
7. Cuddle a Pet or Loved One
Spending time cuddling is one of the best self-care tips out there, because of what cuddling can do to your nervous system and how good it feels. Cuddling releases oxytocin, also known as the cuddle hormone. Oxytocin is produced by your hypothalamus and released when you’re physically affectionate, creating feelings of bonding, connection, and ‘warm fuzzies’.
8. Get a Spa Treatment
You’ll always feel better after a massage treatment, pedicure, manicure or facial. Getting a spa treatment is one of the ultimate forms of self-care because you truly feel taken care of. You feel as though you’re treating yourself, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
9. Take a Bubble Bath with a Cocktail
Cocktails and bubble baths go well together, especially if you’ve also got a fun playlist to listen to. Not only are bubble baths great for relieving muscle tension, but you could also sprinkle some Epsom salts into your bath for even more healing benefits such as exfoliating your skin. You might even light some incense or scented candles to indulge your senses even more.
10. Watch Stand-up Comedy
Either at a live show or on Netflix, watching stand-up comedy is one of our best self-care tips. Sometimes you just need to laugh, and there are multiple health benefits of laughing it up.
For example, laughter is a natural stress-reliever and mood-booster. There’s a reason why people always say, Laughter is the best medicine.
Getting To Know Yourself: The Ultimate Self-Care Tip
Probably our best self-care tip of all is the gift of getting to know yourself better through a DNA test. If you want to get to know more about yourself and your needs, you can find out a lot about yourself through a CircleDNA test. Our premium kit has over 500 reports in 20 categories. You’ll find out about your personality traits, success traits, and you’ll get personalized reports on fitness, health and nutrition. These are just a few of the hundreds of reports you’ll get about yourself through your DNA test. Order your CircleDNA premium kit here, get to know yourself better, and take care of yourself.
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