“We can save ourselves hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars in doctor bills if we simply drink adequate amounts of water daily.”
As I was contemplating this return to self-care, a friend posted this water public service announcement on social media. He is a public health peer, more advanced than I am, who espouses sensible life advice. This is one of life’s inexpensive interventions with enormous benefits.
My slant in my season of reflection is to think about the approach to self-care, especially when the suggestion is for sleep/rest and relaxation.
Reflecting on my issues, employing self-care was not the easiest task. One day though, I realised that for a long time, my body and mind had been showing signs of wear that were telling me to be more alert to my being. And as much as I have preached well-being, I had to accept that I was making many excuses for my inaction.
Living with bipolar mood disorder is an easy reason for giving in to the ever-present ennui. On depressive days, I know how to make every excuse in the book not to take care of myself. And let us not discount the fact that these conditions seriously limit one’s energy, interest, willpower, and levels of engagement with anything and everything.
But as I consider my own body’s demands, my health and the illnesses and disorders that my friends are experiencing, I am submitting, begrudgingly at times, to the pressing need for higher levels of connectedness to the body.
I am a sexagenarian, and it may be tempting to think that these issues are for older ages, but what public health scholarship has taught me is that early intervention in health and well-being results in better overall health, healthy ageing, and a healthier population. Sometimes, I wish I had the information I now have decades ago.
But what public health interventionists say is that wherever we are in life, it is the best time to engage in improving one’s health currency.
One of the most difficult things for some people to do is to relax. This was me for far too long. But I have learned, unwittingly, that if I err in applying myself to this life principle, my body’s protestations, though silent, become painful and expensive.
To manage the fresh diagnosis of anxiety exacerbated by shenanigans during the pandemic and the pandemic constraints itself, relaxation became key.
Relaxation does not have to be a cruise or travel to another destination. Simple tasks like watching your favourite television show and binging on episodes at times too, could be sufficient. But every one of us knows of people who cannot sit for 15 minutes without thinking they must do something. For them, leaving the familiar space for respite that would not compete for their attention may be better.
Take a walk. Drive to a park and sit and people-watch (my favourite pastime is to make up stories in my mind about people based on what I observe). Go bird watching. Sit at the seaside. Do nothing and do not feel guilty.
Mental repose is key to my self-care. Turning off all devices and listening to ambient sounds saves me a lot of money at the doctor’s office. I can stay on my bed and listen to the fan and the air conditioning unit and sit in the variation of those two sounds for an hour–guilt-free. And no. I am not lazy.
Sleep eluded me for decades. From insomnia to late-night studying to bad sleep hygiene, this was a challenging matter. I remember in the middle years admitting myself to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, for a battery of tests to determine if I had a sleep impairment problem. They found nothing of concern.
The consultation and tests revealed that I am what is called a “natural short sleeper” placing me in the global category of about one to three per cent of individuals who only need four to six hours of sleep. According to the research, I should also be slimmer than average (which I was then), have high pain tolerance (which I never did), be more psychologically resilient (a definite trait) and not suffer from jet lag (a hit and miss).
Then I discovered that sleep deprivation, possibly even for natural short sleepers, makes a person more vulnerable to higher risks of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and more.
So, I practised sleeping. I am better at it now. Sleep is when the body rests and rejuvenates itself with restorative functions of which we may know very little. No longer would I take this action lightly.
For this stage of my life, I am becoming proficient at doing nothing and not giving a farthing of care for guilt. I am focused on the goodness of sleep/rest and indulge in deep pockets of self-prescribed relaxation.
Too many people are too afraid to sit with their thoughts and I am not one of them. How about you?