Local health leaders are reminding South Yorkshire residents to make sure they take good care of themselves and invest in their future this Self-Care Week.
The 13 – 19 November is Self-Care Week in the UK, which encourages people to look at what they can do to protect their physical and mental health and wellbeing, making it everyone’s everyday habit and culture, to think and practice self-care.
Self-Care Week is a perfect time to think about how we live and make small changes to improve our health and wellbeing. This could mean looking at what we eat or drink, how much exercise we do or how much sleep we are getting. It could also be about our work-life balance, because staying connected to our friends and family is vital for our wellbeing.
Knowing what to do and where to go for help is an important part of practising self-care for life. Remember, it isn’t just the GP practice that can help, pharmacies are also health experts and can provide advice about all sorts of ailments as well as signposting you to the right place for additional health advice or treatment.
Self-care means looking after yourself in a healthy way, whether it’s eating healthily, avoiding health hazards such as smoking or drinking too much, taking medicine when you have a cold, or doing some exercise to stay well both physically and mentally. Keeping yourself fit and healthy can help you boost your immunity to illnesses like colds, flu and infections. Making big lifestyle changes like quitting smoking or losing weight can also decrease your chances of getting a serious illness like cancer or heart disease.
There are lots of things that people can do to look after themselves:
- Having plenty of hot drinks like tea, coffee and hot water
- Hot meals will keep you warm – make sure you stock plenty of food
- Make sure you enough prescription medicines
- Be prepared with essential medicines like paracetamol and aspirin
- Make sure you have the flu jab if you are offered one – flu can be a very serious illness
- Keep a simple thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temperature
- Keep covered up – thin layers of clothing and blankets and simple and easy ways to keep warm.
- Stay active. Keeping moving can help you to stay warm and can help you live a healthy life.
- take regular exercise to support general wellbeing and help maximize our immunity
- get outside as much as possible in natural daylight
- enjoy a good night’s sleep
- stop smoking
- watch alcohol consumption and have alcohol-free days every week
- support mental wellness by keeping connected, ensuring a sense of perspective, and taking further steps to maintain our health
- look out for vulnerable family members, friends and neighbours and keep in touch regularly
- understand how to manage our minor and long-term health conditions better
Dr David Crichton, Chief Medical Officer at South Yorkshire, says ‘’it’s never too early, or too late to begin to make a change that will enhance and protect your health and wellbeing. For instance, choosing to become more active will not only improve your physical health, it may also boost your mood, particularly if you choose to exercise outdoors in the fresh air.”
“Self-Care Week is about prevention but it’s also about staying well if you have a long term condition and understanding how to treat minor ailments, such as coughs, colds and sore throats”.
NHS 111 online can also be a good source of advice for health concerns that are not life-threatening. And the NHS website has lots of information on what steps to take to look after you and your family. The Self Care Forum also has some useful fact sheets on a wide range of ailments and illnesses from back pain and migraines to sinusitis.
