How to stay healthy at home

It's happened, we're officially homebound for the foreseeable future. Whilst it might be tempting to hit the sofa and zone out to Netflix for the next few weeks it's important to stay mindful of our health at this time - both physical and mental so here are a few tips to keep both healthy:

1) Start your day with positive affirmations

Positive affirmations can be invaluable during times of difficulty and stress, they can help to motivate you, encourage positive changes in your life and boost self esteem.  

In basic terms, they are positive phrases or statements which challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts and boost positive ones. By changing the way you think over time you become resistant to negativity or unhelpful thinking.

Give it a try, each morning say at least one positive affirmation 3 times.  Here are some examples:

- I endeavour to be the best that I can be.

- Life is full of love and I find it everywhere I go.

- My body is healthy and full of energy.

2) Make a 'To Do' list

It's easy to lose control of time management when you suddenly have a lot of it, so creating a to do list is a great way to both focus your time and create structure to your day. Tasks can be as simple as doing the laundry, what's important is ensuring you have a daily focus and that you achieve it. Try to create three tasks per day and tick each one off once it's completed.

3) Exercise or practice movement

Exercise is not only good for your physical health, it also has a firm place in the happiness stakes. Its well documented that exercise produces endorphins and endorphins trigger positive feelings in the brain - resulting in happy people! Try to take a short walk each day, complete a home work out or practice yoga to keep both the kind and body active whilst your stuck at home. 

And on that note.....get yourself outside (Boris says its ok!), it's one of the fastest ways to improve both your health and your happiness. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research  shows just how little time it takes to get the benefits of being outside. Spending just 20 minutes in a park — even if you don’t exercise while you’re there — is enough to improve well-being, according to the research.

4) Plan meals

Meal structure can get lost when you're confided to one space, the routine of 3 meals a day (or whatever you subscribe to) can become a constant snack train with permanent access to the kitchen coupled with the boredom of being stuck in one environment. So it's important to keep your eating plan in place, whatever that may be. It might also be more difficult to source the foods you are used to right now, especially if you follow a specific diet, so it's also important to allow yourself flexibility to avoid inducing stress when things don't go to plan.

5) Practice mindfulness 

Mind health is equally as important as physical health and the current climate could easily lead to uncomfortable thoughts. Meditation is a technique to build awareness of your thoughts, emotions/feelings, and body as a whole. Focusing on calming the mind can help you to control your stresses and worries to pull your mind out of it's habitual state of constant processing and connect with the present moment. Through practice you can develop your awareness leading to improvements in many aspects of life, including focus, decision-making, patience, and stress-reduction.

6) Maintain a sleep routine

Good quality sleep is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Whilst it would be easy to fall into irregular sleep patterns whilst being stuck at home 24/7 it's important to try to keep to a regular bed time. This programmes the brain and internal body clock to get used to a set routine. Most people need between 6 and 9 hours of sleep every night so it's also important to try and wake up at the same time every day.