5 Best High Impact, Self Care Habits to Do Every Day in 2023! Build Good Health for a Lifetime with Just 5 Habits.
Building these 5, simple yet challenging, self care habits will have the greatest impact on your long term health and wellbeing in 2023.
45% of the population has high blood pressure; don't be one of them. Practice these five self care habits for your best health ever.
1. Sleep/Rest
Sleep shortage is the norm in our current culture, contributing to the ever-increasing epidemics of chronic and acute diseases along with a decline in our collective mental health.
bedroom by Ferenc Keresi from Pixabay.
I love a good Netflix binge while curled up in bed as much as anyone, but now I know I'm going to get brain inflamed like I've been out on an all-night martini binge.
Feeling tipsy without the hangover can be fun, but get on the scale and this little indulgence adds anywhere from 1/2 to one pound with just one late night binge. Limiting computer or small tech, including late night watching binges can help prevent weight gain from altered metabolism and depression of mood stabilizing chemicals like serotonin and endocannabinoids.
We often forget devices do operate on frequencies and these vibrations can be harmful to our health. Especially for young children with rapidly growing and regenerating cells.
The best way to protect yourself from low frequency emissions is to sleep with devices in a separate room, if possible.
Putting away devices at least thirty minutes before bed will help natural bio rhythms adjust to night mode, resulting in the release of melatonin from the pineal gland, as the brain responds to decreasing daylight, real or artificial.
Developing a structured, bedtime routine is often the most helpful way to build good sleep habits. Brushing teeth, washing face, hot bath, a small read, meditation or progressive relaxation are great ways to activate the endocannabinoid, anandamide--the molecule of bliss--and our own natural analgesic and mood stabilizer, like Serotonin.
Additionally, your astro body needs time to download, process, integrate and activate the impressions and actions of the physical body, which only happens while we sleep. Make it a habit to get good sleep and you will reap the benefits in a better mindset, healthier physical body, and greater resilience for a long life.
2. Floss Your Teeth
This simple task has a phenomenal health impact.
dental-Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay.jpg
Flossing prevents the buildup of harmful bacteria which feed on food debris around teeth and gums. This low-tech action has a super high impact on long term health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests up to half of US adults aged 30 and older have some form of periodontal disease.
While brushing is a vital part of good oral hygiene, flossing provides the best ROI, return on investment on the self-care scale.
Low grade, chronic infection from bacterial infections around teeth and gums, continuously activate an inflammatory response throughout the body which could be the critical factor in the development of a slew of conditions from preeclampsia during pregnancy, to clogged arteries, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis.
Commonly known as gum disease; it's the most frequent cause of bleeding gums and bad breath and left untreated it could lead to tooth loss. Periodontal disease has also been linked to several other serious conditions in addition to COVID-19, including diabetes and heart disease.
Anyone taking the pill are at greater risk for periodontal disease, therefore yearly dental check ups are especially important tool for early detection and prevention of serious disease.
Low birth weight and prematurity in babies have also been linked to gum infection, therefore it’s super important to have a dental exam with any symptoms of mouth or tooth pain, tenderness, fever, or malaise.
Periodontal Disease also increases risk for COVID infection. The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP), the leading organization of periodontists, or gum disease experts, in the United States, believe these findings evidence the importance of diligent oral care during COVID-19.
“It is well-established that systemic inflammation is not only linked with periodontal disease, but to several other respiratory diseases as well,” said Dr. James G. Wilson, President of the AAP. “Therefore, maintaining healthy teeth and gums in an effort to avoid developing or worsening periodontal disease is absolutely crucial in the midst of a global pandemic like COVID-19, which is also known to trigger an inflammatory response.”
Every year since I can remember, my New Year’s resolution has been to floss every day. I like to keep it simple to reduce risk of failure; but every year I get closer to my goal of flossing 365 days a year.
It’s hard to fail at this resolution since you get 365 days to start new. Every day is a chance for success because no matter what there is always later and tomorrow. If I fail in the morning, I get a second chance that night.
Two chances each day for 365 days are a lot of opportunity periods to have a small daily win! Even if the success of flossing 365 days eludes me, I'll still be in better health at the end of the year, just for the trying. And so will you.
3. Meditate / Move / Stretch / Breathe Deep / Go Outside / Put Bare Feet on Earth / Hug a Tree / Hot Bathe
By taking time each day to visualize, mentally rehearse, hum, Hu, Om, contemplate, imagine, chant, dance, ground yourself to the Earth and move your body, you are cultivating your internal molecule of bliss and healing while self-regulating our deficient endocannabinoid systems.
people from Pixabay
Since the endocannabinoid system, well actually it’s a biome, is the master regulator of every system in our body, cultivating a healthy endocannabinoid system will help heal all systems.
And since phytocannabinoids, critical nutraceuticals in the form of fatty acid messenger molecules involved with metabolism, heat regulation, pain control, inflammation, and mood regulation, have been federally banned since former President Richard Nixon's, Controlled Substance Act of 1971, most of the population suffers from a deficiency of endocannabinoids.
In addition to cultivating health and wellbeing by increasing endocannabinoid tone, these activities also help to us connect to the experience of the Soul to something greater than the self.
Meditation is critical to connect with the Divine light within each one of us. One must practice the ability to turn off the constant stimulus from the outer world to connect within.
Although many of us practice Soul connection through worship, religion, and prayer, for us to truly evolve as Souls living a human experience, we must learn to receive Cosmic information through mediation, which is turning yourself into a human receiver instead of transmitter.
Coming into Cardiac Coherence is one of the greatest benefits of meditation, according to years of research from the HeartMath Institute. Cardiac coherence helps our hearts beat in an organized rhythm, increasing blood flow to the brain and all bodily systems. Soothing turbulent emotions, decreasing stress and helping us find inner peace and calm is all possible by increasing connection to our hearts and to the heart of the Earth and the Cosmic Universe.
The simplest method for bringing yourself into heart coherence is by simply doing a one minute appreciation through focusing on your heart and then recalling a feeling of calm, ease, or appreciation for someone in your life.
There are so many apps, tools and websites dedicated to meditation, that it’s easier than ever to get started and find support for regular practice. One of my favorite tools to create a high frequency environment while giving myself a timed meditation is to use my favorite sound healing - the Hu.
Hu is the oldest name for God in Sanskrit, therefore when you hum, sing, or play the Hu, it will lift your frequency, help shut out dark voices, feelings or the creeps while creating a calm, clear atmosphere. As a psychic medium, I use the Hu to shift any darkness, scary voices, upsetting impressions or just plain old fear. I also teach young children who are experiencing psychic phenomena to use the Hu to keep them safely wrapped in the arms of the Divine. Here’s my favorite Hu on YouTube, by a sound Shaman, Tisziji Munoz.
Earthing, or the act of grounding into the Earth, is a method for gathering anti-oxidants from the largest source of anti-oxidants, the Earth. That’s right, the Earth offers us the most natural source of free radical scavenging electrons that help our endocannabinoid systems prevent damage from the chronic metabolism of high sugar, high stress blood, filled with toxic emotions and ultra processed foods.
The Earth provided us with the natural charges we all need and got before the advent of high tech shoes and modern environments.
While I am not suggesting these actions will cure all that ails you, but connecting to the Earth will certainly put you in the right place to heal and be well.
4. Use Compassionate Self Talk
Talk to yourself like you would to a dear friend or small child.
monkey-by Andre Mouton from Pixabay
Our parents and family of origin might have said hurtful things to us when we were young, so much so that these thoughts have become automatic programs, but my mantra is "fuck that shite".
Fuck the guilt and shame and fuck anyone or anything that makes you feel "less than". My compassionate self-talk reminds me to relax, let go and dismiss the bull shite by looking in the mirror and saying "Coco I love you, so fuck that shite". In fact, mirror work is actually a great way to start using compassionate self-talk because when we look in the mirror we often say really awful things to ourselves. However, as we look on our reflection with criticism and self-contempt, the simple act of speaking back to those inner voices of shame and guilt, lack self-love or whatever can be extremely liberating and empowering defense to the greatest enemy of our own good....a lack of self-love. Louise Hay popularized mirror work in her seminal new age work, "You Can Heal Yourself". While some of Louise Hay's work is pseudoscience, she got it right with using mirror work to help us heal, as this is the time when we are most likely to casually raise our inner demons. Using compassionate self-talk, which has indeed been scientifically proven to be an effective self-healing tool, while looking in the mirror can literally help us bring to the surface the most unloving beliefs we hold about ourselves to the surface where they can be laid to rest with the truth. We are all children of the Divine Universe and therefore each of us is a beloved child of GoOd.
You can test how self-compassionate you are with Dr. Kristin Neff’s self compassion test.
5. Eliminate Refined Sugar / Ultra Processed Food / Adding Fiber from Whole Foods.
Written in 1975, William Duffy's, groundbreaking work Sugar Blues, was the first to detail the historical rise of the worldwide sugar industry and sugar related illnesses.
by congerdesign from Pixabay
It's a shocking read, laying the historical framework for the development of the entire sugar industry along with the continued enslavement of workers to modern sugar fields.
As far back as 1957, scientists knew refined sugar was a substance depleted of life force, vitamins, and minerals. Consisting of nothing more than pure, refined carbohydrates, the body cannot utilize ingested sugar without leaching the body of precious vitamins and minerals.
The article, Refined Sugar: The Sweetest Poison of All clarifies why sugar was first defined as a poison; “medically any substance applied to the body, ingested or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease”.
Aside from refined sugar, ultra-processed foods, often full of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup, have become the quickest means of cellular destruction in modern American society.
Our greatest concern today is not what is in foods, but what has been done to our foods, as 72% of foods in the grocery store, including Whole Foods, is super processed.
Many foods labeled “whole grain” which naturally consists of 20 - 25% fiber, have had all the fiber stripped from the food, creating foods that are not easily recognized by regular digestive and metabolic processes.
Foods without the fiber, most often coexist with sugar sweetened foods adding an extra dose of bowel dysfunction and strain on the liver. Indeed, according to Dr. Robert Lustig, my favorite pediatric endocrinologist, speculates in his latest book “Metabolical” that fiber in food is probably the most important nutrient for good health because it protects the liver while feeding the gut.
Restricting, eliminating, and reducing the amount of ultra-refined bread, grains and goods including the popular Keto and Paleo brands made without any wheat, rice, oats, and corn will do far more to protect our health than any medication.
Additionally, increasing fresh and lightly cooked organic fruits or vegetables will protect your liver, save on groceries, and help maintain a healthy gut over the long term. Also, make sure your meat is grass-fed to reduce the harm from eating red meat.
Prevent the development of chronic and acute disease every day in 2023 to build a lifetime foundation of good health and daily wellbeing. Just setting the intention and taking small actions everyday, will boost mental health and resilience too.
Here’s to a fiber fueled, sleep filled, flossed year of meditation and self-love in 2023!