Nutritionist, entrepreneur and author Claire Turnbull shares her tips for staying healthy, decreasing stress and improving your sleep!
1. Try to stick to some kind of routine
- If you are still having to work from home, aim to get up at the same time and go to sleep at the same time, it is REALLY helpful to keep your body clock in order and it will help you sleep better
- Find time to be active, if possible at the same time every day – it makes it more likely to happen, I am aiming to do a workout with my two little boys around 9.30am (I am working 5am to 9am then tag teaming in the day and then working in the evenings and catching up on work by working all weekend)
- Good sleep will keep you well. Not only does quality sleep help you feel better and improve your mood, it is important for a healthy immune system too
- Make sure your room is dark and cool. If you are struggling to sleep because you have a lot on your mind try one of the apps like CALM to help you unwind or write things down so they aren’t going round in your head
2. Avoid eating/drinking to ‘fill time’, as a distraction or if you are feeling stressed
- Even being mindful that this might happen is a good first step to stop it from happening!
- Try and work out of the kitchen if at all possible – it makes it too easy to pick at food
- If you are bored/stressed – ask am I hungry? What else can you do instead? Call someone?
- Snacking mindlessly is likely to become an issue for adults and kids, so try and keep to some kind of routine and only eat when you are hungry
- Keep the biscuits out of reach, when they run out, maybe don’t buy more?
- Alcohol, it is an easy coping strategy for stress but it is a depressant so keep it to the odd drink and try to keep Monday to Thursday alcohol free
3. Get outside EVERYDAY
- Aim for a minimum of 20 mins outside where your eyes of exposed to light, this helps regulate the hormones that control your mood and sleep and tell your body not to go into hibernation and also, help stop you getting down and feeling blue…. VERY important at a time like this!
- You also need to expose your skin to natural light to help your body make Vitamin D which is essential for a healthy immune system.
