Self-Care

Self-care is about empowering people to take care of themselves. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines self-care as people’s capacity to stay well and avoid disease, and to manage illness. Simple ways to take care of yourself include doing some exercise most days, getting a good night’s sleep, eating nutritious food throughout the day, avoiding or reducing alcohol and other drug use, and going to the doctor when you are sick.

It is an act of self-care to think about how you have been feeling and make a plan to manage your feelings. This may or may not involve seeing a health professional. For example, you might notice that you have been feeling overwhelmed and low recently. Reflecting on the changes in your mood you might decide to commit to getting back to the gym and schedule a coffee date with a friend. Alternatively, you might decide to read a self-help book, do an online therapy program, or book an appointment with a health professional such as a clinical psychologist.

Anyone can choose to make positive changes to improve their health and wellbeing. However, there are lots of reasons why people might find self-care difficult. For many people self-care is not part of their daily routine, and so it involves forming a new habit. Making a new habit is hard, particularly when stressed or experiencing other mood changes.

For some people, caring for other people is their priority and it does not come easily to care for themselves. Self-care can challenge self-beliefs about being unworthy and undeserving and bring up feelings of guilt. It can feel wrong or selfish to look after yourself and can trigger old feelings. If you find that you are having trouble making positive changes to look after yourself better seeing a clinical psychologist can help.  

Self-care Interventions

Self-care interventions support self-care. People can use self-care interventions independently, or with the support of a health professional. As a result, these interventions tend to be accessible, convenient, and affordable. The best self-care interventions are evidence based meaning they draw on established knowledge and published research studies. Therefore, they are more likely to help people and less likely to cause them harm. Emily and Amelia Nagoski’s book, Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle, and THIS WAY UP’s internet-delivered, cognitive-behavioural-therapy (iCBT) programs are examples of evidence-based, self-care interventions.

Completing the Stress Cycle

Emily and Amelia Nagoski are sisters who have written a book about how to manage stress so that it doesn’t lead to mental or physical illness. Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle is a self-care intervention that uses research findings to argue that exercise is the most efficient way to manage stress by completing the stress cycle, and therefore stay well.

Stress is the body’s response to a stressor and involves neurological and physiological changes in the body. Stressors can be external things like a death, a relationship breakdown, or a job loss, or internal things like self-criticism, worry thoughts, negative body image, and low self-esteem. The body responds to a stressor by preparing the body for action. Humans have survived because they have adapted to run away from a predator or otherwise fight it. Although modern stressors look very different, the neurology and physiology of the response is the same: heart rate increases, the breath quickens, muscles tense, attention becomes hyper-focused, and senses are heightened. At the same time, body functioning that is not immediately necessary for action shuts down. This includes the digestive, immune, and reproductive systems.

The stress response works well in the short term, but when the body is chronically stressed it leads to illness. This can happen when it is not an option to remove the stressor. Many stressors are present over long periods of time such as a stressful job, parenting challenges, or aging parents. As a result, the stress response is chronically activated.

However, some stressors are short term but removing the stressor doesn’t mean the body returns to its normal state. For example, when travelling on a train another passenger behaves in a way that makes you feel unsafe. You get off the train. The threat is gone but you still feel stressed. Another example is running late. You berate yourself as you drive to an important appointment for not leaving early enough. You arrive on time but continue to feel stressed.

Managing stress is about more than solving the problems that cause stress. It involves doing something to help the body return to a relaxed state. Exercise is an effective way to signal to the body that the stress response is no longer required because it completes the stress cycle. Other ways to signal safety to the body are through connecting with other people and deep breathing. Emily and Amelia Nagoski’s book is a self-care intervention that offers ways to avoid disease and maintain health through managing stress.

Learning New Skills

THIS WAY UP is an e-health learning platform that offers people ways to managing their mental health and feel better through access to evidence-based therapies. THIS WAY UP provides 18 evidence-based iCBT programs for a range of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and chronic pain. People can access the program independently at a cost or for free under the supervision of a clinical psychologist or other health provider.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a treatment that involves learning new skills. These skills help people change the thoughts and behaviours that contribute to their experience of illness and help them move towards greater wellbeing.

Conclusion

It is important for our health that we take care of ourselves. We can all take simple steps to take better care of ourselves.

Reflection Questions

What do you routinely do to take care of yourself?

Is there anything that you are not already doing to take care of yourself that you would like to make a habit of?  

What stressors are you experiencing and how do you manage them?

Has exercise helped you manage your stress? Reflect on a time where you have used exercise to complete the stress cycle.

What additional support do you need to take better care of your mental health?

References

Linehan, M. (2014). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Nagoski, E. and Nagoski, A. (2020). Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle. Ballantine Books.

World Health Organisation. (2022). WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being, 2022 revision. World Health Organisation. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240052192