7 Empowering ways you can Improve your Wellness

Offering practical ideas to implement wellness into everyday life

Do you know the basics of wellness but are struggling with knowing how to take action and improve your wellness? Resultinesultig in your wellness taking a back seat in your life? Here are some ere are of the best techniques, tips and tricks to improve your wellness.

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I’ve been there. Wanting to be healthier, enhance my wellbeing and becoming my best self. But it is not as easy as it sounds.

Life kind of gets in the doesn’t it? Work, family, social lives, etc..

You become less of a priority because you’re busy doing things for everyone else. This is common and you are not alone. Why should you focus on wellness if it seems so difficult to do?

It can take knowing how to improve your wellness, to be able to take action. In the process, you can prioritise yourself and your health whilst showing up for the people that matter in the best way possible.

Therefore, I want you to use these tips and exercises to start showing up for yourself and showing up for life.

1. Diet and Exercise

This is most likely an obvious point to make to improve your wellness. However, you cannot underestimate the impact your physical health has on your wellbeing.

The mind and body are intricately connected. This connection is proven in the way emotions are manifested in the body or chronic pain leading to depression.

Therefore, you can nuture your mental health by improving your physical health and vice versa. Not only does this improve your wellness, but it also promotes you to intentionally look after your physical health.

A healthy balanced diet has incredible benefits for your mind and body. Obtaining the essential vitamins and minerals from food contributes to proper bodily function. This includes your cognitive function, immune function, production of cells and protection from disease.

Exercise has similar benefits to your health. Including circulating oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, boosting mood and increasing energy levels.

These are simple changes to make towards a healthy lifestyle to improve your wellness. If you need help with exercise or diet plans to get you on the right track, send us an email now!

3 ways to start exercising and choosing a healthy diet

1. Set out to workout in some way for 20 minutes a day, for at least 30 days

Sometimes the smallest of changes can make the biggest difference. 20 minutes a day is not a long time and if you are intentional about exercise, you will find/make the time.

Choose one simple activity: running, walking, yoga, tennis, Tabata etc. It can be absolutely anything and complete 20 minutes. Do this for at least 30 days, let it become a habit and part of your daily routine.

2. Be considerate and mindful of what you are putting in your body

Often, people may blindly choose what they eat and drink. Stop this immediately. Mindless eating means you are not aware of what you are putting in your body and the effect it has on you.

Become mindful and intentional about your food. This can be:

• looking at more labels to see how much sugar/fat a product has.
• tracking calories and nutrition (using an app like MyFitnessPal)
• checking restaurant menus for nutritional information
• choosing whole foods over processed food
• preparing meals in advance
• listening to your bodies reaction to certain foods (eg. does it gi ve you energy or make you feel more lethargic?)

Awareness of yourself and food will empower you to take control and improve your health and wellness.

3. Drink more water

Hydration is key to your health. Benefits of water include improving your skin, aiding digestion, delivering oxygen and nutrients all over the body, and aiding weight loss.

I encourage you to drink more water throughout the day as well as start your day more hydrated. Sleeping for 8+ hours will leave you dehydrated so a glass of water as soon as you get up will be a great addition to your morning routine.

2. Quality Sleep helps to improve your wellness

Sleep is another underestimated element of health and wellness. Similar to healthy diet and exercise, sleep has many physical and mental benefits.

Sleep deprivation and poor sleep can lead to:

• Reducing natural killer cells by up to 70%, negatively impacting your immune system function
• Weight gain
• Increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke etc.
• Mood swings
• Lowered cognitive function and poor memory

Therefore, it is clear that good quality sleep is going to significantly improve your wellness. Helping you to maintain a healthy weight, manage stress, and keeping you in great physical health.

2 ways to improve your sleep

Sleep meditation

This is one of my favourite things to do at bedtime! I often do not even make it to the end of my guided meditation because I am so relaxed.

Research has shown that meditation leads to better quality sleep and increases the duration of your sleep. Leaving you feeling well-rested and improving your wellness.

Using a guided meditation app, such as Smiling Mind, you can have a much more restful sleep. Promoting a relaxed, calm body and quiet mind, sleep meditation prepares you for quality sleep.

Sleep Supplements

You can also take advantage of sleep supplements that encourage better quality and duration of your sleep.

This includes supplements that are taken before bed such a melatonin or 5HTP. As well as vitamins and minerals that you can be obtained throughout the day such as magnesium and vitamin D. Again, the research is very promising in helping improve your sleep and your health.

3. Getting outside for fresh air

A poll conducted by Mindbody revealed that people on average get 2 hours a day outside. One of the leading factors to low levels of wellness is a lack of time outside.

However, being outside, particularly in nature, has shown to be very beneficial. It can improve memory, provide a mental boost, relieve stress, and encourage better cognitive function.

Something as simple as nature and fresh air can significantly improve your wellness in many areas.

Think about how much time you spend outside. Is it just during your commute to work? Only on the weekends?

Be intentional with your time and how you spend it. Knowing that even simple things like a walk outside can enrich and improve your overall wellbeing.

This can also be included in your exercise routine. Making it even easier to get outside and renew your energy as it becomes part of your daily routine.

4. Self Discovery

I am a believer that you can become your best self when you invest in yourself. I am still on my own self-discovery journey every day and have been for years.

Without self-exploration, how can you fully understand your purpose, what you enjoy, or your personal power?

Personal development and self-help has been growing in popularity over recent years. But it is not as simple as taking personality tests or finding your perfect career.

Self-discovery is a very deep exploration of yourself. Uncovering how you think, how you react, why you do the things you do, limiting beliefs or childhood trauma that still affects you today.

How does this improve your wellness?

Hidden trauma, limiting beliefs and other aspects of your mind and self can impact you negatively. Sometimes manifesting as anxiety and holding you back from your full potential.

Overcoming these challenges and pursuing self-development will improve your wellness.

Use journaling to start your personal development journey to improve wellness

Journaling may come across as a simple activity but can lead to some amazing breakthroughs. Allowing you to dive deep into yourself.

There are many types of journaling for your health and wellbeing that you can use. For example, expressive journaling helps you explore and uncover thoughts and emotions that you are feeling in the present moment. If you feel no inspiration, journaling prompts can be a great method of self-discovery.

We have personal growth journal prompts just for you. Download our free 50 journal prompts to get started on your journey today.

5. Stress Management

Stress can have major implications on your body, especially prolonged stress. Including suppressing your immune system, disrupting your digestive system, and increasing the risk of stroke or heart disease.

Your response to stress can also add to the physical impact of stress. Turning to smoking, drinking or food for relief has all other kinds of unhealthy effects.

Therefore, understanding your stress response and managing your stress effectively is key to your wellness. Take time to evaluate your patterns of behaviour. When triggered by stressful situations, how do you deal with these circumstances?

When you understand your response, you are empowered to change the response. Prioritising your health and wellness to overcome stress and uncover healthier ways of responding to stress.

3 steps to understanding your stress response

1. Triggers and effects

Stress is going to be trigger by different things for different people. This also doesn’t mean that your triggers are any less important than someone else’s. (I mention this as some people like to make a point about how stressful their life is)

Think about and consider the circumstances, situations or people that cause you stress. For me, this is saying no to people.

Understanding your trigger allows you to highlight your typical response. Do you lash out emotionally? Or internalise till you spontaneously combust? Do you turn to material things for comfort?

Armed with this information you can mindfully change your response.

2. Pause and question

When you experience a trigger and begin to feel the effects of stress. Stop and pause.

Question why this experience is causing you stress. What thoughts are causing the emotions that result in your response? This questioning is also a part of your self-discovery journey.

3. Use the energy in a more productive way

After pausing and evaluating your thoughts and emotions. You can use the energy in a productive way to improve your wellness.

Can you suggest alternative ways forward to reduce your stress? Do you need to take a step back from certain people for your wellbeing? How can you prioritise yourself and work in a more effective manner?

The way you move forward is something you can control and not an automatic reaction to stress. Understanding your stress response will empower you to make the right decisions for your wellness.

6. Better Work Life Balance to improve your wellness

Work and career advancement are massively important in society today. So much so, that we are encouraged to decide what we want to do or be from an early age.

However, life is not all about work. There are many other things that enrich your life and contribute to your wellness. Such as family, your social life, hobbies you enjoy and personal ‘me time’.

Finding balance in life can be extremely difficult. Especially when work is relied on to pay the bills. However, this can contribute to stress, poor sleep, unhealthy habits and complete inbalance.

Whereas, a healthy work life balance can result in you being more motivated, more productive, and benefiting from an improved wellness.

Work-life balance does not mean splitting your day equally between work and your personal life. Balance is different for each person as we all hold different beliefs and values that determine the right balance.

Becoming aware of how the activities in your life contribute to your happiness. Results in you being able to pursue balance and improve your wellness.

Use our quiz to discover your perfect work-life balance

We have a free quiz available for download. The simple questions help highlight your current life balance between work, family, friends, activities, and me time. Revealing if you need to work on your balancing your life more, starting now.

7. Meditation and Mindfulness

Mindfulness and meditation have proven to be extremely beneficial for your health and wellness. Including minimising feelings of depression and anxiety, helping to successfully manage stress and improve sleep.

Meditation has even shown to alter the shape of the brain. Contributing to higher grey matter in areas associated with learning and emotion regulation. These benefits are astounding and you can only gain from trying and keeping to a meditation practice.

You can also take advantage of the mind-body connection to improve overall wellness. As your mental wellbeing improves through meditation, your physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing are also boosted.

The best part is that mindfulness can be practised at any time, anywhere. Meaning that you have the power to change your state in an instant and benefit from mindfulness whenever you need.

2 ways to get started with mindfulness and meditation

5 minute morning meditation

Dedicated meditators can easily set aside 20 minutes each morning to meditate. However, this is not always easy as a beginner and you need to train yourself for meditaiton.

Therefore, 5 minutes each morning is a good place to start. Sticking to this each morning is essential as many benefits are only seen over time.

I would also recommend using a guided meditation to help you practice. This can include downloadable guided meditations, youtube audios and meditation apps. Without these, you may find it hard to learn correct and effective techniques.

Bring yourself to the present

If you are new to mindfulness, check out our guide to mindfulness for beginners. This gives you a detailed breakdown into mindfulness and many techniques you can use.

Mindfulness is different from meditation as it is not a practice that you need to make time for. Rather, it can be practised at any moment and no one would know any different.

One effective method is to bring yourself to the present moment. Fully immerse yourself in the activity of what you are doing. How you may be feeling and absorbing the experience in every inch of your body.

Disallowing your mind to wander and create unwanted emotions from things of the past or the future. Practice this as much as you can and see if you notice a difference in the way you feel, think and act each day.

On your way to Improve your Wellness

Hopefully, you now feel armed with the why and how to improve your health and wellbeing in many ways. Wellness is not just about being healthy but proactively working to enhance your wellbeing.

This can be done through your physical wellness, using diet, exercise, and improved sleep. Through your mental health using meditation, mindfulness, and better stress management. As well as boosting your emotional and social wellness by creating a positive work-life balance and self-discovery.

Although this may seem like a lot to take on. Trying to do too many things at once can be overwhelming and lead you to not doing any. We suggest you start with one small change.

As this small change becomes a habit and part of your lifestyle, introduce something else new.

Wellness is a personal journey and we are continually changing and developing as beings. Therefore, you do not need to be in a rush and achieve everything all at once.

You may find that as you improve one area of your wellbeing, other’s also improve. Rendering some activities unnecessary until you require them.

Ultimately, your journey will be unique and it is up to you to improve your wellness. It is all within your is control and simple changes can make a lasting difference on your life.

I want to hear the story of your journey to wellness. What challenges have you tackled, how did you overcome them and where are you now because of them? Send me an email now, Brittany