Category Archives: Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

Your mental wellbeing is just as important as your physical. Keep motivated, keep happy and learn everything mental wellbeing with our articles. That’s the only way to be truly healthy after all.

Have you ever tried to do exercise and then gave up due to procrastination? When we made an exercise plan and started to do it, many factors would disturb it. Procrastination could be a big hinder. We all know that regular exercising is an excellent way to keep fit and become more healthy, but most of us could not hold on straight to the end.

In general, procrastination is a behaviour that put the things which be done today to tomorrow. It always interrupts our training plan. We might think that we can delay for 15 minutes to browse Tiktoks or somethings else before exercising. Then, after day and day, the whole plan just collapses. How enthusiastic before we were making the plan, how guilty after we were giving it up.

There are some good methods that might help you conquer procrastination to pursue your dream of a good figure.

Motivate yourself

If you want to keep a good stature, like strong muscle or a beautiful curve, and you are difficult to start your first step. You need motivation, or you have to give yourself motivation.

All of the advantages of exercising could be your motivation, such as attracting isomerism, keeping healthy, and improving stamina. Also, exercising could be a good option for time killing. When you have a reason for doing something, you are more willing to do that than resist it.

Mostly, at the first stage of training, you might feel pain both in the body and mind. And then create a sense of fear before training. The best to conquer it is that remind the reasons for training again and again so that you could overcome your procrastination.

Moreover, listening to good music before and during the training could be a good method to improve your mood. You can also use other ways to relax, such as warming up.

Keep energy

Exercising is not mental but physical, which means you must have a good energy state before it. If you are exhausted before exercising, like after busy work overtime or stay up late, forced exercise is inadvisable.

However, this situation does interrupt your training plan. If you give up one day of training, it opens a bad precedent. Psychologically, you indulge your procrastination once. Thus, the best way is that as far as possible to avoid this situation. You have to make sure that you are vigorous at every predetermined training time. You have to keep a regular diet and timetable. If you decide to watch movies or play games all night, you have to make sure these will not affect your training.

Once you decide to give up one time of training, you must have a firm reason because procrastination is a mental barrier.

Good plan

Doing exercise needs a good plan. If you do not have a good training plan, you might take a weak result on your body. For procrastination, a good plan could form your daily behaviours as a habit.

Besides, the plan must be specific and achievable. Most people only have targets but none of the actions and plans. For example, you cannot say that I have to lose 10KG this year. It is not specific.

Your training plan must contain “how to do it”, “when to do it”, “how long to do it”, and “what is the target”. There is a good model of plan-making named “SMART goals”, and it might help you.

Additionally, how to carry out your plan persistently is also a big problem. In my advice, you could write the plan in your diary that you can easily see and remind yourself. Hiring a trainer to supervise your processes could be a good way. Also, you could let your friend overlook you. Having a training companion could also improve both of your insistence.

Share achievement

The human being is a social animal. We cannot survive without society. Sharing your achievement on social media, and let your friends know what are you doing now. For example, share a daily moment or sent a Twitter. So you can have a great number of public supervisors and take excellent feedback on your effort. Once you want to be lazy, the pressure from your social circle would remind you and push you to stick to the training.

However, what is most important is that you are training for yourself rather than your Internet expression. Sharing your achievement on social media aims to cure your procrastination, not pursue fame, following or something else. These could be a bonus but not your main target.

As we know, procrastination is a mental barrier. If you set fame or the number of following as your target, you might be persistent in your training. But actually, the problem of procrastination is not solved. It just is hidden. And you might be exhausted by social media, taking a worse influence on your life than procrastination.

Analyse your situation

Just like we told above, procrastination is not always negative. When you try to delay something, it might be an interruption from your subconscious.

When you start to make a training plan, you have to analyse your situation first. For example, if the city you live in is always raining and you do not have any plan for purchasing a treadmill or a gym membership, running could not be a good choice. If you do not have enough time in the day, you might have to move your exercise time to the evening.

Before you make your plan, you have to choose the best time and type of exercise according to your self-condition. So you could have the best experience of it, rather than resist and delay it.

Procrastination is a hot potato not only in exercise but also in our daily life. I hope my advice could help you go further on your fitness journey. But remember, exercising aims to improve our life quality, so do not be excessive.

Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Nutrition

Getting Your Healthy Takeaway Fix

22nd March 2021 emcnairLeave a comment

Takeaways… the opportunity to have a night off the dirty dishes and decision making for whats for tea. Where once upon a time ordering a takeaway was a rare treat saved for the end of the week when the weekly shop had run bare, it is now an option that is more accessible than ever. With popular ordering apps making delivery times smaller and the options wider it is tempting to have more than one ‘cheat day’ a week. The question is what is stopping you from recreating your favourite takeaways with fresh ingredients from your own kitchen? Here are some of the reasons to make the switch from takeaways to fakeaways.

Homemade is Healthier…

It is no surprise that takeaways use ingredients that are higher in saturated fats, salts and calories which gives them there initial taste and fulfilment but later leaves you still feeling hungry. Homemade dishes can be just as tasty but with far fewer calories and salt making it a more beneficial and substantial meal whilst still feeling like a treat. Nutrition is just as important as exercising have a look at our nutrition section in our learn page to find out more.

Healthier body and bank balance…

The ease of takeaways comes at a price and usually far more than a home cooked meal costs. Although certain takeaways may not seem to be expensive but spending the same amount on fresh food would allow you to make more than one meal.

Here are some ideas for homemade takeaways…

Fish and Chips Friday (serves 4)

A chippy dinner is an iconic British staple but their deep fat fryers are not known to be the healthiest choice, but swap it out for fresh fish and less oil and the results are delicious.

potatoes 4 (Cut into thick wedges)

sunflower oil

paprika 1/2 tsp

white breadcrumbs 100g

Lemon 1/2 zested

Plain flour 2 tbsp

egg 1 (beaten)

thick white fillets 4

Step 1

Heat oven to 180C, Toss the potatoes with the oil, paprika and seasoning. Put on baking tray and cook for 30 minutes, turning once until they are golden on both sides.

Step 2

Mix the breadcrumbs and lemon zest and put on a plate. Put the flour on a separate plate and the egg in a bowl.

Step 3

Flour the fish then dip in the egg, the coat in the breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a large pan then fry the fish for 2 minutes on each side until it is crisp and golden. Then transfer the fish into the oven with the chips for 10 minutes.

Serve with chips and enjoy.

Cals Fat Salts Fibre Proteins

350 8.6g 0.74g 2g 30g

Homemade Pizza (serves 2)

Ditch the greasy pizzas for a fresh alternative with the choice for healthy toppings.

For the dough…

strong wholemeal flour 100g

sachet died yeast 7g

warm water 125ml

For the topping…

Tomato puree 3 tbsp

mozzarella 25g

cherry tomatos (handfull)

courgette 1 large

step 1

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the flour and yeast with a pinch of salt. Then pour in the water and mix into a soft dough. Roll out on a floured worktop round to about 30cm across.

step 2

Spread the tomato puree on the base, arrange the cherry tomatoes and courgettes on the puree and then scatter the mozzarella on top. Leave for 20 minutes then bake for 20minutes.

Kcals fat carbs salt

479 13g 78g 1.43g

Before starting any new exercising or nutritional regime consult a professional . This is important for any individuals with pre-existing health problems. Exercise.co.uk assumes no responsibility for any personal injury or property damage sustained by using our advice.

When exercising if you experience any dizziness, chest pain or any abnormal symptoms stop the workout immediately and contact a doctor.

Exercises, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

Hula Hooping Your Way To Being Healthy

22nd March 2021 emcnairLeave a comment

You may think hula hooping is just for kids but think again. Hula hooping is a new craze sweeping the exercise world. When looking for motivation to exercise often a home work out is not inspiring enough to get up and active but this new craze is making a classic childhood activity a new and fun way to loose the inches off the waist and make 30 minutes of exercise fun again. Find other ways to motivate yourself through our learn page.

Here are some of the reasons why hula hooping is becoming an exercising sensation.

1. Picking the right hula hoop

Although hula hooping is fun on its own getting a weighted hula hoop is more beneficial for burning calories and inches off the waist. Starting with a bigger hoop is recommended for beginners to get into the swing of it. As you get stronger you can advance to a heavier hoop. It is recommend to start with a 1lb hoop and beginning with a 10 minute workout.

2 . Burn those calories

Alongside making the appropriate changes to your diet hula hooping increases the chances of loosing the inches around your waist and hips. Recent studies found that 13 women over 6 weeks lost on average 3.4 cm around their waist and hips.

3. Integrates your core muscles

Hula hooping focuses on moving your hips and keeping a rhyme which increases the mobility in your hips and waist. Hula hooping regularly is an excellent way to target your abdominal area and build strength in your core.

4. Inclusive Activity

It can be hard to acquire all the gym equipment you need in a household or pay for an expensive gym membership. Hula hooping requires no commute nor an expensive piece of gym equipment to get fit and become healthier. It makes an inexpensive simple portable item the key to your workout routine which can be enjoyed by every member of the family.

5. Balance is included

Whilst hula hooping is beneficial for the core and weight loss it also helps with your general balance and mobility. Hula hooping as your regular exercise gives you better control over your body’s movement and posture.

6. Get Creative

Set yourself targets! Hula hooping is a way to increase cardiovascular activity in limited space, put a set timed playlist on and hula hoop until the end of the playlist. With the Mayo Clinic reporting that 30 minutes hula hooping can burn up to 165 calories in one session. A 30 minutes episode of your favourite TV show will be as beneficial as as a 2 hour run.

When exercising if you experience any dizziness, chest pain or any abnormal symptoms stop the workout immediately and contact a doctor.

Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

5 Ways to Keep a Healthy Mind, Body and Attitude as a University Student

22nd March 2021 mtrevethanLeave a comment

Having been a university student in Hull for the last 4 years, I’ve seen first hand that people can have ups and downs in their health. The new found independence that is discovered by lots of students can allow some people to harm their mental and physical health by making bad choices. These new lifestyle choices can stick and the longer someone is stuck in their ways the harder it is to have a positive mindset to regain a healthy way of living. I’m going to inform you of 5 ways in which you can achieve a healthy mind and body whilst being at/going to University.

Exercise

Exercise is crucial in keeping a healthy body but it also has great effects on the mind as well. 150 minutes of exercise per week is generally recommended as this can help with feeling more positive, sleeping better and performing usual tasks much easier. Universities will normally have some form of gym on campus or have one near the Halls where the students live. The gym is a great way of getting into the mindset of exercising and has lots of equipment that would be too expensive to buy for the average student. Although, the gym will most likely have a monthly fee to use their facilities but budgeting this into your monthly spends is definitely worth it. If the gym is too expensive for you, it may be worth having a look at home work outs that can be done and downloading apps to help track and guide your fitness routine.

2. Societies and Sports

At university there are normally lots of ways to get involved in group exercise with team sports and societies that are focused on making sure students are out there enjoying themselves and staying fit. If team sports or sport in general isn’t your thing then joining a society of any kind can help you meet likeminded people and help with making friends and being confident. Societies come in all different topic areas from Science groups to those who love Disney, so there is something out there for everyone and newcomers are normally welcomed in with open arms. Social isolation is a main cause of mental illness so to be in a group of friends which you meet up and chat with during the week can help to keep you in a positive mindset as well as having a better attitude towards university work.

3. Eating Habits

The independence that university can give you is a blessing for some people whereas, there are others who are less ready to take the step and need time to adjust. Cooking is a skill that not everyone has acquired when they get to university but it is vital that you keep a healthy diet and cook balanced meals unless you’re provided with them. Eating right will not only help keep your body in good shape but it will also help with working by keeping your heart and brain healthy for those long periods of lecture and study. It is said that in a days worth of food, a good balance should consist of around 40% of fruit and veg, as well as 40% of Carbohydrates (e.g Pasta and Rice). The other 20% of a balanced diet is split evenly between proteins, dairy and fat/sugar. For more help with focusing on creating a healthy meal plan and keeping to a healthy diet, Apps may be useful for tracking calories as well as other blog posts which go into more depth on this topic.

4. Sleep

The importance of sleep cannot be overlooked when trying to be healthy and keep up to date with deadlines and work that is being set. Students are likely to fall into the trap of having a more nocturnal sleeping schedule which may not only effect their work but also their mental health as sleeping during the day can lead to a cycle of negative health impacts. The charity ‘Mind’ suggests that a lack of sleep can lead to tiredness which then makes it difficult to complete normal daily tasks and gives you low self esteem. All of this coming together can make anyone worried and stressed which begins the cycle of a lack of quality sleep back to the start. Getting yourself into a routine, which includes getting up at a reasonable time, can help you to achieve your goals and leaves you with time to enjoy doing what you like to do in your free time. Not only will you be happier and more driven but the people around you will notice the change in you as well!

5. Do what makes you happy!

Societal norms can be seen wherever you are, not just at university and it’s seen as ‘normal’ to follow the crowd and do as your peers do. University is a place to try new things and make new friends. Don’t be scared to join different groups and makes friends in lots of different places. When you let go of expectations and ideals that people expect of you and be who you want to be you are most likely going to become a happier, more positive version of yourself. University is a place for growth as lots of students have a new lease of life without restraints. Keep your options open and do not let anyone tell you what you want to do, because in the end only you know what you want and there’s only one person that can get you where you want to go. Go out there and be yourself!

If you are planning on starting any form of rigorous physical exercise or new nutrition plan please see your doctor, especially if you are making a change like this and are over the age of 35, or have health conditions that may cause damage to your body from changes like this. Exercise.co.uk assumes no responsibility for personal injury or property damage sustained using our advice.

Exercises, Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

The secret to get rid of your phone and keep motivated during the exercise

8th March 2021 ohaialLeave a comment

Do you suffer from phone addiction during your sport exercise? Do you check your phone a lot with curiosity, afterwards you lose your motivation to continue? You answer a call from your friend or text messages and you don’t become ready to take more pressure when you return to exercise? Is that what’s worrying you?

Already Realizing that you have a phone addiction problem is the first step to getting rid of it. Here are 5 tips for you to get a great workout:

Spend your time with other useful things while you rest:

The dependent person usually suffers from a lot of emptiness and boredom when resting during exercise, so prolonged use of the smartphone negatively affects mental health and increases feelings of frustration and hopelessness, causing the nervous system to have periods of rest that exceed the required duration. The ideal is to keep busy with things that do not exceed the rest period, such as a small discussion with the coach or a colleague to fill the void and pass the time.

2.Use a phone armband during your exercise:

If you want to change a habit you first have to create obstacles that will block you, for example you have to block access to using the phone with simple things like a training armband to get rid of unnecessary uses that make you want to have more, such as social networking sites. Indeed, putting the phone back in the armband after each use is a tiring thing, so you will be lazy to do it and it is an ideal way to get rid of phone addiction. In addition, the cuff is the ideal choice for holding the phone when you exercise with freedom of movement, you need to find a flexible and very comfortable model. The most practical thing is to opt for a armband that does not squeeze too tightly in order to carry out the exercises correctly. It should not be an annoying accessory for you and should also have a sweat-absorbing capacity.

3.The gloves provide complete finger protection:

If you are wondering how to stop this addiction to the phone during your exercise, you must continue to create obstacles to break this bad habit, because getting rid of it starts in the mind before the body, so that you create obstacles, your brain will persuade the body to stop repeating the mistakes. In addition to empowerment, the gloves will also give you a reduction in tiredness, support and help you fight the sweat resulting from your exercise. Moreover, with gloves, it is practically impossible to operate your phone, it is very unpleasant to have to take off your gloves to pick up the phone or consult social networks for nothing. We recommend gloves with full finger protection
4.Keep the selfies until the end of the exercise:

If your addiction to the phone during your exercise is because of the selfies, because you take a lot of pictures and at the end you are not motivated, you shouldn’t blame and judge yourself because all these things seem normal and repeated in our daily life, in order to document happy moments and share them with those we love, to become a group of beautiful memories, but we just recommend that you learn how to take pictures at the end of the exercise and at the end of each exercise, try to give yourself the opportunity to feel the feeling of relaxation, leave everything, relax on the floor and feel the effect of the exercise on your body, and make sure that you only return to this exercise in order to feel this feeling again before you even think about taking a selfie.

5.Desactivate notifications

Application notifications on the smartphone are one of the most important reasons that make you look at your phone’s screen continuously and repeatedly throughout the exercise, which can be classified as addictive phone use, so to get rid of this problem, you need to set or disable all application notifications on your phone. Indeed, if your phone does not ring repeatedly for notifications and updates, it will be easy to ignore it. You can only set an alert for important notifications, such as text messages from your family. The ideal is to distract yourself with anything when playing sports, and in this case meditation exercises are very ideal, whatever sport you do, always try to distract your attention from the pain the exercise causes you, and kill two birds with one stone.

Addiction to the smartphone will not be eliminated between a session or two, but rather requires a bit of patience and will gradually reduce usage, so remember that you need to live your life outside the screen of your smartphone and enjoy the moment of sport, enjoy meeting people with you at the gym, make new friends and accomplish the tasks of the session to the fullest. We recommend that you bring a friend who trains with you, this will ensure that you never give up exercising, it will motivate you and push you to keep going, so we always advise you to choose the right friend, a friend who is a sports fan, to join you and exercise with you, and when we say it’s appropriate, anyone who is full of energy and vitality and loves to spend time with him or her, and in this way you will love to exercise and avoid using the phone at all times out of respect and to spend time with your chosen friend.

Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Yoga and Stretching

FINDING BALANCE THROUGH YOGA

8th March 2021 mgavilanesLeave a comment

You are already a yogi.

We all know Yoga is good to lengthen the muscles and increase flexibility, but what we often forget is that yoga offers a much wider range of benefits to keep our mind, body and spirit in check and functioning properly. The best thing is that a part of you already practices yoga, you just don’t know it.

Have you ever stopped and stood quietly to appreciate nature? Or laid back on the couch and just breathed slowly? Or have you ever stood on your tiptoes and stuck a leg out whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, just for the fun of balancing? Well, these are all forms of yoga in their own way.

The beauty of yoga is that it lives in our every movement. From the beginning of our existence, we naturally know how to breathe and eventually everyone develops movements which can be interpreted as yoga poses. Regrettably, throughout the years we have forgotten how these movements are so natural to us. Along the way as well, often due commercialism and social media influence, people have come to believe yoga is only to be practiced by super attractive, super flexible people.

What is yoga if it’s not about stretching?!

It’s true, when you say you do yoga people think straight away that it is all handstands and palms together. But in reality, it is a process of small changes over a long time. ‘Yoga’ comes from the Indian Sanskrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to join’. It’s a unity or a oneness. In spiritual terms, it can be described as the union of the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness.

This can understandably make it sound a bit daunting but please don’t be intimidated. yoga is for everyone, it is accessible to all levels of society, gender, age, ethnicity and physical abilities. It promotes inclusion, self-awareness and diversity, which is what this world needs.

It does not matter if you stopped practicing or have never tried it, you can start at any time and your body will remember everything you learn. Yoga is flexible after all.

The many different types of yoga

One problem many newcomers to yoga face is which type of yoga they should start with. There are many styles of yoga to try and you should explore as many as you can, but here is a little break down of the main styles;

Vinyasa: This is a flowy style of yoga which allows you to move from one pose to another fluidly in a sequence. It is good for those who like faster paced movements, it’s also great to bring out your creativity when you want to work on a new sequence. It is a good starting place for beginners with lots of energy because it can be fun and invigorating.

Ashtanga: This style is very active, it helps you synchronise your breath with the movement. Ashtanga is about finding strength in stillness by holding poses for longer than you would with vinyasa. Sometimes these poses are unbalanced therefore it can require a lot of strength and focus to hold them for longer periods of time. There is also a lot of focus on correct breathing techniques.

This is also a good place for beginners as there are many levels of ashtanga, with difficulty increasing with each level.

Yin: This style allows you to go deeper into pose, and also yourself, as it’s a very slow-paced style. The aim for Yin is to increase circulation throughout the joints and to target the connective tissues of the body.

Yin can be tough for newcomers to yoga who may become distracted or lose patience whilst in a pose. Taking the time to practice Yin however can be incredibly rewarding, allowing the mind to relax and ignore life’s pressures whilst lengthening the muscles and opening up the body.

So why try yoga?

Yoga has a wide variety of benefits which supports our pursuit to live a better life. These benefits are not just physical, they can be mental and spiritual too.

Helps with a number of ailments

Yoga is proven to improve your balance and coordination through exercising the nervous system. This heightened activity can build the grey matter in our brain leading to improved focus and concentration. This can help reduce the effects of certain ailments such as vertigo, ataxia and even Alzheimer’s disease, by exercising the nervous system in a safe and controlled way.

It’s good for your body

The movements through yoga practice exercise the whole body through a number of different poses. These low impact but weight bearing exercises activate and strengthen your muscles, bones and joints. This is great for stabilising your weight and avoiding aches and pains.

Supports your inner body

Within our bodies is the endocrine system, responsible for keeping our hormones in check and balanced. When life becomes stressful this system can become unbalanced and leave us feeling tired, irritable or anxious. Practising yoga relaxes the mind and allows this system to regain control and balance our hormones. The exercise can also stimulate happy hormones such as dopamine, melatonin and serotonin, making us feel confident and content, as well as helping us get a nicer sleep.

Finds a steady rhythm in our mind

Though it doesn’t have to be, Yoga can be a very spiritual practice. Good yoga teachers will teach breathing as a part of their class. These yogic breathing techniques can steady the breath, find rhythm and ultimately steady the mind. When we are feeling uneasy our body is using our sympathetic nervous system. Slow and controlled breathing is proven to move the body over to our parasympathetic nervous system. This puts us in a state of relaxation and tranquillity. The more we practise yoga the better our body can achieve this state, massively benefitting our mental health.

Start your yoga journey

A great place to get started if you are unsure is at home following a yoga teacher online. Here is a recommendation for you to try.

Yoga with Michaelle 🙂

Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Time Saving

Work-Life Balance: How to use Meditation and Mindfulness as the Bridge.

8th March 2021 rgowdaLeave a comment

To make a mark at work, to have a buzzing social life, learn something new, spend quality time with friends and family and the list goes on- we want it all sometimes but can never quite master the perfect work-life balance. The key to this is to slow down by practicing meditation and mindfulness.

What do Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Bill gates all have in common? Well, aside from success and wealth, they all swear by meditation and have come forward by explaining how meditating daily has done wonders for their mental well-being. Whether it is to manage stress or simply boost some energy, there is no denying that meditation has become the new go-to wellness ritual.

Along with meditation, practicing mindfulness also helps with our overall mental as well as physical health. This is when your mind is paying attention to your present-moment flow of experience without commentary, analysis or judgement. Being mindful makes it easier to savor the simple pleasures in life and helps you become fully engaged in whatever you do.

Here are few tips to help you maintain a healthy mental state of mind:

One-minute meditation

You do not require a certain time of your day to implement a mediation session, you can start by taking one-minute breaks between work by focusing on a calming picture or listening to relaxing music with your eyes closed for a minute while deeply breathing, this will help you reduce your stress levels and help you re-focus on your work.

Set boundaries between work and leisure.

Don’t forget to stop working. One of the hardest parts of work-life balance is defining the boundary between the two. The best way to do this especially when working from home, is to start by creating a designated space for work. Giving a gap between starting and ending work will help you effectively transition from life to work. Adapting these rountines in the long run will help your brain to be wired for presence in every context.

Reduce multi-tasking:

Believe it or not, one of the most difficult mind exercises to do is to focus on one thought at a time. Research shows only 2% of p eople who can effectively muti-task. Practice doing one thing at a time as often as you can throughout the day. When you are not working or studying, remain mentally present for other interactions and activities. Mindfulness saves time and helps you focus on what matters in the present.

Too many list of tasks to do — Source: Unsplash, captured by Luis Villasmil

For instance, if you’ve decided to take an evening off for yourself, be sure to switch off and relax – don’t half-heartedly skim through a book while watching Netflix just to make yourself feel like you are reading.

Schedule tech- free time

Practicing a daily digital detox will allow you to disconnect from work and enhance your ability to pay attention. Have a go at the 30-Day Digital Detox Challenge by Forbes to help you begin! Be mindful of the time you spend on social media and maybe pick one activity or time every day when you can put your devices away for 15-75 minutes.

Remember to immerse yourself in whatever you do whether it is taking your dog on a walk, playing with your kids, painting, or eating dinner with family or friends. Consider designating a room or zone in your house where electronics are not allowed to facilitate this daily digital detox.

Social media — Source: Unsplash, captured by Nathan Dumlao

It’s essential that you take time away from your screen each day. Try giving a break mid-way through the day and in the evening to shut down and transition from ‘work mode’ to ‘home mode’. Remember, if you were previously working from a workplace, you would have a bit of down time on the journey in and home and over lunch, so make sure you schedule that time for you if you are currently studying/ working from home.

Take out time to reflect.

Journaling can help get all your thoughts out and on paper. Bullet Journalling is a great way to stay organised. It’s worth taking some time to reflect on yourself. Especially since the past year has been so different for all of us, it’s good to pen down how you felt at the start of lockdown, how you’ve dealt with lockdown and how you feel about the next phase. This will help to ground you, will help to remind you that you are in control of your thoughts and choices, that you can deal with a new and uncertain situation and that you are resilient. To do this, why not arrange a new comfortable place to sit by a window to soak up that sunlight?

Start and end your day for you.

Reading a book — Source: Unsplash, captured by Callum Shaw

Morning and evening routines are a great way to prioritise your health and wellbeing and give you a greater sense of work-life balance. Save some time for self-care- use the first 15-60 minutes of your day mindfully: exercise, drink water or tea, meditate, stretch, read a book, anything you enjoy doing but just remember to be fully present in the moment. British author, Jay Shetty has some really useful insights on his morning routine video, why incorporating meditation, mindfulness and gratitude is really beneficial.

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The vital part is staying disconnected from work and screens so you not only get a great night’s sleep but you will also wake up feeling restored. The next time you feel yourself stressing out whilst studying or at work, try a few of these mindfulness techniques to keep your mental wellbeing on check. Get the most important tasks done first, focus with greater clarity, and ultimately, become more productive at work. Striking a positive work-life balance is possible, you just need to take the first step.

Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Nutrition, Time Saving, Weight loss

Healthy Plate, Healthy Weight

8th March 2021 bgarmstonLeave a comment

Changing your lifestyle and workout routine is always the main focus when trying to become a healthier version of yourself. How about looking at what’s on your plate, if you want a healthy weight you need to change your plate.

When, What, Why

When to eat and Why

Timing your meals is as important as what you are eating, you need to make sure you start the day off with a healthy breakfast to get your digestive system working. This will help to speed up your metabolism, which will result in you burning your maximum amount of calories without doing exercise. Do you eat late at night? Maybe this is why you struggle to fall straight to sleep and you aren’t giving your body the time to break down the nutrients. This will mean the body doesn’t use the nutrients and end up storing them as fats, remember whatever you eat is fuel for the body and it needs to have time to use this fuel or store in correctly.

Timing your meal around a busy life can be hard but you need to make sure you do this, your body can’t run on nothing and you need to make sure you give your body what it needs to function as normal, this is not just food but water as well. If you simply don’t have time to make a healthy meal then snacks can be used keep the body functioning, keep your strong with some great ideas here or for some healthy snacks take a look at this and make these in 5 minutes.

What to eat and Why

Start the day off with a colourful plate, or even maybe a smoothie. This is all about giving your body vitamins it needs to allow your brain to function at its highest level, this will make you feel energised and refreshed. For some breakfast ideas following the link here.

12pm hits you need to top up your fuel supply, it is a good idea to continue with the light meal theme as this will ensure that you don’t feel like you have over eaten and resulting in you feeling unmotivated for the rest of the working day. Look here for foods that you can use to keep you energised for the hard afternoon ahead.

its the end of the working day you have been working hard all day and enjoying some light healthy food to get you through the day, now its time to reward yourself with one of your favourite meals. This meal should be a nice balanced out plate, you want to use all the nutritional groups. find out more about how to balance out your diet with the NHS Eat Well guide.

What’s the Difference

It is easy to eat foods that you might think are healthy for you without knowing what you are putting into your body, follow these links to understand how you can effect you diet, understand carbohydrates, understand fats and understand nutrients.

Exercising with chronic conditions, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Yoga and Stretching

3 steps to manage exercise as a young person with a chronic illness

8th March 2021 Georgina NaylorLeave a comment

As broad a range that chronic illnesses can be, and with long term conditions such asthma and diabetes as the highest rates amongst young people it can be difficult to find any motivation to exercise.

Despite young people dealing with these long term conditions and navigating poor mental health because of them, and while we know a chronic illness might never go away, we can definitely try to offset some of the symptoms.

Here’s 3 things you can try:

1. Any movement is better than nothing

We all know it can be difficult to wanna stop watching Netflix and actually go and exercise but navigating this fitness lifestyle with a chronic illness is hard. But even just getting up after one episode, putting on a good song and dancing wildly for those 3 minutes is better than a binge on Netflix. Trust me.

Check our post on making an exercise playlist to dance to!

Even if your chronic illness keeps you from dancing energetically for those minutes, you can try walking up and down stairs a few times at a quicker pace than you usually do. It might seem simple, but getting your heart pumping, blood circulating and your body moving really does make a simple difference.

2. Stretching is surprisingly helpful

Stretching, yoga, pilates… call it what you want but stretching and flexing your body is crucial. Maybe you can’t touch your toes and that’s okay!

But if you make it your goal for the next 30 days, start by placing your hands on top of your knees. Then, try a little further and place your hands just under your knees, then halfway down your shins… see where I’m going? Even if it is the slightest movement each day and just a tiny bit further than the last it’s going to help blood flow around your body, loosen up your muscles and joints and allow your body to adjust.

If stretching is good enough for cats, you can do it too!

3. Fresh air is your friend

While it might seem trivial that breathing can help anything, it really can wake you up to your surroundings, internally and externally. It could be standing on your garden, closing your eyes and breathing in until your chest puffs up or even just opening a window. The action of letting your space be freed up from the stuffy feeling of being unwell or trapped in a room can momentarily stop you in your tracks.

A few breathing exercises you can try with this fresh air is holding for 4 seconds, inhale for 8, hold for 4 and exhaling for 8. It can take a minute to get used to but doing this for five minutes regulates your breathing intake and the deeper your breaths, the better your blood flow. So, next time you take your dog for a walk, or open the window to let the sun in, or even when you’re struggling with pain from your illness just try focussing on your breathing for five minutes and see how you feel.

Exercises, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

Keeping Fit and Healthy as a Busy Student on a Budget

8th March 2021 tloLeave a comment

Being a student it can be hard to get into a routine of healthy exercise, even more so when balancing University work alongside. A look online will bring up a wide range of articles and fitness classes to read and take part in. In this blog I want to offer some guidance as to how you can keep fit and healthy as a busy student on a budget.

My housemates have been trying to get me participating in workouts with them however, I have always had the same feelings when asked. There has always been a high financial commitment attached to joining the gym which has always been off putting for me. Even with the more competitive price of the University gym, I still find the gym as too high of a financial commitment. However, the gym is not the only place to effectively participate in a work out, there are many low cost options of staying fit and healthy that can be considered.

With the introduction of lock down last year I soon found myself looking for ways that I could stay active during those times. Home workouts soon found themselves established into my daily routines. Here are a few of the best ways that I have found to start your health and fitness routine!

Stay Hydrated

Glass of Water by Manu Schwendener on Unsplash

Staying hydrated is an extremely important way of keeping healthy. The NHS recommends that we drink around 6-8 glasses of fluid per day. The easiest way to do this is to just simply have a glass of water with you whilst you’re studying. I have found this to be an extremely easy way of keeping healthy whilst I am at University. If you are not a fan of water on it’s own you can always add no sugar fruit juice or even a slice of lemon.

Water can also be useful in other areas of fitness such as being used in weight loss treatments, more information can be found here.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Keeping a healthy diet has just as much of an impact on your body as exercise can. If you are exercising you need to maintain a healthy diet otherwise all the hard work being put in is being wasted with a poor diet. Here is a link to an article where there is more information about how eating a balanced diet complements exercise.

When looking to change my diet, I found that one of my favorite ways of satisfying my hunger was through snacking. Everyone loves a snack, I probably love them a bit too much if I am being completely honest. To incorporate more of a balanced diet into my lifestyle, I have tried to start swapping out my snacks for a piece of fruit instead.

It is also important for you to eat properly before and after a workout. Here is a short blog on what you should eat before and after a workout. I would recommend giving this a read before attempting any workouts to ensure that training is effective.

Head Out For a Walk

Walking by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Walking is one of the easiest and cheapest ways for keeping fit and healthy as a student. Going out for a quick walk has been one of the best ways I have used to stay fit and healthy as a student. A full walking routine does not even have to be implemented into your day, simply walking to the shops instead of driving has the potential for huge benefits to your well being.

I have personally seen improvements to my mood since walking to the shops rather than driving. Being out in open space for a small amount of time is a nice change of scenery which has been a real boost for my mental health. More information on walking and mental health can be found here. There are other perks of walking too as you get to discover the local area, opening up potential to find new walking routes to try out in the future.

Do not worry if you do not get the chance to go out for a walk. In the next section we are going to look as home workouts as an alternative way to keeping fit and healthy.

Home workouts

Home workouts are another great way that you can stay fit and healthy in your own time. There are an abundance of products that you can try with various workouts that can be used in conjunction with the products. As this blog is more focused on sticking to a budget, products suggested will have multiple uses to maximize the costs of the products.

Resistance Bands are a cheap and versatile way of easing into home workouts. Prices start at £15.99 with different prices being found dependent on the resistance of the band. The bands can be used for a full-body workout which I will link here.
Dumbbells are another low cost way to start home workouts. Prices start at £13.75 for 2 x 1 kg Dumbbells with prices increasing as the weight increases. Dumbbells can be used for any level too so whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced gym goer, an effective workout can be achieved with dumbbells. I will link a 6 week beginners dumbbell workout here and I will link an arm and upper body workout here.

Dumbbells and Resistance Bands by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

So, here are some really easy and simple ways you can begin to get yourself into a really good healthy routine. Sticking to the new routine will be hard at first, but stick at it! The benefits in the long run are worth it over the initial breaking into the new routine period and you will begin to feel so much better.