Science of Self Care
Self care is often misinterpreted or considered something you only have to do while you are “down”. People miss the opportunity to integrate it into your life, and improve your day to day actions.
What is self care?: the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health
Integrating self-care into your life isn’t just a feel-good trend—it’s a scientifically supported necessity for your physical, emotional, and mental health.
Only choosing to focus on self care when you are feeling down, misses out on the benefits of including small acts of self care every single day. By incorporating habits of self care into your life, we can notice benefits and help ourselves stay afloat. Self care is important for our body, mind, and wellbeing.
Why walking clears your head:
Any type of exercise will release “happy” hormones, serotonin and dopamine, which are known to boost mood and feelings of happiness. Immediately post workout, you get an elated feeling that improves negative mood. Walking will increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain, that improves our cognition and ability to think clearly. Walking also reduces ruminating thoughts, by reducing activity in your prefrontal cortex which is known for negative emotion. By engaging in walking each day, whether 5 minutes, or an hour, you can improve your cognitive function and emotion.
Why sleeping changes everything
Sleep directly impacts your mental and physical well-being. Sleep is essential for physical restoration- when your body repairs tissues, synthesizes proteins, and regulates hormones related to stress and metabolism. Sleep can consolidate memories, improve cognition, and regulate emotions. Sleep deprivation can lead to irritation, difficulty concentration, and decrease motivation. By getting enough sleep, roughly 7-8 hours, you can improve your overall well-being and health.
Lifting boosts your mood
Lifting, or any type of resistance training, is known to improve self esteem and confidence. Strength gains and training increase a sense of progress, control, and competence to complete anything. By completing something challenging it helps build body positivity and sense of resilience which improves overall mental well-being.
Sunlight in the morning
Sun in the morning helps set your internal timer to release melatonin (your sleep hormone) later in the evening. This regulates your hormones for sleep promoting affects, and helps you get more quality, and quantity sleep. Morning sunlight is known to boost mood, by increasing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that improves mood and focus. It also aligns hormonal rhythm to influence appetite, metabolism, and insulin sensitivity.
Let me know how you incorporate self care into your day!
XoXo, Bri