Here are some easy ways to boost your mental & physical health in your daily life with some simple self-care routines!
01. A Weekly Bubble Bath
Sounds simple, but creating a weekly ritual of down-time where you spend an hour in the bath alone, treating yourself to products that maybe you wouldn’t ordinarily use is a great way to soothe your stress levels. Try bath salts, bubble, candle-light and a book to elevate your evening of self-care.
02. Create a Calm, Collected Morning Routine
If you find yourself starting your day on edge, your mental health will already be in survival mode before you leave the house. Prepare as much as possible for smooth sailing the night before, such as outfit options, freshly washed hair, a ready-made lunch and charged devices so you can focus on a positive, productive mind-set.
03. Beautify Your Home
Make your space in to a little sanctuary that you actively want to spend time in after a busy day. An easy way to improve your surroundings is introducing fresh flowers and greenery, lighting candles, comfortable cushions and throws, and soothing background music. Think ’boutique spa’ when designing the space you intend to spend a lot of your down-time.
04. Infuse Your Water
Stay hydrated as much as possible, and for that extra encouragement, add some citrus fruits to improve the visual impact, which in turn encourages you to drink more! Experiment with different colours and flavours to find the infusion that gets you drinking in your daily routine. Some ideas are cucumber, orange, lemon, grapefruit, strawberries, raspberries & lime.
05. Face Mask
One of the most common self-care practices are face masks in the comfort of your own home. Take a little time to put on a luxury face mask for half an hour in the evening, and you can even include the obligatory cucumber slices for that touch of fun!
06. Try Relaxed Forms of Exercise
It’s typical to be told that regular exercise is an act of self-care, which can feel a little intimidating if you don’t enjoy high-velocity activities. However, there are some low-pressure hobbies that may suit more for a slow afternoon, such as yoga, pilates, badminton, or even long walks.
07. Make a Herbal Tea Station in Your Home
The health benefits of herbal tea remedies are endless, and a fun, aesthetic way to encourage you to drink more is to make a station in your home. Get custom glass jars with tea flavours, adorable tea pots and customised mugs to enjoy your beverages in. Anything that inspires you to green tea on a regular basis is a huge positive for self-care!
08. Write Out Your Goals for the Month
Keep yourself in the present moment by writing short-term to-do list’s for the month, including easy, achievable goals like trying out a new recipe or visiting the gym. Over time, short-term goals add up and contribute to the discipline of achieving long-term goals, and teaches us the power of positive thinking!
09. Find New Ways of Healthy Eating
We all love the indulgence of unhealthy food, so finding less intimidating methods of healthy eating is a good way of improving your diet. Cooking classes may be out of the question, but there is nothing stopping you for searching easy health recipes. Making these activities aesthetically pleasing always encourages you, so make your plate a pretty picture, or visit the local markets for fresh, colourful ingredients!
10. Develop a New Breathing Routine
Taking deep breaths is the most easy way of regulating your nervous system. Diaphragmatic breathing for a few minutes every day will dramatically improve your stress levels before sleep, but if you want to be more focussed then try out 4-7-8 breathing technique for some emotional health care!
11. Reduce Your Social Media Use on an Evening
Try locking your phone away and focussing on something other than social media or back and forth texting! Whether that’s relaxing into some housework, cooking your weekly meal prep or even a quiet board game to spend an hour within your own thoughts.
12. Oil Your Hair Every Night
Rubbing some hair oil in to the ends of your hair before sleep and putting it back in a protective hair style is the easiest way to look after your daily appearance. A few minutes a day can improve the overall health of your hair forever.
13. Invest in Those New Beauty Products
It’s important to have good value skin-care and makeup products that you feel excited to use. Sometimes investing in the better products is better in the long-term for your skin health, and having fun with self-care and make-up trends can make a big difference to how you feel about yourself.
14. Find Some New Comfort Clothing
Rather than wearing the same, raggedy comfort clothing endlessly, invest in some aesthetic and cute loungewear from a nice store to make your evening routine that much sweeter.
15. Find a New Creative Outlet
A new hobby or interest that can be done from the quiet space of your home is a great way of improving your mental health. Spending time investing in your future passions or interests, may it be designing a business idea, creating art, creative writing or even creating Pinterest boards, you can focus your mind on something new and exciting whilst being in your comfortable space.
16. Value Your Sleep
It’s important to prioritise the correct amount of sleep, and invest in things that will improve the quality. Simpler features such as eye masks, and white noise can help significantly, but longer term investments such as black out blinds, memory foam mattresses and pillows can vastly improve your daily energy levels.
17. De-clutter the Home
Waking up to a cluttered space can immediately cause stress and increase blood pressure. Analyse what items you have on the kitchen surface, their frequency of use, their aesthetic value, and get rid of excess items immediately. Empty the cupboards and get rid of jars and tins you’ve had 6 months or more, empty expired cosmetics from the bathroom, and donate clothes that you cannot wear frequently to charity.
18. Avoid Stressful, Busy Environments
If your work day has to be in a busy environment, keep your personal life quiet and serene. Avoid busy shopping centres on weekends, supermarkets at peak time or bustling restaurants where the noise is overstimulating. Spend as much time as possible outdoors in quiet areas, short walks, reading in the park, shopping in the quiet evenings and making the most of the privacy of your home.
19. Get 20 Minutes of Fresh Air Every Day!
Even if exercise does not appeal to you, just being outside in the air to sit quietly, read, take a phone call or drink a cup of tea, is hugely beneficial to your mental wellbeing. even if you don’t go past your garden gate, doing some deep breathing in the fresh air will keep you grounded.
20. Create a Low-Light Environment Every Night
Instead of a big overhead light, start your calming process early with either some fairy lights, a warm-toned lamp or something to soften the light in your bedroom. Not only are you creating a cosy space that aesthetically appeals to your brain, but you are teaching yourself slowly switch off every evening and prepare for hours of sleep.
21. Wash All the Sheets, Towels & Robes in Your Home
A chore we frequently avoid, but that is nevertheless, very beneficial to us. Wake-up with the intent and strip the bed and pile everything outside the washer so you can’t talk yourself out of the task, you’ll feel refreshed and motivated getting it all done in one day. P.S. – get new sheets on the bed ASAP and don’t leave it until bed time.
22. Learn About Fresh Flowers
Fresh flowers make your space beautiful, but learning about what to expect seasonally, and even designing your own themed bouquets is a fun hobby for anyone who takes pride in their living space. Watch some YouTube vids on how to style and cut your flowers correctly, and you can even gift home-made bouquets to others!
23. Treat Yourself to a Mani-Pedi
A professionally done manicure and pedicure afternoon is one of the best self-care ideas you can easily do. Give yourself a small break and appreciate the beauty of clean, pristine nails in open toe-shoes.
24. Create a Scent-Bowl for Your Space
A very simple way to improve your mental well-being is to fill a bowl with hot, steamy water, chop up a lemon, orange, limes, or any other natural, herby scent that you love to smell in your home.
25. A Weekend Bike Ride
Bike ride’s do not need to be intense performances of physical exercise, but can be leisurely ventures around a city or natural space, hopping between pubs and cosy cafe’s and friends houses. The fresh air and slow pace is great for your mental and physical being.
26. Make Yourself a Colourful Fruit Platter
Making your meals visually stimulating is a great way of encouraging healthy eating. A platter can be served for just you, or even for a group as a pretty fruit centrepiece, its the perfect summer dessert.
27. A Random Act of Love
Whether you feel like buying a surprise bunch of flowers, treating someone to a lunch or writing a love letter, a random act of love will give you such a mental boost. The act of giving back makes you feel positive inside, and even encourages self-care for others.
28. Try Out Alcohol-Free Drinks
Over time, being sober will greatly help your mind-set and keep your weekends fresher. But creating fun mocktails that have the glamorous look of classic cocktails will give sobriety a touch of fun that is far more encouraging for a healthy lifestyle.
29. A Weekly Body Cleanse
Create a routine of full-body exfoliation, shaving, nail-clipping, hair mask and oiling that gives you that weekly reset and rejuvenates your physical well-being. A self-care plan should be fun and focused on enjoyment, so put on soft music, light candles and treat yourself to the good things.
30. Clean Out Your Email List
When you have a spare few minutes on an evening, try unsubscribing from unnecessary email lists that you usually ignore or let go to spam. We can let them build up and start to see emails as a stressful task rather than a simple form of communication, so slowly start to get on top of it.
31. Watch ASMR on Youtube
