Stress and balance: A short guide to self-care
I’m sure you may have heard about the terms ‘burnout’ and ‘self-care’ in the news or across social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, studies cited stress and burnout amongst healthcare workers being as high as 43% for people working in the front-line and emergency departments settings.
Stress and burnout can be experienced at different times in a person’s life and can be found amongst working professionals, students, and caregivers to name a few. It typically occurs in response to prolonged workplace stress, but it can also affect other areas of your life such as relationships. As part of Stress Awareness Month, I believe that this is an increasingly relevant time to understand and discuss stress and how we might be able to manage stress levels as they grow.
Lived Experience
Believe me, none of us are immune to the effects of burnout- even those of us working in psychology.
I had personal experience of stress and burnout before joining my doctoral training programme. This occurred when my resources were most depleted as I was delivering front-line mental healthcare in in-patient settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was as if I had started living in a survival mode day-to-day.
At first, this was subtle, however, like most things it started to grow arms and legs. In my case, I thought if maybe I just pushed myself a little further I would cope better with the external environment, that things would change about the way I felt if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and ignored any signs of my struggles. This included ignoring my increasingly frequent physical illness such as muscular aches and pains as well as catching common colds as my immune system lowered in response to chronic stress. I would get frustrated and self-critical when I was overwhelmed or unwell (again!) as I ‘should’ be able to cope better with things that weren’t within my control. It hadn’t occurred to me in my situation that changes would need to occur in both my internal and external environments to feel better and start thriving again.
Learning to manage my self-care routine transpired to be an ongoing process as I moved from working on the front line to carrying out my doctoral studies full-time whilst also working in employment. The most important lesson that I learned from my experience of feeling burned out was that I needed to listen to my body and that there was no need to be ashamed of feeling drained when I was going through stressful experiences – my response to the situation was only human! It was through learning this life lesson that I understood I needed to be more self-compassionate and learn how to refuel at critical points. I needed to make sure I was proactively taking care of myself so that things could change. This brings me to the topic of self-care and why it is so important.
What is self-care?
Self-care simply means to take care of yourself. This means taking action to promote your health and well-being. These actions can help to prevent burnout and foster resilience in the face of life’s difficulties and challenges. There are several elements which contribute to our sense of well-being including physical wellness, emotional wellness, mental wellness and spiritual wellness. Therefore, self-care involves recognising your own needs in these areas and honouring them through making choices that involve self-nurture and self-preservation. It is a process that requires self-awareness, setting intentions and learning to prioritise your own needs.
I fear that there is a common misconception about self-care, that many people believe it is a luxury that involves having the resources to carry out pampering activities. Although there is some truth to this idea, in the sense that there usually is some form of expense to these activities whether it is use of time or money, self-care is not a luxury. Self-care is essential to preserve your health and well-being, and the pay-off can lead to many benefits and overall life satisfaction.
Following this, there are many different proactive self-help activities that you can try to promote your well-being and reduce stress, whether it helps your physical, emotional, mental or spiritual health. Some activities may involve having access to funds, others you could try without it costing a penny!
Eating healthy: It is important to look after your body by eating a well-balanced and nutritious diet. It is very common when we are exhausted that we can forget to fuel our bodies with adequate vitamins, grabbing easy dinners or quick snacks. If we support our overall health with a varied diet, then we can boost our energy levels to carry essential tasks and make things for the things we enjoy!
Physical exercise: Regular physical activity can boost our moods and energy levels through the release of endorphins. However, exercising can fall by the wayside when we become increasingly stressed in our busy schedules or life demands. It can be helpful to find an activity that you enjoy, whether this involves fitness classes or workouts at the local gym or going running, cycling, or dancing. Even gentler exercises such as walking, and yoga can help improve our mood.
Quality sleep: Adults should aim to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Try to prioritise getting enough sleep to help support both your physical and mental health, testing out a relaxing bedtime routine and ditching late-night screen time.
Personal hygiene: Attending to personal hygiene can be a large part of self-care maintenance, whether this involves having a shower, bath, washing hair, brushing teeth or a shave, or even treating yourself to a skincare pamper evening. Warm water can help us feel freshened up and ready for the day ahead or help us wind down in the evening.
Journaling: For many people, making time to write down your thoughts, feelings and experiences can be a therapeutic way to process each day, or even when someone out of the ordinary occurs. It can help us to gain clarity and figure out how to move forward. Some people even recommend practicing gratitude journaling which involves writing down and identifying things that they feel thankful for.
Practising self-compassion: Learning to be gentle with yourself and engaging in self-care activities without passing judgment can be a wonderful way to begin a journey of being more self-compassionate. Try to treat yourself with kindness, understanding, and acceptance to help your ability to soothe yourself. When we are critical of ourselves when we are already down it does not help us rebuild our strength.
Setting boundaries: Begin to set healthy boundaries for yourself and others. This will help protect your energy, time, and wellbeing. Learning to communicate your needs and when it is time to say no to commitments that conflict with your priorities and values can be freeing, although it can be tricky to navigate in the beginning in relationships with entrenched patterns of behaviour.
Switching off: In modern society, we have access to the world at our fingertips with our smartphones. This can have both positive and negative consequences as we are accessible to others and find out latest information throughout the day. However, quite often we forget how to switch off, whether this is from work or social media, through learning to take breaks from screens and digital devices we give ourselves a proper rest. Try taking part in offline activities whilst you unplug for however long you feel is needed.
Connect with others: Humans are social beings, although many of us have different sizes of ‘social battery’. For even the most introverted people having meaningful relationships with loved ones who support and encourage you can help to uplift your mood and help you feel motivated. This also means asking for help when you need it from your support network.
Hobbies and interests: Dedicate time to hobbies and interests that stimulate your mind, bringing you both joy and a sense of fulfilment as you can express your sense of self. Try to allocate time for the activities that you enjoy doing, whether it's cooking, gardening, reading, creative pursuits (painting, writing, photography, playing an instrument, crafting) or participating in sports.
Mindfulness meditation and relaxation techniques: It is recommended to practice mindfulness meditations and deep breathing exercises to help relax your body and bring about a sense of calm. It can help to focus attention on the present moment letting thoughts come and go as we slow down and breathe in and out slowly. There are also supportive techniques you may try, such as progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery which may help to reduce stress.
Spiritual activities: Spirituality means different things to different people. For some, it may involve connecting with beliefs, values, and purpose through religious practices. For others, it may mean spending time in nature, through hiking and walking outdoors and enjoying the fresh air. Forest bathing, or ‘Shinrin-Yoku’ is a process of relaxing where you observe the trees around you in a forested area whilst breathing deeply. There is research available which shows spending time outdoors can boost health and well-being.
There are many self-help activities that we can incorporate into our routines to help promote our well-being and reduce our stress. However, for many people, these activities alone may not be sufficient, and there are always professionals available to help support you.
Please do not feel afraid or embarrassed to reach out as it is only human to feel run down in stressful environments. If you or a loved one is struggling and needs a space to talk, feel free to get in touch with us at MAPP Psychology to arrange a free 15-minute consultation and we can support you in matching with a member of the teams who will assist you in the journey of building coping skills to manage your stress levels.
-Corinne Tatem