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We all know the classics of self-care – the overlooked but important basics like hydration, adequate rest, time in the sun, yada yada, and more luxurious examples like bubble baths and face masks – but there are some things you can do for yourself that we don’t always think about, despite the benefits to your physical and mental health.
Ear protection
Ears are precious, like all aspects of health. A pet peeve of mine is how normalized it is to blast audio at way higher than necessary volumes. This is typical at public venues and, naturally, concerts, and lately, I’ve noticed it in classrooms, too (no, you don’t need to turn it up! I can hear perfectly fine!). I’m firmly of the opinion that concerts and movies tend to be way too loud – louder doesn’t mean better sound! If I hadn’t had my trusty earplugs last summer when attending the Barbie movie, I might have considered walking out; it was so much louder than necessary. And I can say from experience that wearing earplugs to these events doesn’t impair my hearing at all, it just brings the volume down to a less harmful, but perfectly clear, degree. I try to remember to always have a pair of earplugs around with me in case I end up needing them!
Alone time
There’s lots of talk of Gen Z being the “loneliest generation”, which I certainly won’t deny, and socializing is 100% an important part of self-care, too (in fact, regular socializing may be important for maintaining cognitive health!). But time alone also has benefits, especially when intentionally making time for it. Spending time alone can be helpful for emotional regulation, for example.
Spending time outside
Yeah, yeah, “touch grass” and all that. It’s pretty intuitive that spending time outside is good for our health and for grounding ourselves, but not necessarily for obvious reasons. Links have been drawn between too little time spent outside and increased chances of developing myopia, or near-sightedness, and while I’ve unfortunately been myopic since the tender age of eight, learning this a while back was a big motivator for me to try to get out for a daily walk every day.
Slow hydration
Again, it’s safe to assume most people are aware of the benefits of hydrating (and I think the VSCO girls deserve some credit for that), but how you hydrate matters, too. We’ve all heard the tech-bro-optimal-morning-routine-for-maximum-productiveness recommendations of guzzling down a glass of (usually, lemon) water in the morning, but chugging a large amount of water at once really isn’t the most effective way to hydrate. It was actually my eye doctor who first told me about drinking a half glass of water every hour, and while I’m definitely not that precise about it, I try to keep in mind that consistently drinking smaller portions of water throughout the day makes it easier for my body to retain.
Avoiding Illness
We tend to think of viral infections as something that we get every so often and get over easily, but COVID-19 is increasingly showing that this isn’t true, and it should be more widely known that viral infection isn’t good for us, period – despite some misleading claims. Being infected with viruses can increase one’s risk of chronic illness, and, speaking from personal experience, even a mild or moderate chronic illness can have a significant impact on your life.
Methods that I use to avoid getting sick include wearing a high-quality and well-fitting respirator (which essentially acts like an air purifier for your mouth and nose) and cleaning the air, either by opening windows or using an air purifier. There are fairly simple DIY air purifiers that rival the effectiveness of more expensive versions! It’s pretty common for schools to have poor ventilation, and this affects physical and cognitive health. I wish that more people were aware of the potential health benefits of simply cracking open a window! These are essential aspects of my self-care that help keep me as healthy as possible so that I can keep doing the things that I love.
Tidying and finding systems that work
This is one I really need to hear. I’ve honestly struggled quite a bit to keep a consistently clean space since becoming a full-time college student. Between school and the general reduced capacity to do things that tend to come with chronic illness, small messes build up easily, and just as I muster up the energy to make a small dent, I find things piling up again. I know it’s bad when I start dreading going into my room because the various piles of clutter are stressing me out. I do believe that there are organizational systems that work for different people and not others, and constantly trying the same thing that fails over and over again isn’t sustainable, so I’m working on finding a system that I can keep up with.
I’m still working to implement a lot of these self-care tips into my life, and remembering that the goal is maintaining my well-being (which, if I haven’t said it enough, is invaluable to me as a chronically ill girly) helps keep me motivated!