4 Super simple practices to maintain and improve your well-being

Our well-being (def: the complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health) tends to fluctuate. It's natural. Whether you attribute it to mercury in retrograde, your period, the government, or your recent romantic relationship with take-away. Our well-being will always ebb and flow like nobody's business.

Thankfully your friendly neighborhood wellness guru to the gals, gays and theys of Brighton and Hove is here to offer you a cheat sheet. The following are the four main things I find myself repeating over and over to my crew (and myself) and they really do work. If you’re not already doing all of these, then start asap! I promise you won’t regret it.

Get some sunlight

Regular sunlight helps us to synthesise Vitamin D, which allows us to maintain healthy blood levels, strengthen our bones, set our circadian rhythm, and stave off depression. We need 10-30 minutes of direct sunlight 3-7 times per week. No, the effect is not the same if the light travels through glass, you have to go outside! It’s also important to note; the amount of sunlight the body needs increases with the amount of melanin in the skin.

Try this: take a 10-40 minute walk in your lunch break or eat your lunch outside. Even if it is overcast and raining, what little light there is will still have a positive impact. If this isn’t an option then stepping outside and letting the light shine on your face for even a few minutes at a time is still better than nothing. Do this at multiple points throughout the day and a few minutes here and there soon adds up.

Drink more water and herbal teas

Come on now people, this is the most simple way you can improve your health and well-being. Proper hydration improves your ability to eliminate toxins, joints health, effectiveness of muscles (including the brain) and you feel better, faster, stronger. There is no universally agreed-upon amount of water a person should drink. The best way to monitor hydration is your pee. If it isn’t clear or very light then you are not drinking enough water. Simple as that.

Try this: every night before bed put a pint of water next to your bed. Every morning drink the whole pint before you even get out of bed. It’s difficult at first but you’ll get used to it. This starts the day off topping up your hydration levels and wakes you up: double whammy. You will feel completely different for the better when you are properly hydrated, I guarantee it.

Get to bed earlier.

Going to bed an hour earlier than I used to has changed my life and the lives of everyone who has to tolerate me. I now make sure I get 8 hours of sleep per night instead of 6.5-7. There are too many reasons why sleep is important for health and well-being for me to cite here. Take my word for it, sleeping more is pure magic. When you start to feel tired, go to bed. No excuses. It’s simple but so many people won’t go to bed when they’re tired and become sleep deprived as a result.

Try this: If you’re one of those ‘but I don’t feel tired’ people then it’s time to start conditioning your mind and body to re-learn how to sleep. Find a routine that works for you. My personal routine Includes avoiding the classic ‘one more episode mentality’. I make sure whatever I’m watching at the moment of feeling tired is the ‘one more’ I always promise myself, or if I'm feeling wild, I just turn it off mid episode! It is LIBERATING!

Spend some time with friends.

It can be easy to get swept up in the stresses and routine of daily life. Maybe you’re busy with work, or your kids, or a new relationship; but spending time with friends is a vital part of holistic well-being. Socialising with peers increases our general life satisfaction and brings a quality to our experience that we can’t replace with our virtual friends or social media, try as we might.

Try this: make a weekly or bi-weekly commitment to one or more friends. A few ideas include: attending a creative class together, eating a roast on Sundays, coming to a fitness class with me and The Crew, or meeting for a glass of wine one night in the week. If you live close by you could even meet to walk to work or home from work together. Even just a little bit of quality time spent socialising will bring a new richness to this area of your life that can easily go under-nourished.

So there you have it, the most basic pillars of wellbeing. If you're feeling low, these are a great place to start. This will help you build a sturdy base upon which you can continue to nurture your well-being. I hope this was helpful. And as always, take care of yourself 💛

All the best,

Talia x