Varsha Kariya

Self-care is essential for our health. Adequate self-care is required to be the best version of yourself. It is a practice that you enjoy doing.

What is Self-care?

Nourishing yourself is self-care. It may be physical, mental, and emotional. You must take care of your mind and body if you want it to run efficiently. You need to know how much physical activity you are doing.

Similarly, the way you think greatly affects your psychological well-being. Mental self-care helps you to stay mentally healthy. Emotional self-care includes coping skills to deal with uncomfortable feelings. It helps you acknowledge and express your feelings regularly.

Self-care can be taken in different forms. Here are few things which you can practice:

• Learn a new hobby
• Exercise
• Cooking/baking for yourself
• Express your feelings to the friends/family members
• Taking a walk/stroll outside

Here is 5 step approach towards self-care routine:

Understand your needs first

Self-care is pampering yourself. It is about meeting your needs. Before you start any activities, think about – what needs are to be met? What do I need right now?

This will help you to understand your basic needs. Instead of practicing a random self-care routine, you can exactly know what your need is and fulfill it straight away.

Create a schedule

The common reason for not involving yourself in self-care is lack of time. People who are struggling to engage in self-care often say “I don’t have time”. The remedy is to make time.

You know your daily schedule. Find a gap in that and add self-time and stick to it. If you find even a 10 min gap, utilize that for taking care of yourself by relaxing or taking deep breaths.

Prioritize

Whatever we do with our time is a choice. Usually, our priorities are not aligned with what we actually need. You have to fit self-care into your schedule on priority even though you are busy. Be it time for exercise/meditation, saying no to certain commitments, or your hobby time, you can fit these into your weekly routine if you prioritize.

Set the boundaries

You have to set boundaries about what you are and what you are not willing to do. Take a break from the busy schedule. Take some time off. This will rejuvenate you. The world will be the same when you return. You will be in a better position to deal with the challenges of the world.

Evaluate and practice regularly

Self-care is beneficial when you practice it regularly. Engage yourself in some kind of activity every day for at least 10minutes. This will be more helpful for you than the one that takes two hours once a month.

Evaluate the positive benefits that you gain through self-care. Reflect on your actions. If those have a positive impact on your health, then continue doing so.

Finally, self-care is not selfish. It is not a luxury as well. It is vital for your mental and physical well-being. Check out the Joyscore App to learn more.

World Health Day is an initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about the overall health and well-being of people across various countries in the world. It is celebrated on the 7th of April every year. Its purpose is to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight priority areas of concern for the WHO.

World Health Day is celebrated to mark WHO’s founding. WHO held the first Health Assembly in 1948. This Assembly decided to celebrate the 7th of April each year as World Health Day with effect from 1950. 

Over the years, this has thrown light on important health issues such as diseases, maternal health, and child care. Its focus is to create worldwide attention on these important aspects of global health. The WHO puts together regional, local and international events which are held on this day related to the specified theme.

Each year focuses on different themes. The theme for 2020 was ‘Support nurses and midwives. People around the world spent the day thanking these frontline workers battling the COVID 19. 

The theme for 2021 is ‘Building a fairer, healthier world’. Most of the countries have experienced rapid economic growth, migration, and urbanization. It has created better lives for some and most are left behind. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more people into poverty, food insecurity, reduced chances of better healthcare facilities, and social and gender inequalities.  People across the world have less or no access to safe environments, clean air, and water. This has led to unnecessary suffering and deaths which has harmed economies and society. 

This is quite unfair, but preventable. 

“WHO is committed to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can realize the right to good health.” 

WHO is seeking the support of world leaders to ensure that everyone has living and working conditions that are conducive to good health. It is urging leaders to track health inequalities and ensure that people have access to quality health services when and where they need them. 

What can you do?

As you know, celebrating World Health Day is important. A small contribution from you can make a big difference to the people around the world. Each one can take a hand in improving the overall health of the world. Just start with yourself, your family, and your community. 

Here are some steps you can follow:

• Be a volunteer and know about this year’s theme
• Raise awareness about this important issue by planning activities in your community or near your house. Spread the news of the importance of health and threats associated with being unhealthy. 
• You can organize fundraisers to support local clinics and other public health centers.
• Do this every year
• Be a part of promoting global health all around. 

Take care of yourself too!

You can take some extra steps to care for your health. On this day, try to get a gym membership and start going regularly. Start a healthy diet or regular exercise. Make a resolution to have nutritious food and to walk every day. Download the Joyscore app to get more tips on being healthier and happier.

In today’s fast-paced world women are prone to more stress and anxiety. They are generally more stressed than men. The stress level will be different for women in various life stages. The challenges with menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause can affect women’s mental health.

What is stress?

Stress is a stage in which the human body reacts to a change/challenge. It can be short-term or long-term. Women are more likely to have more mental stress which is caused by depression and anxiety. The most common symptoms of stress are headaches and an upset stomach.

What are the aspects that cause stress?

Women can feel stress or be anxious about many different things. Simple situations such as getting stuck in traffic or an argument with the spouse or even deadlines at work. Some of the causes for long-term stress are financial worries, family/marital problems, discrimination, and traumatic experiences.

How does stress affect women?

Anxiety/Mental stress among women can cause trouble sleeping and a weaker immune system. Here are few other ways that anxiety affects women.

Health problems

Women are more worried about their family’s health rather than their own. When they are worried, they are prone to headaches and migraines. Women are more likely to have an anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

High-stress levels also increase blood pressure and heart rate. An upset stomach is the common result of short-term stress. Also, irregular periods can cause stress in women.

Family and personal issues

Stress also affects the sex life of women. They tend to have a lesser sex drive and are distracted during sex. For some, not being able to get pregnant may cause stress. Family issues such as domestic abuse, arguments with the family, worries about children also affect the mental health of the women. Some women share these problems and seek a therapist for help but some do not. They suffer mentally, which also affects their both mental and physical health.

Obesity and body images issues

A hormone called Cortisol causes a woman’s body to store fat because of stress. A negative feeling about the body image can put women into a stressful condition which may cause eating disorders and depression. They feel pressured because of unrealistic social and cultural beauty ideals. As a result, they are more likely to develop unhealthy thoughts about their own body.

How to manage stress?

Take time for yourself – Set aside some time for yourself to meditate and exercise. This will help you to relax and make you feel less tense. Take deep breaths, listen to music, read a book, play with the children, or just take a stroll around. All these activities make you feel relaxed. 

Healthy diet – Eat nutritious food such as fruits and leafy vegetables than high sugar snacks.

Good sleep – Sleep at least 7 hours per day

Talk to friends/family – Open up your anxiety and stressful thoughts with your friends and family. They will definitely provide you help and support to reduce stress levels.

Get professional help – A therapist can help you control your emotional outbursts. Seek a doctor who can give you counseling and prescribe you antidepressants, if necessary.

Don’t deal with unhealthy ways – Smoking, drinking too much, using drugs, or overeating does not let you cope with stress; instead, it causes more harm to your body.

To conclude:

It’s the need of the hour for women to prioritize their mental health by meditating, getting ample sleep, and other healthy habits. The JoyScore app can help you. With JoyScore, you can enhance your living and lead a joyful life. Give it a try. Download the app now.