10 Highly Effective Wellbeing Activities

A few months after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a degrading autoimmune disease I started to make significant changes to my health and wellbeing and continue to do so.

Over the years I have made many improvements to my lifestyle, and I am lucky to say I have not deteriorated or suffered further relapses.

As a result, I have become a huge champion of self-care. I strongly believe a healthy body and calm mind can always act and react better than an unrested one, especially under the pressure we apply to ourselves to achieve happiness and success in life.

You will find below the Top Ten areas I work on regularly. There are the staple things like diet, water, sleep and gratitude which I do daily. The others I will turn my attention on rotation, I am human after all. By changing my focus it creates more space in life and keeps me energised and engaged. Some weeks I will practice more meditation, breathing, and relaxation and other times be more active with exercise and socialising for example.

Healthy Food

I am never going to preach to anyone to follow a set diet especially not a restrictive one, there are so many options; paleo, vegan, keto, fasting, wahls, supplements, etc. BUT what I will say is become more aware of what you are eating, understand ingredients, reduce inflammatory foods, increase happy food like sulphur rich vegetables and good fats. You are what you eat, if you want to be healthy there are distinct food groups to avoid and others you need to be chowing down on.

Breathwork

I have been using 4 different techniques for the last ten years to assist me manage my anxiety but there are so many benefits to different breathworks. I use square breathing, alternative nose, buteyko and simhasana, lions breath. I have recently tried alkaline breathing which was great too.

Relaxation

Being physically, mentally and emotionally busy is an intrinsic part of modern life but prolonged periods of stress are detrimental to our health and wellbeing. We need to ensure we are consciously and actively cleaning out our body from tension, stress and anxiety. Making space for daily relaxation, stillness and calm can help you combat the effects of busy minds and lives.

Fluid Intake

Our body and brain is made up of 50-70% water so it is really important we stay hydrated. Common symptoms of dehydration are stress, agitation and brain fog so you want to try and meet your fluid needs; - this is about 15.5 cups (3.7 litres) of fluids a day for men and about 11.5 cups (2.7 litres) of fluids a day for women.

Conscious Movement

Moving our body not only feel good but it has the ability to relax our mind and body. When you make the conscious decision to move more each day we can boost our wellbeing and in turn our productivity. Exercise does not have to be intense, it can be a walk or a short break from your desk to wiggle out those stiff joints and elevate your heart rate. A run up and down the stairs is a super quick win and my absolute favourite is to turn up the tunes for a wiggle and an energy lift during the day!

Get Outdoors

Nature is grounding and therapeutic. The warm sun, a gentle breeze, birds singing, flowers blooming, it helps invigorate our senses and both energise and calm us. Other important benefits of getting outdoors is fresh oxygenated air and natural vitamin D from the sun, a critical vitamin for supporting immune, brain, and nervous system health.

Smile and Laugh

When you smile you trigger internal signals and memories associated with smiling naturally. Smiling also brings health benefits, like reducing anxiety and lowering your blood pressure and heart rate because you produce endorphins. So you want to try and smile or laugh (lots) each day. Even a forced smile can have reward as it still triggers the same neural path.

Physical Attention

Give someone a big hug, physical contact is really important to our wellbeing. If you cannot access another (willing) person, give yourself some physical care and attention, you could massage your hands or feet which can boost oxytocin levels, one of your happy hormones. Or even give yourself a lovely big self loving squeeze.

Reduce Toxicity

We are exposed to a variety of toxins day to day, products we use in our home and personal hygiene, the food and drink we consume, air pollution and technology are a few examples. Toxins can and do negatively affect our body; poor memory, erratic behaviour, confusion, mood issues, headaches are a few symptoms of toxic exposure.

Your aim is to mindfully reduce your exposure, you can do this by swapping out a processed snack for something healthy, changing products in your home, reducing your screen time and taking Vitamin C to help defend against unhealthy toxins.

Gratitude and Reflection

Practicing gratitude is a really simple and effective way of building positivity in your life. Being thankful for the little things in the day and sometimes even for the “problems” can change your whole perspective of the day. Gratitude is the key that turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts. I recommend doing this at the end of the day, it leaves you with a lovely peaceful feeling even after a difficult day.

What are you waiting for?

Start introducing these into your daily routine, pick a couple to focus on first and when they become habitual, introduce some more, I promise you won’t regret it.

How many can you tick off this week?

Save this picture & share it with me on Instagram.