Live Self Care for Life
This week is Self Care Week (16-22 November 2020). We are encouraging you to learn how to self care to protect your physical and mental wellbeing.
Self care is recommended when you have a minor condition that can be treated at home, without medical care (from a doctor or nurse).
Common conditions that you can self care yourself can be:
- Coughs and colds
- Sprain and strains
- Sore throat
- Sinusitis
- Earache
- Constipation
- Headache
If you need to help or guidance to self-care, your pharmacist is there to help. A pharmacist will access symptoms and consider any long-term conditions, and the medicines that you’re taking, before providing a recommendation. They will either:
- Support/advise you in your decision to self-care
- Sell you an ‘over the counter’ medicine
- Or signpost you to the right medical care if you need it.
For details of your nearest local pharmacy and their opening times:
Self-care is also something you can do every day, even when you don’t have minor health problems. Practising self-care everyday has many health benefits, such as improving positive thinking, your immunity, and helps bring down stress, anxiety and depression levels.
Taking time to yourself is important to other people you are around, as well as yourself. The calmer and more relaxed you feel in everyday life, the more-calm other people will be around you, especially people you are around a lot, like family.
Case Study: Learn how Julie self cares
So how do you practise daily self care?
Here are some ideas of self care that you can implement in your daily life:
Physical self care
- Develop a regular sleep routine
- Aim for a healthy diet
- Take your lunch breaks
- Go for a walk at some point during the day
- Use your sick leave when you need to
- Exercise regularly
Psychological self care
- Write in a diary at the end of the day. What things made you happy, how you felt etc
- Try therapy
- Turn off your work emails and work phone at the end of your work hours
- Make time to relax (read a book, have a bath)
- Meditate or do yoga to help clear your head
Emotional self-care
- Talk to your friends about how you’re feeling
- Write three good things that you did/felt every day
- Play a sport
- Arrange a video call with your friends. You could have a games night!
For more information on how to self-care:
Need some more help?
Look at our video to see how we can provide you with the advice and information you need to make the best decisions about your health and social care.
