By: Daisy Hemmen

With all of the 2020 chaos, many of us feel thrown off track when it comes to taking care of our health. Together, let’s decide to take the new, fresh start of 2021 as an opportunity to release any habits and patterns that do not serve us, and welcome in new tips and tricks we wish to take with us into the year ahead. 

One of the easiest ways to get back on track is by incorporating small, healthy habits that can easily fit into your daily routine. Small, consistent efforts can create big results - so let’s work together to optimize our mental, physical, and emotional health in 2021! Read on for 3 daily habits you can start today, that will contribute to creating the healthiest version of you. 

1. Mornings: 5 Minutes of Me

Mornings can feel just so busy these days. Whether you’re heading into your workplace, preparing for a day of work at home, or getting all of your household’s ducks in a row, the thought of an elaborate morning routine can seem like an unattainable luxury. That’s where the “5 Minutes of Me” comes in. Everyone, and we mean everyone, can fit 5 minutes of me-time into their mornings. Whether that means waking up a bit earlier to carve it in your day, exercising self-discipline and cutting back on your phone time in the morning, etc. - we encourage you to try this out. Just 5 minutes to yourself in the morning can plant the seed for you to take on the day ahead to the best of your ability. 

Take these 5 intentional minutes and fill it with an activity that makes you feel grounded. Push your technology aside for this small chunk of time, and immerse yourself in the activity you know will make you feel calm, collected, and competent. This could be a quick walk around the block, five minutes of closing your eyes and focusing on your breath, moving your body in an impromptu dance session to your favorite music, or grabbing a piece of paper or your journal and scribbling all of the thoughts that are swimming in your mind. If you’re hesitant to believe that this can make a positive impact in your day, we challenge you to do this every morning for one whole week, and take note of how you feel. 

This healthy habit is particularly important if you spend the majority of your day working from your computer, like many of us do these days! Meetings, classes, trainings - all of these virtual commitments can result in a lot of time sitting in front of screens. This is where Exercise Snacks come in. Begin to carve small chunks of time away from your desk/computer into your day, and fill it with movement of your choice. Depending on how much time is available for your Exercise Snacks, this could be a walk around the neighborhood, 100 jumping jacks, or even a handful of air squats or a minute of plank. Incorporating these bursts of movement throughout your day will help your mental and physical health by encouraging you to feel more balanced while also increasing your physical activity. 

This tip is useful whether you’re an employee, boss, or student - start to look for ways Exercise Snacks can fit into your schedule. Perhaps this is between meetings, during your allocated lunch break, or after class ends.

3. Practice Breathwork While You Fall Asleep

By this point, most of us know the endless benefits of meditation and breathwork, and yet - how many of us find time to actually incorporate it into our daily lives? If you do - that’s great! If you’re still looking to “find the time”, we got you covered. This tip can be exercised by everyone, whether you’re a regular meditator or a total novice. 

The trick to actually fitting this into your day is to stack this habit with something you already do daily - in this case, going to sleep at night. No need to set time aside to fit this in, but rather choose to use the time you’re in bed falling asleep practicing this tip. There’s a variety of breathwork techniques that would be suitable here, but we’re big fans of the Box Breath for its simplicity and calming benefits. To practice this breathing technique, simply perform the following:

1. Close your eyes (if they weren’t closed already!)
2. Breathe in your nose, counting to four in your mind
3. Hold your breath at the top, for a total of 4 counts
4. Release your breath through your nose for 4 counts
5. Hold your breath at the bottom, counting to four once again
6. Repeat at least 10 times, or continue until your drift asleep

We love this practice for many reasons, one of them being how effective it is at redirecting the racing thoughts that so many of us experience at bedtime. Say sayonara to bedtime anxiety and overthinking, and hello to falling asleep faster, and enjoying a peaceful night’s rest!

At the start of the New Year, it’s easy to get caught up in the laundry list of “New Year, New Me” goals that many of us feel so conditioned to have. These goals can often be daunting and end up overwhelming us more than actually helping. With the start of 2021, we encourage you to relieve yourself of this pressure, and instead, set yourself up for success! Start off with simple, achievable habits that will help you improve your overall wellbeing. You can always add more in the future once you have some basics seamlessly incorporated into your day-to-day routine.

 From the Boody team to you, we wish everyone in our community a year of health, happiness, and enhanced wellbeing.