Prevention is the best medicine. We have maintenance plans for our houses, cars, and all of our expensive possessions. What about for yourself? Houses, cars, and possessions are just materials things, that can be replaced. You are more important than all of them because you are irreplaceable.
It’s never too late to start your own personal maintenance plan. Even if you’re currently sick, it will always help you feel better. The plans helps you set up safe guards for yourself. Having a plan and following it will help prevent any current illness from worsening and instead help you feel significantly better.
What you include in your maintenance plan is entirely up to you. The goal is to feel GOOD, so if your current plan isn’t helping then it needs to be evaluated and reworked. There are foundational pieces that should be included in your plan regardless:
- Drinking enough water to make sure you’re fully hydrated
Most people don’t realize how much water they should ideally be drinking. It’s recommended to drink about half your body weight in ounces of water everyday. Be careful not to drink more no more than 12 to 16 ounces at a time however, since this can upset your stomach.
- Eating regular, nutritious meals
Doctors recommend eating a total of 5 to 6 meals a day throughout the day. Eating smaller portioned meals every 3 to 4 hours will keep your body supplied with a steady supply of energy, making you feel less hungry in between meals. When you eat too few meals in a day or go too long between meals, your body starts to go into starvation mode to try to hold on to calories for survival, which stresses your system.
- Getting a sufficient amount of sleep
Sleep is incredibly important, even though it’s something we don’t usually think about. For adults, it’s recommended to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, though it’s important to find where in that range works best for you. Not getting enough sleep can really harm our brain’s ability to think. Studies have shown that only getting five hours of sleep per night decreases our brain’s performance so much that it’s the equivalent of having a blood alcohol content of 0.06.
- Engaging in some form of regular exercise
By getting regular exercise, you can boost your mood, energy levels, even improve your sleep. Experts suggest that throughout the week, getting 150 minutes of moderate exercise, 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, or a combination of the two. Even if you aren’t able to do that, going for a short walk outside everyday will help.
- Having a positive mental attitude and mental self talk
Feeling good about yourself and your life becomes even more difficult when you focus on what’s missing or the negatives. Shifting your focus to what you enjoy and are grateful for, helps improve your mood immensely. It’s easier to slip into harmful habits and patterns if we aren’t being kind to ourselves. So if you aren’t being good to yourself and following your wellness maintenance plan, watch how you’re talking to yourself. You most likely will be engaging in negative self talk.
- Going to annual doctor’s appointments
Lastly, it’s especially important to make sure that you are seeing your doctor regularly. It helps make sure that you’re staying on track and doing a good job of taking care of yourself. Being able to find out about a tiny concern early on can prevent you from having issues later down the line. Be sure to follow your doctor’s advice so long as it makes you feel good. If it doesn’t, research and find other options that do work for you.
These parts of a wellness maintenance plan are so important because they are the foundation to wellness. You can’t elevate yourself if you’re not taking care of yourself and beating yourself up. We all know when we’re mistreating ourselves, but still continue to follow these same patterns.
This new year make your wellness and maintaining your wellness a priority. Ritualize your GOOD habits!
