The importance of self-care

In the modern day, most of us have very busy schedules, from full-time education or work or other responsibilities, and this leaves very little time in the day for self-care, when you factor in enough sleep, cooking and eating three meals a day and other chores. However, self care is very important for a multitude of reasons, from improving your mood and consistent self care can have a lasting positive impact on your mental health. But what does self care mean?

On social media, you may see ‘self-care routines’ which involves people applying various skincare products or undergoing procedures like massages and facials, and whilst these can be relaxing and therapeutic, self-care is simply anything that makes you feel good, takes your mind off stress and relaxes you. This can be reading a book, taking an afternoon nap, exercise or activity like yoga, hobbies, cooking or anything out of a multitude of things. Everyone’s self care will be different, as the things that relax you most will be unique to you. It is important not only to make sure you do this, but schedule time to do this regularly. There are many benefits of self-care and relaxing time:

1. Better productivity

It is actually proven that taking effective breaks and relaxing enough increases your productivity, which can therefore increase the amount of time you have free - this is a cycle of positivity. Many study techniques, like the pomodoro technique, are based around the idea that you allow your brain enough time to rest to reach peak productivity. 

2. Better mood

It seems obvious that relaxing puts you in a better mood, but it is an important fact to keep in mind. Self-care and relaxing can have a massive impact on a bad mood, as simply taking your mind off whatever is causing you stress helps. Over time, this will have a great impact on your mental health, from helping with self-esteem to reduced anxiety to better relationships with friends and loved ones. 

3. Makes you focus on your mental health

Taking time out of your day to focus on yourself forces you to actively think about your mental health and how it’s doing, which is very important. We have a tendency to sometimes ignore what our brains are telling us about how we are feeling and bottle up emotions in an effort to get things done, but forcing yourself to take some time out can help deal with that. It also makes you more aware of the way certain things make you feel and have the time and space to process emotion healthily in a stress-free environment. 

Overall, self-care, however you define it for yourself, is extremely important and something that we should all make an effort to actively include in our busy days. It has no end of positive effects on our physical and mental health, but is unfortunately something that often goes forgotten. Perhaps your target for the new year can be to schedule more time in for self-care!