Physical Self-Care: The 5 Key Habits
Physical self-care is one of the pillars of self-care, and its main goal is to help you look after your body and take care of your physical health with habits and activities you practice in your everyday life.
The 5 key steps in this post are the basis for a simple yet effective physical self-care practice. These 5 habits are practical and easy to sneak into your daily life without too much trouble, and assure a solid foundation for your physical self-care while keeping it simple – which is the key to keep your practice sustainable over time.
So let’s take a look at these 5 habits to take care of your body.
5 key steps for an effective physical self-care practice
1. Healthy diet + water
Focusing on a healthy diet based on whole and nutritious foods is essential to take care of your body. Unlike a diet full of processed or ultra-processed foods (junk foods, carbonated drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals, etc…), a whole foods diet positively impacts your physical health, and plays a crucial role in nourishing your body with the proper fuel so that it can be healthy and function as optimally as it can. Remember, health begins on the plate.
A high consumption of whole, natural, nutrient-dense foods has been linked with:
- reduced inflammation
- improved digestion
- reduced cravings during the day
- boosted energy levels
- improved brain function
- healthy skin
- stronger immune system
Also making sure your body is well hydrated is important for the lubrication of your joints, the function of your brain, your digestive system, and your skin, so you want to try to drink at least 6 to 8 cups of water a day.
Tip:
Start your day with one or two glasses before you eat or drink anything else, then keep a water bottle within reach all day and seep it now and then. It will help you drink enough water daily.
See: 5 Practical Steps To Eat More Nutritious Food
2. Regular Activity
Being active is crucial for your body as it impacts your whole physical health: your heart, your lungs, your muscles, your bones, your mood, your energy levels, and the quality of your sleep.
The nice thing about being active is that you don’t need to strive for high-intensity activities – even just a walk around your neighborhood, to your office, or to the grocery store is a good place to start. Just aim for 30 minutes of activity per day. If you include small activities throughout the day, you’ll easily reach your 30-minute goal with minimal effort.
Benefits of regular activity:
- boosted energy levels
- feeling stronger
- strengthened muscles and bones
- strengthened heart
- improved focus and productivity
- reduced stress and anxiety
- feel good and comfortable in your body
- improved sleep quality
See: 5 Practical Steps To Be More Active During Your Day and How to start working out: 5 simple steps
3. Adequate Sleep
Sleep is the cornerstone of physical self-care.
Sleep is important – and good quality sleep even more so. Quality rest is vital for the proper functioning of your body, so focusing on always getting adequate sleep goes a long way in supporting your overall physical health.
Getting adequate rest plays a crucial role in your physical health. It is primordial for cellular regeneration, tissue repair, and recovery. It also impacts your brain health and cognitive functions, your energy levels, as well as your capacity for emotional management, your focus, and productivity.
Getting enough sleep per night has been linked with:
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- Improved mental health
- Improved emotional regulation
- Improved focus and alertness
- Improved memory and cognitive functions
- Stronger immune system
- Healthy skin
So always strive for at least a good 6 hours of good sleep every night.
See: 5 Practical Steps To Improve Sleep
4. Soothing activity
Having a soothing ritual where you focus on relaxing and calming activities is an excellent way to release pent-up tension and stress from your body. Taking the time to switch off and slow down is essential for your nervous system.
Yoga, stretching, breathwork, etc… help regulate and soothe your nervous system by switching off your sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight” response of your body) and switching on the parasympathetic one instead (“rest and digest” mode) which helps your body slow down and enter a state of relaxation.
Your activity doesn’t have to take long. The whole point is taking the time to wind down and let go, so if you’re busy and don’t have much time available, that’s perfectly okay. Even just five or ten minutes is already a good starting point to relax and soothe your nervous system to feel the benefits.
5. Listen to your body
Another primordial step of physical self-care is listening to your body and trusting your intuition.
Connecting to your body and listening to what it says and what it needs is important for learning how to be in tune with it and make better decisions for your physical health. The more connected you are to your body and guts, the easier it’ll become to listen and follow your inner guidance, which makes all the difference in how good you take care of it.
How do you do this?
By being mindful and bringing your attention to your body signals. The more you practice, the more in tune you’ll become. To start, take five minutes per day to focus your attention on your body and notice how it feels, what signals it’s sending you. You can even try and see how it reacts to different foods, different activities, etc…. then keep track and write everything down.
Last tip
Reflect and assess. To develop a physical self-care routine that actually works for you, supports your needs and helps you achieve your goals, you need to discover what is actually beneficial to you and what isn’t.
This post is intended as a starting guide to give you an idea of where and how to begin, and although these 5 habits are a solid basis to build your practice on, feel free to tweak them. It’s your own practice.
One size doesn’t fit all, after all. So try things and don’t hesitate to adjust and adapt until it actually fits you properly.
Bottom Line
Physical self-care doesn’t need to be complicated. Your routine doesn’t need to be elaborate and complex with a plethora of different steps, habits, and hobbies to be effective.
Incorporating just these 5 healthy habits into your everyday life will build a strong, solid routine to take care of your body so that it can function as optimally as possible.
Also, some of these 5 habits are basic self-care staples that overlap with several pillars like physical, mental, and emotional self-care, so you can address multiple aspects of self-care with these simple steps. This makes it easier to develop a well-rounded and balanced routine while keeping it simple instead of needlessly overloading it.
Remember, quality is far more important than quantity, and focusing on few but actually beneficial habits is the secret to a sustainable and successful practice.
So that’s it.
If you have any tips and tricks, ideas and or suggestions about physical self-care, please do not hesitate to share them in the comments.
I wish you a wonderful and comfortable day. And remember to be kind to yourself, you deserve it.