Although many used the recent COVID-19 lockdowns as an opportunity to boost their health and wellness, research reveals that maintaining healthy habits in the midst of a pandemic is easier said than done. In a recent poll by Juice Plus+, a health and wellness company, 58 percent of respondents reported that the lockdowns inspired in them a new outlook on wellness. Some of the bad habits picked up during the pandemic include watching a lot more TV (27 percent), spending unproductive time scrolling on devices (28 percent), and sleeping in too late (27 percent).
More than a third of respondents reported wanting to live a healthier life. In fact, 35 percent noted they wanted to put their mental wellbeing above all else. Some healthy habits they plan to adopt are eating a balanced diet (30 percent), cooking healthier meals rather than eating out or ordering takeout (32 percent), and opting for outdoor exercise and getting more fresh air (19 percent). While 54 percent were confident they can maintain such healthy habits, that leaves 46 percent still struggling.
According to Zelana Montminy, a behavioral scientist, positive psychologist, and bestselling author of 21 Days to Resilience: How to Transcend the Daily Grind, Deal with the Tough Stuff, and Discover Your Strongest Self, small steps can lead to great impacts. “What many people don’t realize is that by taking a simple step like eating and drinking more healthily, we are affecting our own subconscious,” says Montminy. “In eating well and exercising more, we are telling our brain and body, ‘I am worth it,’ which goes so far for affecting our moods positively and spurring us all on to keep up as many healthy habits as possible. We’re subconsciously reinforcing the positive feedback loop in our brain that builds self-worth when we’re careful about what we put into our bodies.” Here, she shares five tips to boost wellness and help you embrace a healthier and happier summer.
- Don’t try to fake positivity—accept all your feelings, negative, too. Once we’re able to acknowledge and be honest about what we’re going through, we give those negative emotions less power over us. Then we’re able to reframe our thoughts into more hopeful ones and take action to move forward.
- Saying you want to stay active is great, but it requires actually building it into our calendar to carve out time like we do anything else that’s important. Staying active does wonders for our mental health. If you have a hard time staying motivated, partner up with a friend and hold each other accountable. Instead of meeting people for a coffee, meet up for a power walk, and catch up while on the move.
- Mindfulness isn’t just limited to meditations, and while that can be really powerful, it’s also important to practice throughout the day to be fully present in whatever we’re doing. Research has shown being engaged in the moment increases our productivity and engagement immensely. Instead of bogging yourself down, create a habit and practice looking inward throughout the day, even create a timer on your phone for check-ins.
- Edit your social media feeds and contacts lists. The pandemic has hopefully helped us wean from toxic relationships and figure out who we can really live without. Tune into that and use it as a tool. When it comes to social media, it’s really hard to compare our behind the scenes with everyone’s edited highlight reels. Unfollow people who make you feel like you’re not doing enough, who you’re always comparing yourself to, or who make you feel bad about yourself.
- Create a different space outside of work and home that is yours only—book club, painting studio, dance class, whatever it is that you enjoy. Make sure it’s a place or activity that you love so much that you forget where you are, so that you’re in the flow of that moment, and that it’s not related to your career or your family. This will nurture the child still in all of us and develop all aspects of who you are. There’s so much to gain when we are fully immersed in something we enjoy, just as we once did as kids. And it’s an incredibly effective way to refresh the mind and spirit.
