Do you take better care of everyone else including your pets before you take care of yourself?
My colleague, Dr. Marty Rossman, of Marin Integrative Medicine & Medical Acupuncture, has some sound advice if that sounds like you. As we head into the holiday season, keep these tips in mind to stay happy and healthy!
A good starting place for taking care of yourself is to treat yourself like a pet that you love.
Eat high quality food on a regular schedule. Don't overfeed.
Keep fresh, clean water easily available at all times
Take yourself for a walk outside once or twice a day
Let yourself sleep when you are tired
Give yourself (or trade for) some affectionate scratches under the chin or behind the ears and tell yourself that you are "such a good girl" (or boy)!
If everyone in America followed this plan, our cumulative medical health expenditures would be cut by 75-80%!
Sounds simple doesn't it? But I know it can be challenging to follow through. You know that to have knowledge without action gets you nowhere. If you're out of sorts with all of those suggestions just pick one and maybe the benefits of that single action will help you multiply the steps you take to increase your health and well-being.
I'd like to add one more fundamental step: exhale longer than you inhale. When stressed we breath shallow and high up in our chest. Simply exhaling longer than the time it takes you to inhale switches you automatically from a stress mode to one of relaxation.
Any time of the day, during any activity you'll benefit from exhaling longer than you inhale. Try it and let me know what happens!
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