Written by Megan Farcas, LMHC CMHIMP (Clinical Supervisor, Senior Clinician)
We are three weeks into 2021. Take a moment to check in with yourself—how are you doing? How are you feeling? Some of us may be maintaining a sense of hope that 2021 will be better than last year. For others we’re feeling discouraged, anxious, and frustrated with how the past three weeks have been. Perhaps you made goals or resolutions that now feel futile. Maybe the ongoing winter and pandemic is leading to further feelings of isolation, sadness, and worry.
Use this moment to pause, to assess, to reset. What do you need? What can help?
Part of my training as a Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider (CMHIMP) is to look at health and healing from a wholistic approach. In sessions, I like to help clients try to reorient around ways to care for themselves in addition to addressing their emotional needs. The mind-body connection is often overlooked when trying to find ways to manage stressors, yet this connection is so crucial. Physical and emotional health are inextricably linked. In turn, if we have a hard time supporting or managing our emotions, sometimes we can reinforce self care from a different approach, by attending to ourselves physically.
Amidst ongoing challenges and stressors, here are three things you can do today to help support yourself physically:
Move Your Body
When was the last time you stood up? Stretched? Went for a walk? Danced around the house? Moving your body can help reduce stress through blood flow and increased oxygen. Movement benefits brain function—the center of our thoughts and emotions—creating new brain cells and synapses. Moving your body doesn’t have to be an elaborate goal or ordeal. It can be standing up every hour to do a few stretches or jumping jacks. It can be something fun like putting on your favorite song and dancing for a few minutes; in fact, dancing has been found to tone the vagal nerve (a cranial nerve that connects the brain to the body), thus helping reduce stress and anxiety.
Fuel Your Body
Are you giving your body the nutrients it needs, bringing awareness to hunger cues and appetites? For many, pandemic life has disrupted routines even at a basic level such as meals. Can you put more intentionality into fueling your body nutritionally? For example, foods rich in protein are made up of amino acids needed to create neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin which helps us feel good.
Rest Your Body
Lack of proper sleep is widely known to contribute to negative moods and emotions, often increasing irritability and stress. On the flip side, sufficient sleep enhances positive moods and overall wellbeing. In our modern life sleep often becomes the first thing we chip away at in the ever busy endeavor to fit more into a day. The average person needs 7-9 hours of sleep each night in order to get the proper physical, emotional, and mental rest needed—how are you doing with this? Can you adjust your schedule to support yourself in getting enough sleep each night? Small adjustments such as going to bed 30 minutes earlier can make a large difference in improving sleep habits, thus benefiting your body holistically.