I try my best to always keep my future self in mind. I often ask myself, “What are actions that I can take today that my future self would thank me for?” When I do this, I notice that I am more attentive with my daily choices and more consistent with my intentions and goals. Up to now, I’ve applied this mindset to just about every area of my life—except for my health. I couldn’t help but wonder (cue Carrie Bradshaw’s voice): Are there things that I could do for my health today that my future self would thank me for? It turns out there are.
Preventative healthcare is nothing new, but the truth is we often wait until there are blaring signals that our body is not doing OK to finally go see a doctor. But it’s never too late to start a wellness routine that integrates preventative practices, to start taking care of your health not only for how you feel today but also for how you’ll feel next month, next year, or next decade. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago; the second best time is now.” So whether you’re just starting off or whether you need some new ideas to freshen up your wellness routine, here are five wellness practices that your future (and current!) self will be so grateful that you’ve started.
Create a workout bank of your favorite exercises
Despite my best efforts, I always hit a plateau with my workout routines (AKA they get redundant and boring), which results in me skipping out on workout sessions altogether. Even though we all know that regular physical exercise is good for us, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard to have a consistent workout routine. Eventually, I realized the issue was that I didn’t have any variety in my workout routine. That’s when I took stock of the workouts I actually enjoyed, ranging from boxing to yoga and swimming to hiking, and made a list. This is where a workout bank comes in handy. This list contains low-impact, medium-impact, and high-impact workouts that I can rotate throughout the year depending on my mood and energy. All of these workouts also require a 30 minute commitment since at least 30 minutes of physical exercise three to five times a week is recommended by experts. A workout bank has helped me maintain a consistent workout regime and helped me romanticize working out again.
Schedule time for routine checkups
Unfortunately, there is more to a healthy lifestyle than Bella Hadid-approved smoothies and hot-girl walks. To keep a pulse on our health, we need to have routine checkups. The most common checkups are physical exams, blood pressure checks, cholesterol tests, cancer screenings, and vaccinations. Routine checkups not only monitor any illnesses and diseases that occur, but they also can prevent any before they even arise.
The easiest way to stay on top of your routine checkups is to plan them in advance and to, of course, treat yourself for #adulting. You can make it a routine checkup ritual to make doctor-visit days feel less like a chore. Make it your ritual to stop by your favorite cafe before or after going to the doctor, reward yourself with a screening of your favorite movie that night, or finally splurge on that Sephora item you’ve been eyeing. Unless your doctor is Dr. McDreamy-type cute, doctor-visit rituals are the second-best thing to motivate you to stay on top of your routine checkups.
Engage in all seven types of rest
Yes, sleep is crucial for health, but sleep isn’t always enough to fully rest. This explains why even after a full eight hours (sometimes more) of sleep, I still feel a twinge of tiredness. Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, author of Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity, shined light on the other types of rest we need to feel our best, in addition to sleep. The types of rest include mental, emotional, social, sensory, creative, and spiritual rest.
The Seven Types of Rest:
- Physical: Physical rest is for restoring your body’s energy. It looks like prioritizing sleep, taking a nap when you need one, stretching in place of doing an intense workout, or even getting a massage to address tense muscles.
- Mental: Mental rest is for giving your brain a chance to refuel. This looks like scheduling breaks from mentally taxing work and engaging with low-stakes, mindless activities, such as folding laundry, reading, listening to a podcast, or journaling.
- Emotional: Emotional rest involves creating space to express your feelings. This looks like processing emotions with a friend or therapist rather than suppressing your emotions, saying “no” to emotionally intense activities, setting boundaries with emotionally draining people and roles, and turning your phone on DND for some alone time.
- Social: Social rest is for creating time for you to recharge your social battery. This looks like scheduling fewer activities during the week and limiting time with people who drain your energy.
- Sensory: Sensory rest is important because we live in a noisy world where we’re constantly exposed to technology, which can overwhelm our senses. Having tech breaks and spending time doing restorative activities (i.e., spending time with a loved one or spending time outdoors) are ways to engage with this type of rest.
- Creative rest: Creative rest is especially geared toward those who have jobs that require creativity, brainstorming, or problem solving. This may look like taking occasional breaks from demands, finding ways to engage in creative hobbies just for fun (i.e., knitting, writing, baking, or painting), and doing activities that spark inspiration, like visiting an art museum or taking in a beautiful lakeside or ocean view.
- Spiritual: Spiritual rest isn’t just for those with religious and/or spiritual practices. This can look like refilling your tank by connecting to a cause that’s meaningful to you or simply taking time to enjoy the beauty of nature.
The next time you find yourself feeling fatigued, ask yourself what type of rest you’re craving. Sleep is not always the type of rest that we need. Sometimes, it can be a step back from social engagements, detoxing from technology, or talking to a therapist that will recharge us more.
Explore mindful hobbies that keep you offline
A factor that’s been consistently linked to our collective mental health decline is excessive use of our devices. And since preventative healthcare also includes mental health, we need to care for our minds as much as we do our bodies. Hobbies can be a way to do just that because they offer a variety of benefits, such as reducing stress and anxiety, increasing creativity and self-expression, and more. Especially in adulthood, when our responsibilities feel like a list that never stops, introducing hobbies can give us alternative ways to stimulate our brains and help us add some much-needed playfulness to our routines.
If you have no clue what hobbies you’d like to make a part of your wellness journey, think back to what you liked to do as a kid and adapt the hobby to fit your lifestyle today. For instance, if your childhood self loved dressing up and pretending to be a rock star with a sold-out arena, take a dance class. Or if your childhood self enjoyed making friendship bracelets, try making your own jewelry. The goal here is to find an activity that allows you to escape life’s demands and engage with yourself offline.
Nail down a nourishing skincare routine
When we look good, we feel good, making a solid skincare routine a necessity in preventative healthcare. A skincare routine complete with moisturizing creams, rejuvenating serums, and protective sunscreen can help prevent potential skin issues in the future (Think: premature signs of aging, sun damage, and breakouts and acne). It took me some trial and error to nail down the skincare routine that works for me. Consult a dermatologist or do some online digging to see what products best work for your skin. Pro tip: While doing your research, don’t fall for the trap that you need a thousand products to care for your skin. Sometimes less is really more. Consistency alongside a good cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen (and, of course, a balanced diet and drinking lots of water) can take you far.
Aaliyah Alexander, Contributing Writer
Aaliyah is a writer, content creator, and blogger based in Brandon, Mississippi. She attended San Diego State University where she received a degree in journalism and worked as an editor for the award-winning student newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Aaliyah covers a range of topics including slow living, her favorite vegan food spots, minimalism, self-growth, and entertainment.
