Self Care Week takes place this year from 13-19 November. It is the annual, UK-wide awareness week run by the Self Care Forum, a charity aiming to further the reach of self-care in the population, making it everyone’s everyday habit and culture, to think and practice self-care. The theme for this year is mind and body.
In support of this week we hear from Dr Matt Nisbet, GP and clinical director for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board on how people can look after themselves as we head towards the winter months.
Taking care of yourself or self-care has many benefits for short term and long-term health. This self-care week we’re encouraging everyone to make self-care a life-long habit.
So what is self-care? It’s something people practice every day without even thinking about it - when they brush their teeth, choose to exercise or eat healthily. It can include simple tasks such as reading a book, listening to music, making time for friends or getting outside and increasing your daily steps.
There are also a number of simple self-care tasks you can do to improve your health and wellbeing:
- Eat a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit
- Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
- Keep physically active
- Try to maintain a healthy weight
- Understand how to manage minor and long term health conditions
Self-care is also about understanding when you can look after yourself, when a pharmacist can help, and when it’s better to get advice from your GP or another health professional. If you have a long-term condition, self-care is about understanding that condition and how to live with it.
Your local pharmacist is a valuable resource. They are fully-trained medical professional who can advise you on the right medicine to help with many ailments, such as sore throats, colds, asthma, eczema, hay fever, period pain and diarrhoea and vomiting.
Where it’s not possible to self-care, the NHS is here for you but there are a number of ways that we can all be prepared for common illnesses and injuries by keeping our medicine cabinet stocked with a number of over-the-counter medicines that you can buy from your pharmacist.
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health and there are a number of services available for you if you feel that your mental wellbeing is not as good as it could be. You can call 111 anytime to speak to a mental health advisor, or if you are experiencing a mental health crisis and need support, anyone in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight can text 'HANTS' to 85258 to speak by text with one of Shout's trained volunteers. Shout is a free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging support service for anyone who is struggling to cope.
Lets all take a little more time to care for ourselves this self-care week – a practice that will help us all through the colder months and the coughs and colds to come.