Self Care: Simple Changes to Feel Amazing from Head to Toe

To look and feel your best, it’s important to consume nutrient-rich foods, get plenty of exercise, and incorporate self care into your everyday life. However, things like consuming added sugar, sitting too much, and living in a cluttered home can all have negative effects on your physical, mental, and emotional health—even if you’re doing everything else correctly. For some simple tips that can help you to look and feel your best from head to toe, read on! 

Swap Out Sugary Beverages for Infused Water

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, most Americans consume more than seven tablespoons of added sugar each day—especially through dried cereals, breakfast bars, soft drinks, and fruit punch. For optimal health and wellness, however, daily sugar consumption shouldn’t exceed two tablespoons for women and three tablespoons for men. 

If you regularly consume high-sugar foods or beverages, try substituting at least one sugary drink each day for seltzer water or water infused with fresh lemon, lime, or cucumber. Infused water, for instance, keeps you hydrated, boosts your metabolism, fights hunger cravings, and improves your energy levels. Plus, this simple change to your everyday life reduces your risk of heart disease, obesity, skin issues, and tooth decay. 

Declutter Your Home, Improve Your Health

When you’re busy and don’t have a whole lot of extra time on your hands, one of the things that may suffer is your home. You may stop dusting, vacuuming, organizing, and cleaning your home as regularly as you should—and your health may decline. When you don’t clean your home, for instance, your allergies may worsen, mold and mildew may grow, and bugs and mice may move in. 

Moreover, Psychology Today says that living in a cluttered, unclean home can put a damper on our mental health as well. When we’re surrounded by clutter, we may struggle to process information, follow a healthy diet, think as clearly as we should, and our mental hygiene may deteriorate. However, keeping our homes clean and organized helps us to lead healthier lives overall. Buy an arsenal of cleaning and storage supplies, and make time in your schedule to tackle that dust and clutter.

If you don’t have the time to regularly clean your home, hiring a maid service or house cleaning company may be wise—especially if you’re struggling to keep up on deep cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms. When hiring a cleaning company to assist you, service fees will vary, but the average cost for an interior house cleaning session is between $116 and $239.

Walk, Stand, and Move Around More

According to Business Insider, the dangers of sitting at our desks all day without regularly getting up and moving around can range from chronic pain to obesity, diabetes, cancer, and depression. As such, it’s important to move around as often as possible throughout the course of the day—even if it means stretching in our office chairs. Other ways to combat the negative effects of sitting include:

• Standing up whenever you’re talking on the phone.
• Investing in a standing desk. 
• Setting an alarm as a reminder to get up and walk around every 30 minutes. 
• Challenging yourself to a light cardio workout by repeatedly taking the stairs.
• Walking for at least 10 consecutive minutes each day. 
• Stretching in your office chair. 

By making these simple changes to your everyday life, you’ll improve your physical, mental, and emotional health—and you’ll boost your overall quality of life. While omitting sugar from your diet and remembering to get up and walk around throughout the workday can take some time to adjust to, other things like cleaning and organizing your home can happen immediately—especially if you hire someone to assist you. 

Self care works–try one of these tips today and see for yourself.