8 Things I DON’T do to look after my Health | AD

I work in healthcare. I work as a dietitian and my health is pretty important to me. However, I know overall sometimes health is very much out of your control really and you can be doing everything you can to look after yourself and still become unwell. And that’s life, I guess. But for someone like me, with health anxiety, doing everything I can does help me keep that at bay and I always think at least I tried, eh?

For me, health isn’t about just physical health but mental health too. As someone who can have jittery days due to anxiety, I do try to do my best to look after myself holistically and make sure I’m always thinking about my mental health too. 

So for me, there are a few things I don’t do to make sure I’m looking after my health and this is what I mean: 

Look After My Health

Go to bed too late – I wish I could be one of those people who slept at midnight and could still get up for 6am but I can’t. I need about 7 hours sleep but can survive on slightly less. Without it I can’t function, as grumpy and fed up. I also know when I don’t get enough sleep it affects my immune system and I’m more likely to pick something up from the kids. Getting enough sleep in important. 

Google health related worries – I used to be terrible at googling everything and stressing out. It’s really hard and I’ve had to stop myself from doing it but you can find completely inaccurate information and places to buy treatment. I always use the NHS website if I really need to check something for the kids and if looking for pharmaceutical site, I would perhaps check out The Oxford Online Pharmacy, which fully registered and has great trust pilot reviews and a good CQC rating.

Drink too much alcohol – I do love a glass of wine but too much alcohol does not love me. Since having children and getting older my alcohol tolerance and dropped hugely and I find I can only have max a couple of 175ml glasses of wine and I have to have eaten too. Anymore and I’ll have a hangover and feel tired and fed up. I’m aware of all the health-related problems that can be linked to excessive alcohol consumption and for me, it’s not worth it.

Smoke – I’ve never even tried a cigarette and will never do so either. It can cause a multitude of health problems, stinks and is very expensive.

Have a day without some form of exercise – exercise is really important to me. It is great for my mental health and allows me some time out of the house. Also it keeps me a healthy weight, fit and happy. I usually go to the gym 3 times a week and try and get out for a walk or small jog on all the other days. I have a Fitbit and track my steps. I usually hit well over 10k most days. Exercising also helps me sleep well and sets me up for the day, so I tend to be in more of a good mood!

Miss hitting my 5 a Day – I’m lucky that I love fruit and vegetables and it’s very rare that I don’t hit my 5 a day portions of fruit and veg. They are filling, packed with fibre for good bowel health and lots of vitamins and antioxidants. I tend to snack on fruit a lot and usually have some form of salad for lunch, so it’s easier to get the portions in!

Eat meat daily – now there is nothing wrong with eating lean meat daily but I find I do feel better when I don’t have it daily. My bowel health is better and it’s good to have a break. I may have eggs or cheese for lunch and Quorn, lentils or fish as part of my evening meal.

Do what I don’t want to – this is more for my mental health. I’m quite terrible for over thinking and wanting to make people happy but as I’ve got older, I definitely have made more of a conscious effort to stop saying yes to things I don’t want to do. To stop putting myself in uncomfortable positions and I do feel better for it. There is nothing wrong with saying no.

I know I’m getting older and it can be even more important to look after your health and wellbeing. I have three kids and want to be able to run about with them and keep up for as long as they need me to. I’ll keep trying and doing the very best I can to look after myself.

What about you? What do you do to look after your health?

Disclosure – this is a sponsored post.