Wellness is defined asthe quality or state of being in good health. While many areas of our life play into our overall wellness, personal mental wellness is essential to feeling your best and living the life you desire! And a VITAL part of personal mental wellness is self-care.
Here are 8 simple ways to practice self-care DAILY to ensure your body and mind are in tip-top shape.
Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Many studies have shown those who do not get enough sleep are more likely to experience negative thoughts, anger, frustration, irritability, and sadness.
Shower and get dressed, heck put on some make-up if you have a few extra minutes. The shower not only helps you wake up, but can also boost energy, increase productivity, and increase blood flow and circulation, stimulating increased oxygen levels to your brain.
Meditate/Pray. Taking 5-10 minutes to meditate, pray, or just sit quietly can help clear your mind, relax, or find inner peace.
Physical Activity. Take a jog, go for a walk or hike, practice yoga. Physical activity helps fight depression by producing serotonin in your brain. Seratonin also helps regulate sleep, mood, and appetite.
Gratitude and Reflection. Gratitude is directly related to greater happiness by helping people appreciate experiences and relationships.
Journal. Writing your current problems down helps to vent and dump. It also allows your brain to start working on solutions to those problems!
Eat a well-balanced diet and take a daily multi-vitamin. Giving your body a nutritious diet and essential vitamins will help keep you full of energy and improve your mood too!
Read. Reading can be a relaxing escape to current worries or expand your mind and learn about new things.
Hello, I’m Jessica, blogger at sweetandspicyessentials.com. I enjoy learning about essential oils and how I can replace products in my medicine cabinet with natural alternatives. I’m really excited to be a guest here at Donna Naturale. I hope that by the end of this post you will be intrigued by essential oils and all of the ways you can use them in your home, health, and beauty routines.
Healthy Swaps
Have you ever read healthy swap lists for dining out? You know, the ones that are usually called Eat This, Not That? Then they go on to tell you, choose the Chicken Noodle Soup instead of the Clam Chowder and save xx number of calories? Well, that is what you will find in this article only my focus will be on choices you can make in the drugstore for everyday remedies.
Advice from Grandma
When I was a kid, I thought my Grandma was a little weird for always telling me to eat garlic so I wouldn’t get sick. She also loved to remind me to wash my hands, gargle with warm salt water, take a spoonful of honey for a sore throat, and eat some chicken soup whenever I was feeling sick. But then again, this is the same woman who would eat a tomato like an apple and would salt her raw potato, yuck, so I didn’t always heed her advice. Turns out she was pretty smart and I think this came from growing up in a time when there weren’t options from the drugstore to treat every little thing.
We’ve made a great deal of progress since my Grandma was a little girl growing up in the south in 1918. She used to slather cold cream on her face later in life and I’m pretty sure cold cream was mineral oil or petroleum. Hopefully, they aren’t still producing that special recipe. Yes, selection and medical science have improved, and with those new chemicals that treat every problem.
Healthy Oils
First off, one good investment in making your own natural products is purchasing some good healthy oils. Avocado, Coconut, Olive, Neem, Apricot Kernel, Sweet Almond, Jojoba. All of these oils are wonderful alone and even better when used as a carrier oil with essential oils. You don’t need to buy all of these, of course, but each has its own benefit. For example, Jojoba is the oil closest to the type of oil we produce naturally in our skin. Apricot is healing and less greasy than most oils, so it is good for use on your face. Neem is great for your hair, bugs dislike it, it can thicken your eyebrows and it’s good for eczema. As you can see, it is an excellent oil to add to your toolkit.
Quality Essential Oils
Next, a good selection of quality pure essential oils to be used with the above oils is a priority. To get started I would recommend Lemon, Lavender, and Tea Tree (Melaleuca). Then add to your oil collection as needed. Before you know it you will have collected an awesome essential oil toolkit that you can use for hundreds of recipes.
Ok, are you ready? Let’s start swapping!
Menstrual Pain
Ugh, period pain is the worst. Instead of period relief products like Pamprin or Midol, try any of these essential oils rubbed onto the abdomen with a carrier oil: Clary Sage, Rosemary, Peppermint, Lavender, Copaiba.
Clary Calm is a doTERRA blend of Clary Sage Flower, Lavender Flower, FCF Bergamot Peel, Roman Chamomile Flower, Ylang Ylang Flower, Cedarwood Wood, Geranium Plant, Fennel Seed, Carrot Seed, Palmarosa Herb, and Vitex Leaf/Berry essential oils. Not for use in pregnant women. The roller bottle blends are great and easy to apply, especially if you are new to oils and don’t have a large collection of oils.
Bloating
Ginger, Fennel, Peppermint, Rosemary, or Lemon rubbed onto the abdomen with a carrier oil will help with digestion and bloat. doTERRA’s premade blend is called DigestZen. It is made from Anise Seed, Peppermint Plant, Ginger Rhizome/Root, Caraway Seed, Coriander Seed, Tarragon Plant Fennel Seed.
Athlete’s Foot and Stinky Feet
Ok, those sprays you can buy are expensive and all chemicals. Try this instead: Mix the essential oils of Tea Tree and Eucalyptus with neem oil and rub into your feet and toenails morning and night. Neem oil is an effective antifungal, especially when paired with Tea Tree (anti-bacterial) and Eucalyptus (cooling and healing).
Muscle Aches
Instead of reaching for the Icy Hot, try this: Mix Peppermint, Eucalyptus, and Lavender essential oils with coconut oil and beeswax. Peppermint is the mentholated cooling ingredient in this recipe. Eucalyptus is known for its anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, decongestant, deodorant, and antiseptic properties. Lavender is soothing, relieves pain and inflammation. These three oils together create an effective muscular rub.
Sweet & Spicy Essentials is a blog about all the things I’m doing to make myself a happier, healthier more focused Mom. Let’s face it, Motherhood refocuses your priorities. Reaching out and grabbing time for yourself is not always easy, but it is so important! I’m sharing my passion for more natural products and other topics like home, crafts, recipes, and other stuff that helps moms be their best.
Want to read more about essential oils? Get MORE recipes and recommendations HERE!
