If you’ve been around here for a while you’ll probably be wondering why I, a travel blogger, am writing a post with ‘at home’ in the title. Healthy living is fundamental to the core of this blog and the concept of Roam and Thrive but at home? Well, recent turns of events from COVID-19 outbreaks, total lockdowns of countries and the complete closure and shutdown of the travel industry means we are all stuck at home. Whether we like it or not. Due to this, I’ve decided to take a short pause from writing about wellness and healthy living while travelling and in turn focus on our current situation, one that involves trying to stay positive while the world around us is turning upside down from within our tightly shut and disinfected four walls.
While travel is for now taking a backseat, health shouldn’t. Now more than ever it’s paramount that we stay healthy, keep our immune systems strong and ready to fight disease, viruses, germs and whatever else the world might throw at us now. We have to slow down and look within and ultimately do what we can to stay healthy while locked up at home. However, it’s not all about physical health at the moment either. With so many of us quarantined or self-isolated at home we have to also keep our minds occupied, motivated to face the world every day and carry on doing that we love to do. At the same time, it’s paramount to stay positive during such an uncertain time. There’s a lot to juggle.
While I’m no COVID-19 expert- you should probably make sure to read up on the WHO website to find out exactly how to protect yourself during this time. Here are some of my top tips for boosting the immune system, staying sane, motivated, productive and positive during this unnerving time.
EAT WELL
What you eat, for the most part ultimately defines how healthy and strong your body will be. By filling your body with the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs daily to survive, it won’t just survive it will thrive. While I choose and encourage a plant-based diet this isn’t for everybody and that’s fine, so long as you are eating enough fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, pulses, nuts and seeds and if you do choose meat make sure it’s as natural as possible. These wholesome ingredients are packed full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that strengthen our immune systems and allow for our bodies to fight infection and disease. The stronger your immune system the faster you’ll get over a virus, not to mention the symptoms might be milder too.
Find out Why I Choose a Plant-Based Diet here.
GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Enough rest is paramount to staying healthy. While we sleep our bodies rest, renew and rejuvenate. Insufficient amounts of sleep can actually lower the immune system making you more susceptible to catching viruses and common colds. Experts recommend 7-8 hours a night, so make sure you’re not staying up too late binge-watching Netflix.
EXERCISE
One of the fundamental for healthy living at home is daily movement and exercise. Exercise strengthens your body, increases your immune support and keeps the body from contracting disease. There are so many ways nowadays to move your body from yoga to HIIT circuits and so many of them can also be done at home. Experiment and find one you love, get motivated and go for it.
Get all my no-equipment, home-friendly workouts you can start today HERE.
DO A SOCIAL MEDIA CLEANOUT
At this time I’m finding that I need to be surrounded by more positive news than negative news. One of the things I’ve found really useful recently is doing a little social media cleanout. By this I mean unfollowing and unliking any accounts across all platforms that don’t fill you with positivity, inspire you or motivate you in any way. I’ve found many accounts recently that only talk about the COVID-19 crisis and I’ve unfollowed them as this is something I don’t want to keep hearing about all the time as it’s starting to have a negative impact on my health. Don’t be scared to hit ‘unfollow’, we can’t all please everyone.
GIVE YOURSELF A PURPOSE
To avoid boredom, dwelling too much on the current situation and insanity it’s a good idea to keep yourself busy. If you’re working from home- great, establish a working routine and stick to it. If not I’d suggest finding a purpose or a goal to work towards. Now is the perfect time to finish or start a new project or hobby. Why not use platforms like Coursera or Udemy to take some online courses and cultivate your knowledge on something or learn a new skill? Over the last few weeks, I’ve really enjoyed delving deeper into photography, design and even web design. There has never been a better time.
DO SHOTS
Yah, put the tequila awaaaay! I’m talking immunity shots. Immunity shots are some of the best ways to boost your immune system fast. Turmeric, ginger and lemon make the best combination and these ingredients are also anti-bacterial, anti-viral and full of vitamin C, superb for our bodies right now. You don’t even need a juicer to make one, just a high-speed blender. Simply blend all the ingredients together with a little filtered water and sieve through a mesh strainer before drinking. Add a grind of fresh black pepper which greatly improves the bodies absorption of curcumin, the main component of turmeric.
FACETIME FRIENDS & FAMILY
Social distancing doesn’t mean any communication at all. While you can’t see your friends and family face to face having long meaningful conversations with them over FaceTime, WhatsApp or Skype can reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness, especially if you live alone. Let your friends uplift you, send over positive vibes and there’s no one better to have a good laugh with.
FIND CALM MOMENTS
One of the best ways to encourage healthy living at home is finding moments of calm in your day. Moments of calm and reflection can really help with stress and anxiety that have no doubt been building in all of us with so many changes to the world recently. Daily meditation, deep breathing, journaling for 5 minutes each morning can really help with grounding your thoughts, their clarity and it can also give us some calm and reasoning at this uncertain time. I personally find that deep breathing meditation works like a dream with grounding and relieving anxiety, even if it’s just for 5 minutes a day.
ESTABLISH A ROUTINE
Daily routines help with productivity and making the most of your day. Set yourself a routine that works for you, one that includes time for moving and nourishing your body and also some rest too. Don’t be afraid to be exact with your routine too. Write down times that you will do various tasks and how long they should take. Keeping to a time schedule really helps, me at least, to reduce procrastination and idle scrolling time throughout the day.
CATCH UP ON NETFLIX & DISCOVER NEW MUSIC
Quarantine time really is the best time to catch up on your favourite Netflix shows and while this extra at home time is great for learning, working and studying we need some downtime too. I’m always looking for new Netflix recommendations so don’t forget to leave yours in the comments below.
Just like with Netflix this extra downtime is also a great opportunity to discover some new music, playlists and podcasts too. Get some recommendations from friends, family and other bloggers or just listen to various Spotify playlists to discover new artists. I’ve recently loved listening to Maribou State, Bonobo, The Editors and Rhye, especially when working from home.
Got any other tips for healthy living at home? I’d love to hear them! Please let them in the comments below.
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