We’ve all heard the phrase “you cannot serve from an empty cup”. But let’s be honest here who has the time? I know when my children were younger it certainly felt like I had no time for myself. Let’s face it, it can feel like we are barely keeping our head above water some days.

Unfortunately keeping up with a busy schedule can lead to our mind-body balance being knocked out of place. This can lead to increased stress, anxiety and even burn out if we don’t’ take action.

The Mind-Body Connection

Our mind-body system can be a complex one. The mind and body influence each other more than we think and I’ve talked more about this here. But basically our body influences what goes on inside us more than we give it credit for. Therefore it is vital to not just our physical health but our mental health that we care for ourselves as holistic beings.

If there is one thing time has taught me is that I needed some kind of self-care routine. If not my stress levels would have continued to rise I would have burnt out. It’s one of the reasons I wrote my book, The Building Blocks Of Self-Care, in order to help others gain more balance in their lives.

Why We Need A Basic Self-Care Routine?

Keeping up with our ever increasing busy schedules can only lead to an increase in our stress, anxiety levels, a lack of sleep and possible burn out in the end. A good basic self-care routine will be your foundation to help keep your mental and physical health in better shape.

If you have already reached your breaking point with stress, anxiety, a lack of sleep, etc., having some small self-care activities will help you re-center your life again. You can make some of these basic suggestions below into automatic habits within your routine. Then when you start to feel unbalanced check these basic habits are still in place. If not then bring it back to these three basics to enable you to rebalance and regain control again.

Resetting On High Stress Days.

On high stress days, we can reset our ability to cope with whatever life has thrown at us by having a collapse point in place. We create this collapse point by using these three suggestions from our basic self-care routine below. These are the things we need to keep us balanced and which we have decided we will not go. In other words it is the bare minimum we will do each day and week for ourselves to keep our physical and mental health in balance.

Even doing something small each day for you will feel a lot better than doing absolutely nothing. It’ll also help keep that nagging voice in your head from being so critical about you not doing things for yourself.

Why We Don’t Have A Balance Routine?

When we look at why we don’t have a self-care routine we usually find that: we were not taught to do so, have low self-esteem, don’t set healthy boundaries with others and have forgotten that loving ourselves just that little bit more than we do another is important. Perhaps we have gotten so busy and stressed that we are just too tired to stop and think about what we are doing and for whom.

When we have learnt to put into a place an ability to look after ourselves, it builds our self-confidence, reduces our stress, anxiety etc. It also has the knock on affect of building our resilience to cope with the everyday ups and downs. So what three things should we do, as a minimum, to help with our mind-body balance?

3 Key Basic Self-Care Ideas To Keep Your Mind-Body Balance.

1 Get Enough Sleep And Make It A Priority If You Do Nothing Else.

There’s nothing worse than a lack of sleep. It affects our mood, brain function and physical well-being. We can cope with so much more when we get a good night’s sleep.

I cannot stress enough that the lack of sleep can increase your risks of developing physical and mental health conditions. These risks include, but are not limited to, increased risks of stroke and heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, endocrine problems, stress levels increase as does anger, cravings for caffeine and sugar, plus a decrease in concentration.

If you want to improve your sleep then you need to make it a priority for you. We need between 7 and 9 hours sleep each night once we become adults. No, really, you can’t run on less sleep. The next two basics will also help but also consider your sleep environment and sticking to a regular sleep routine even on weekends.

I go into these sleep tips in more detail in a previous blog you can read it here or watch the video.

2 Make Sure You Are Eating A Balanced Diet.

Eating at least three healthy meals a day is a must to keep your mental and physical health supported. If you are not getting enough rest you will crave the caffeine and sugar. But these create a negative cycle as it compromises our sleep further. Plus you will also probably berate yourself for eating the high sugary foods. This then leads you into a negative thought cycle. This is never good for our mind-body balance.

If you are not getting breakfast and lunch then you have to question why. Are you skipping breakfast because of a morning routine issue? Or you are not getting enough sleep so you stay on in bed for as long as possible? Is it that you are working through your lunch? Not having breakfast and lunch is never a good idea. It will affect your brain function. We all need to stop for regular breaks to be more effective.

If your morning routine is an issue and you skip breakfast, then try to change things up. Do some of the things you usually leave till the morning the night before. Is your list is too overwhelming? Then it’s time for a review of your priorities. Delete, delegate or ask for help where appropriate. I’ve talked more about morning and evening routines before. You might find some of the ideas in this blog helpful in reclaiming some time for meals. You find the video and blog here.

Go easy on alcohol it might help you relax but as it leaves your system it may wake you up and disrupts your sleep pattern. Alcohol can also be a depressant so moderation is important. The last thing you need is to drink too much if you are feeling down, anxious, stressed or depressed already.

Please consult with your main doctor, nutritionist or dietician before making any changes to your diet.

3 Take Some Form Of Exercise Daily.

There is plenty of research that supports the emotional and mental health benefits of exercise. These benefits range from boosting self-esteem to alleviating symptoms of mild to moderate depression. It really doesn’t matter what type of physical activity you do as long as you do at least 20 to 30 minutes five days a week. I discuss the benefits to our mental and physical health more in this blog and video.

But if you have no time for exercise get out for a walk at lunchtime. Taking a walk during lunchtime can combine exercise and help to improve your sleep and stress levels. Plus if you don’t have much time that day for your regular exercise routine you will stop that negative nagging cycle as you will have had a walk.

Try to take some breaks outside also, especially if you are indoors all day. Even sitting down by the backdoor for 10 minutes and focusing on just your breathing can be enough of a recharge between tasks. Remember our brain is better working in shorter batches on similar tasks. After two hours it needs a longer break so please take it. Taking this break also allows your mind time to switch between tasks as it was simply not made for multi-tasking.

If you are sitting at a desk all day, even at home, then stretch at least once an hour. Get up from your desk and move about. When we are hunched over your desk you are inadvertently putting your body into the freeze or fright mode. This is sending an unconscious signal to the brain that you are not safe. It raises your anxiety levels also. It is not good for your mental or physical health long term.

Remember it’s about creating more balance in our lives. So if you need to introduce a number of new habits then do so one at a time only. If you don’t you will overwhelm yourself and the habit will not stick.

Work With Me.

Remember you are allowed to ask for support. No one is an island. If you need extra support then you can also work with me. We all struggle with stress and overwhelm from time to time. If you find this has become a problem for you and you’d like some support then schedule an appointment with me.