What is Self-care and why do we need it?

Taking care of your health and keeping your body strong takes daily time and effort, but, pays off big time, much more than anything you invest in while you are young. Self-care is not easy, but, if done daily, it becomes a routine like say, brushing your teeth. Several studies have shown that routine self-care such as watching your diet, physical exercise, and mental (cognitive) exercises as well as other preventive behaviors such as quitting smoking and drinking can prevent a whole lot of chronic diseases and keep stress low. However, even with all these healthy behaviors, people sometimes get these diseases. So, another self-care behavior that needs to be added is management of diseases and symptoms, so that they don’t go out of control.

What is self-care?

►Self-care is a mindful exercise of taking care of oneself.
►Self- care is taking care of oneself systematically and listening to your body.
►Self-care includes all activities that are aimed at prevention by people who are in good health as well as people who are managing chronic diseases.
►Self-care can range from following healthy diet & exercise routines to taking care of your toe nails.
►Self-care is allocating some time for your own health – physical, mental, social and spiritual.
►Self-care activities include health tracking monitoring – weighing yourself daily, checking BP, Blood sugar, Oxygen levels and writing it down somewhere.
►Self-care includes keeping an eye on health-related issues and taking care of them before they get out of hand.
►Self-care includes journaling and keeping notes on health issues regularly

Why do you need to self-care?

► Systematic and regular self-care hones you into listening to your body better.
► Regular self-care helps you catch early signs of diseases.
► Regular self-care allows you to check whether a symptom has worsened or not.
► Regular self-care will make you feel in-charge of your health.
► Regular self-care will make you feel more confident regarding your health.
► Regular self-care will make you feel more positive about your health.
► Regular self-care will help you accomplish your health goals.

Setting aside some time for self-care is the best habit one can get into at any age. Rain or shine, keep some notes, weigh yourself and note it down, write down what you ate yesterday, write down how many minutes of exercise you did yesterday. Sometimes, I have felt that I don’t like writing these things – for example, I don't like it when I have to write that I didn't meet my target exercise goal because I was lazy or about that big piece of cheese cake that I wolfed down. This guilt or shame often makes me think twice the next time around when I see a cake or know that today's minutes of exercise will be zero. So, keeping notes have several benefits, including motivating you to reach your goals.

At myHESTIA, we have several trackers, including a weight-diet tracker that will help you in keeping track of several health issues, including weight, diet, stress etc. More details about myHESTIA and how you can join can be found here myHESTIA and more info on how you can use myHESTIA for self-care can be found in myHESTIA Manual, accessible only to myHESTIA members.

Disclaimer: Please note that myHESTIA is an independent organization, we collaborate with local organizations that provide help and support for aging population.
The information contained in myHESTIA is for educational use only. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. myHESTIA DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY PRODUCT, DEVICE OR SERVICE, INCLUDING ANY PARTICULAR MEDICATION OR TREATMENT DEVICE.