Why not get the jump on your New Year’s resolutions and start the month of August off with a little health and wellbeing? As a matter of fact, August happens to be National Wellness Month. National Wellness Month focuses on self-care, managing stress and promoting healthy routines. Interim has loads of programming that promotes health and wellness among our program participants and residents. The OMNI Resource Center has weekly walking groups, where guests can exercise and socialize, sound healing and guided meditations, as well as a self-care group. This kind of programming is encouraged and taught across our programs. To manage stressful emotions like anger, they also have a group that teaches anger coping mechanisms!
Create wholesome habits in your lifestyle all month long and see how much better you feel!” Use this as the perfect excuse to develop some new habits that will help you sail into 2023 as a healthier you.
This is what the NationalDayCalendar.com site had to say about it,
Here are a few tips to establish healthy routines this August that you will want to keep all year long. Let’s call this Interim’s twist on meditation, hydration, exercise, and sleep.
MEDITATION
A big part of mediation is focusing on your breathing. If you stop and think about it, you are not usually taking slow deep breaths when you are really nervous. Because breathing is so calming, you will find that it can be used as a helpful trick to reduce your blood pressure when you go for a checkup. Just before your nurse/doctor puts the blood pressure cuff on, take 3 deep breaths in through the nose and out the mouth. This process alone can actually reduce your blood pressure by several points.
The OMNI Center holds a Sound Healing Meditation session on Tuesdays at 2:00 PM. This allows you to enjoy sound as a way to heal your heart and soul. While you learn about sound bowls, relax, and reconnect with yourself. Before you know it, you will have been mediating without even realizing it!
HYDRATION
The next healthy routine you can easily create is drinking more water. Did you know the human body is made up of approximately 60% water? This is why keeping your body hydrated is essential to maintaining a healthy system.
If you wonder how much water you need in one day, the general answer is 8 cups. What if you are not a fan of water? How about adding lemon or other favorite fruits to give it a little boost. In fact, fruit infused water can have several healthy benefits. Adding lemon to your water will add vitamins and antioxidants into your diet, and it can help you with digestion, weight loss and even insomnia.
BODY MOVEMENT (EXERCISE)
Walking (or hiking) is an excellent aerobic activity that you can do to relieve stress. The OMNI Center has their Wednesday Walk and Talk that starts at 1:00 PM, which brings people together for good conversation along the way. This low-impact activity will have a big impact on your health and mental wellness before you know it. As one OMNI client stated, “Being part of this group helped build my self-confidence.”
That leads to the fact that an important part of physical health comes from the healthy connections we establish with other people. According to familydoctor.org, our physical bodies are impacted by our thoughts and feelings. In other words, our emotions can affect our health. Therefore, dealing with stress, anxiety and depression is vital to managing our physical health. Connection with other people is one way that can automatically start to improve your health and wellness.
There really is a little something for everyone at the OMNI center. Even if you don’t want to take a class offered during the month, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, an OMNI staffer prepares a free lunch to be enjoyed together.
SLEEP
Finally, “Sleep affects almost every tissue in our bodies,” says Dr. Michael Twery, a sleep expert at NIH. “It affects growth and stress hormones, our immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure and cardiovascular health.” Research shows that lack of sleep increases the risk for obesity, heart disease and infections.
The amount of sleep you get can affect your overall health. The questions we should be asking are, “How much sleep do I really need?” And if I’m not getting that much, “What is preventing me from getting the amount of sleep I need?”
According to Dr. Eric Olson of the Mayo Clinic, the amount of sleep you need varies with your age. For the average adult, 7 hours or more a night is ideal. This also refers to uninterrupted, quality sleep, which can make this even more challenging. The bottom line is that if you’re not getting enough restorative (quality) sleep each night, you need to make some changes. Your health depends on it.
The best tip for you to achieve restorative sleep is to put the routines discussed here into practice throughout each day. Focusing on your breathing while relaxing your body (meditation). Drink some refreshing fruit infused water to meet your body’sbody’s needs (hydration). Go for a walk and connect with some friendly people (body movement/connection). As your body feels nourished and well balanced, sleep will come naturally.
These actions are a few ideas that you can put your own twist on and incorporate into your daily life. If you take action now, you not only will score a win this August for Health and Wellness month but all year long, too. You won’t even need New Year’s resolutions!
Check out the link HERE to learn about all the activities going on at OMNI.
Websites:
- https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-wellness-month-august/
- https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2013/04/benefits-slumber
