August is National Wellness Month
With the pandemic, things are different and it may be impacting your health. If you are a parent or a caregiver you may be more stressed than usual. You may not be seeing your elderly loved one as much as you want to. You may be dealing with kids always under foot. Your work may have stopped, and you are trying to navigate new employment or you are working from home. So much has changed!
Take Care of YOU
It is so important to take care of your own health. When you do, you can care for others much better!
Compassion fatigue is being recognized more in those that work in health care and jobs where they see trauma. You as a caregivers can also experience burn out from taking on others care needs and not giving yourself a break. Are you or someone you know experiencing compassion fatigue? To learn more about compassion fatigue here is a link.
Mindfulness is another term that has been used more in the last decade. Even Forbes recently had an article on mindfulness you can read here. I recently was part of a presentation to the St. Paul Senior Workers organization that talked about the benefits of mindfulness.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is being deeply aware, without interpretation or judgment, what you are sensing and feeling in the present movement. Simple things like taking a moment to take a deep breath, using guided imagery and other exercises can help you be more mindful.
How might you benefit?
- decreased stress and anxiety
- decreased depression
- better sleep
- pain reduction
- high blood pressure reduction
During August, think of one new habit you can form to improve your own health and take better care of you!