Wellbeing and Self Care

Wellbeing and self-care are essential for maintaining mental, physical and emotional health, and International Self Care Day on 24th July 2025 offers a great opportunity to reflect on our own health and the steps we can take to improve our day-to-day health and happiness in today’s busy world.

Self-care could include practices such as ensuring our bodies receive proper nutrition, taking regular exercise, ensuring we get adequate sleep, mindfulness, and stress management. It could also include setting boundaries, seeking professional help when needed, and taking time to relax and recharge.

Mina Arvanitopoulou, Lead Clinical Psychologist in Cardiology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, says “Many of us think it’s selfish to devote time to our own needs, and feel guilty if we do. But if we do not take time to exercise, sleep and eat well, and enjoy ourselves, we can slip into unhealthy patterns of behaviour, such as comfort-eating, smoking and relying on alcohol to unwind. These unhealthy behaviours can not only take a toll on your physical health but, because the body and mind go hand in hand, on your mental health too.”

Her article on the British Heart Foundation’s website suggests the following 7 tips for putting yourself first:

1

Stay active
2

Improve your sleep routine
3

Practice mindfulness
4

Do something creative
5

Make time for friends and family
6

Take regular breaks
7

Try talking therapy

Similarly, Mind, the Mental Health Charity, suggests on their Wellbeing page the following tips:

1

Try to relax and reduce stress
2

Find ways to learn and be creative
3

Spend time in nature
4

Connect with others
5

Look after your physical health
6

Try to improve your sleep

Tchiki Davis wrote in Psychology Today: “It’s so important to make sure you take good care of your body, mind, and soul every day, not just when you get sick. Learning how to eat right, reduce stress, exercise regularly, and take a time-out when you need it are touchstones of self-care and can help you stay healthy, happy, and resilient.”

Debra Kissen, Ph.D., MHSA, a psychologist and CEO and Clinical Director of the Light on Anxiety Center, CBT Treatment Center says “What you’re looking for in a self-care routine is a feeling of rejuvenation during or after the activity you choose. It should be charging your battery in some way, versus depleting it.”

When most of us have busy lives and stressful jobs, and it is easy to get too consumed with technology, me-time is usually last on the agenda and worse, we can sometimes feel guilty about self-care and looking after our wellbeing.

There are many things you can do to engage in self-care – read about self-care, take part in self-care activities or work with a coach or therapist. Find which strategies work for you and look for small ways you can incorporate it into everyday life; for example, you might wake up 15 minutes earlier to sit with a cup of tea and practice deep breathing before the demands of the day begin, or you might take a walk around the block on your lunch break. The more you can work self-care time into your schedule, the better you’ll be able to grow, enjoy your life, and thrive.

Tips on Improving Sleep

Sleep can have a huge effect on how you feel both emotionally and physically, but stress and other distractions can wreak havoc on our sleep and even cause major health issues.

Take time to relax

Take the time to relax before you go to bed, whether it’s taking a warm bath, reading a book, or listening to soothing music. For some people, writing a to-do list before bed can help free your mind from worrying about all the things you need to do tomorrow.

Get into a routine

We all know that having a routine helps babies and children fall asleep at a certain time. This applies to adults as well, because it allows your body to programme itself to naturally fall asleep and wake up at certain times. Try to be rigid about going to bed at a certain time and create your own relaxation routine.

Avoid technology

Ban your smart phone, computer and TV from your bedroom, and avoid looking at them for an hour before bed. This kind of device emits a blue light, which suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin.

Create a restful environment

Make sure your bed provides the correct support, comfort and space to ensure you wake up and move about less. Ensure that your room is the right temperature – between 16 °C and 18 °C (60°F to 65°F) is optimum. A lack of clutter, along with pale colours and pleasant smells, such as lavender and geranium, can also help create a soothing setting.

Don’t clock watch

Worrying about getting enough sleep can itself stop us sleeping. The best way to deal with that is to remind yourself that resting in bed and thinking nice thoughts is more productive than tossing and turning and looking at the clock every ten minutes. If you can’t stop checking your clock, try turning it around or putting it on the other side of the room so it’s not as easy to watch time ticking away.

Foods for sleeping

Eating healthily improves sleep generally, but some foods are particularly beneficial, such as milk, chicken, turkey and pumpkin seeds. They contain the chemicals tryptophan and serotonin, which are vital for the production of melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep.

Foods to avoid

Spicy food, alcohol and large meals shouldn’t be consumed in the hours before bedtime. For many, drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks in the afternoon can affect sleep.

Sugary food in general is bad, because the energy spike and ensuing crash you get can play havoc with your body clock. Also, research has shown that, if you don’t sleep well, you tend to turn to junk food the next day, creating a cycle of poor sleep and bad diet.

Darkness promotes sleep

Before clocks, people would wake up when the sun rose and go to sleep when it got dark. Similarly, a darkened room helps to promote sleep and turning the lights down can make you feel sleepy. If you don’t have a dimmer switch, inexpensive lamps with a dimmer are a good option, or you could ask an electrician to quote for the cost of changing your main light switch.

If you’re disturbed by streetlights outside your window, or bright sunlight at 5am in summer, you could try heavier curtains, extra lining or investing in blackout blinds.

Keep fit and get active

Physical activity is great for sleep, as well as for your health generally. However some people find that if they do vigorous exercise less than two hours before bedtime, it can make it harder to get to sleep. If you don’t find this a problem, then there’s probably no need to change.

Focus on sleep quality

We tend to focus on how long we’re asleep, but sleep quality is just as important. We go through five stages of sleep, which we experience in a cycle, around five times a night. During the later stages of the cycle our memories are consolidated, and information is processed, among other things. This means that getting up in the night, for example to go to the loo, can interrupt the cycle and you might not reach the later stages. For this reason, it’s also best to avoid having too many liquids before going to bed.

And finally, here is Baz Luhrmann’s “The Sunscreen Song” for some light-hearted wellbeing/self care/life advice!