Do You Know How to Balance Fitness with Self-Care? If Not, You’ll Want to Read This

By: Sheila Olson

Have you started a new fitness routine? If so, you should be proud of taking a healthy step forward in your life, but is fitness all you need to thrive? While staying fit can definitely help you stay healthy, you need self-care to really let yourself prosper. Balance your workouts with self-care using these transformative tips:

Don’t Let Fitness Take Over Your Life

If you’ve made getting to the gym a regular commitment, you’re definitely on the path to healthy success. But if your workouts are taking up too much time, or if your diet is becoming too severe, you may be doing more harm than good. Addiction to exercise and eating disorders are major issues, and taking fitness too far is all too easy to do. So if you feel yourself becoming too focused on your fitness plan, or you don’t seem to have time for anything else, it’s probably a good idea to mix it up. 

Find Some Other Forms of Stress Relief

Exercise is such an effective tool in relieving stress, but it won’t make all your stress go away. To truly manage stress, you need to get out and get into other activities that make you happy. Find a spot in your home that can serve as a meditation space and commit to using it every day. Want a lifetime of stress relief? Think about adopting a new pet! Research proves that having pets is the ultimate way to unwind from stress. If you can’t adopt, think about petting some puppies or kittens at your local animal shelter. 

Start Each Day the Right Way

Self-care is the perfect way to start your day, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. You can practice self-care when you wake up by taking a few moments for a gentle breathing routine. Set a positive intention at the end of your breathwork, and improve your mood before you even have that first cup of coffee. If you’re committed to a fitness routine, you already know the importance of a healthy breakfast, so leave enough time to enjoy a smoothie bowl or some healthy toast before you really kick off your day.  

Take Some Real Time for Yourself  

You can’t build self-care into your health routine if you’re not really taking time for yourself. While workouts and hobbies can help you manage stress, sometimes you just need some time to do nothing. If you have a hard time fitting this important form of stress relief into your busy schedule, try penciling your “nothing” time into your calendar. Write in a weekly soak in the tub or a weekend nap in your hammock. Release the tension from your hard-working muscles and try to clear your mind to really enjoy this time to yourself.

Work on Your Emotional Health

Diet and exercise can benefit your body, but to be truly healthy, you need to work on your mind as well. Mental health is being talked about more and more in our society, and that’s for a good reason. Our physical health and overall happiness can be tightly tied to our mental health. Anxiety, depression, and mood disorders can make wellness nearly impossible if left unchecked. Include mental health in your self-care plans to put yourself on the path to true bliss. 

Clean Up Your Sleep Habits

Like mental health, sleep can also impact your overall wellness. A lack of sleep can negatively impact your immune system, emotions, and ability to lose weight. In fact, many experts compare the chronic loss of sleep to being intoxicated all of the time. Definitely not a good habit for your health. Make sure you get the rest you need by improving your relaxation routine at home with quality pillows and noise machines. Keep your bedroom dark as well.

Adding self-care to your health goals doesn’t have to be a major workout. The most effective forms of self-care are simple to mix into your routine, but they can have major benefits in your life. So start balancing fitness with self-care and start living your best life yet! 

Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals. She encourages her clients to stay positive and incorporates mindfulness and practices for reducing negative talk into her sessions. She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy.