Living a Healthier Life Through Better Self-Care

It only takes a series of small changes to start practicing self-care.

Reader Contribution by Renee Ann Butler
article image
by Unsplash/Fernando Brasil

While it is all too easy to neglect to prioritize self-care and personal well-being-there is only so much time in the day and so much to do between jobs, kids, pets, and parents-it often comes with a price. Stress can be a trigger for many health problems. It is all too easy to become overstressed and overstimulated as you rush from one obligation to the next. Frustration and fatigue build until managing your life feels more like a challenge than a privilege. Self-care is the only way to fix it.

Understanding Self-Care

Self-care might sound like a buzzword, but it is actually a critical component to living your best life. It is not a single focus or a road to laziness. Instead, the term refers to the efforts you take to handle your emotional, mental, and physical needs. Having the right self-care in place can help you live a healthier and happier life. It prevents issues from becoming problems and helps fortify you against whatever happens in your world.

To get started in self-care, you don’t need to disappear on a meditation retreat or even completely revamp your life. It only takes a series of small changes to start practicing self-care.

Move Your Body

Moving your body more is a good way to feel more energized. It may seem counterintuitive, but exercise is a stress-reliever and mood-booster all in one. Yoga is one option, but you could also just take the time to stretch periodically throughout your day. You could also dance, go for a run, swim a few laps, ride a bike, or just go for a walk. If your activity takes you outside, even better! Spending time outdoors, especially in green areas, is a way to improve mental health and resilience while lowering tension.

Eat More Produce

Food can impact your stress levels. For instance, consuming high amounts of sugar can increase anxiety and make you short-tempered. You can also trigger blood sugar swings, and by extension mood swings, by not eating regularly. Your digestion might suffer too, especially if you are eating the wrong foods. In contrast, when you load up on colorful fruits and veggies, you enhance brain function, improve digestion, lower your cholesterol, strengthen your bones, and improve your metabolism, as well as boost your mood and your ability to handle stress. Research shows that eating seven servings of fruits and veggies a day is optimal for your happiest life.

Simplify Your Life

Technology has become an almost indispensable trapping of modern life. New tools help augment your reality and expand your world far beyond the neighborhood or city in which you live. It is also ubiquitous and that makes it easy to get consumed by technology. Don’t let that happen to you. One of the best ways to use technology is to help take things off your plate by automating tasks. When you automate necessary tasks like paying your bills or monitoring your identity online, you can free up time that could be better spent fortifying your health and your relationships.

Live your healthiest life through better self-care. By putting some of your needs to the top of your priority list, you can become healthier and happier. You just have to move a little more, eat a little better, and simplify your life through automated tasks. These small changes will help your body fight the impact of stress and make it easier for you to handle whatever life throws your way.


Renee Ann Butler is a freelance writer with over 15 years of experience in business and management. Her writing has appeared on SCORE, TheStreet, Marketwatch, Insider Monkey, Seeking Alpha, and Motley Fool. She has an MBA in Finance and undergrad degrees in psychology and sociology. She specializes in retail, technology, and consumer goods. Butler is also involved in a variety of nonprofit work. She has served on several boards, including an economic development commission and a local arts council. In this realm, her focus is on small businesses and the arts. Butler is also a trained artist working in photography, oil, ink, and pastels as well as fiber crafts.

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