In today’s fast-paced world, finding time to take care and pamper yourself can be difficult. Taking time to pamper ourselves has many positives for our mental well-being and in turn helps our physical well-being. However, few people consider giving themselves a “treat yourself” or pamper day because of the costs or time it might take away from your routine. If you are feeling apprehensive about giving yourself a “treat yourself” day, think about our four benefits of pampering.
Relax
Giving yourself a spa day or even just recreating a spa day at home can help you to relax and break away from the stress of your everyday routines. We often get too wound up in our work or other stresses of our lives and forget to give ourselves some time to relax. According to recent studies, relaxing can be beneficial to our genes. Researchers found that those that practiced meditation regularly saw less activity in genes that were related to inflammation. Thus, giving yourself a relaxing pamper day at the spa or even at home in your bathtub can lead to both good mental and physical health.
Recharge
A pampering day at the spa, or however you prefer to relax, is a great way to stray away from your busy and stressful work routine. Routines are ways to be efficient and successful at work, but every once in a while you need to break away from your daily routine to help recharge yourself. Routines also tend to wreak havoc on our physical health, as sitting in an office chair for hours every day can have profound effects on our body. Taking time to recharge not just your brain but also your body is very important. Even using your pampering day as an excuse to check out that exercise class you have been wanting to check out can give you the physical jolt you need to feel recharged. Exercising is actually a great way to stimulate the same feelings of relaxation that you might feel from spending a day at the spa.
Reflect
Working every day is stressful and can make you miss out on the important things in life. Giving yourself a pampering day is not just a time for you to relax, but also a good opportunity for you to reflect. Whether you are at the spa or taking a mental health day at home bring a notebook with you so you can write down your thoughts in that moment. Taking that time to journal is a great way to alleviate stress or thoughts that have been giving you anxiety. Journaling has long been used as a method to manage stress, alleviate anxiety, and even cope with depression. A pampering day might not even necessarily need to be a day where you spend a lot on yourself, it could just be a day where you take quiet time to reflect on your life.
Refocus
Along with reflecting, a pampering day can help you refocus your priorities. Think about where you are in your life and how you prioritise the different aspects of your life. Giving ourselves time outside of our routines can help us see how our daily routines reflect what we find important and refocus as our routines stray from those priorities.
Our busy schedules often tend to take over our lives and we always seem to prioritise work over our physical and mental health. The benefits of taking some time to ourselves can often lead to a happier and healthier lifestyle. Do you have any tips for keeping happy and healthy with a busy life?
This post was written by Lifestyle Journalist Gwen Lewis. You can follow her on Twitter at: @GwenEveLewis