Yes, spring cleans are a cliche, but they’re also pretty damn satisfying. Clearing out with the old makes way for the new, and that applies to every area of your life—not just your stash of 7-year old knitted jumpers that you can’t bare to part with. Spring offers the perfect opportunity to take stock of where you’re at in your health and wellness journey. Checking in with yourself and answering questions about your health honestly—and we mean REALLY honestly—will help you work out what in your approach needs to be addressed.
Is your diet serving you?
We spoke to Jess Blair, naturopath and nutritionist at Wellness By Blair to get her take on spring cleaning your health. She says that spring is the best time of year to start fresh, and the easiest place to begin is by checking in with your diet.
Starting with your pantry and fridge, remove and ditch anything that’s not serving your new goals. Did you finally admit to yourself that dairy makes you feel like crap? Or own up to the fact that cooking with fresh, seasonal vegetables is a non-negotiable part of your wellness routine? We might be preaching to the choir here, but being HONEST about how your diet makes you feel is a crucial step in the quest for optimal health; regardless of convenience or sociability.
Do you move your body often?
Ok ok we won’t go into too much detail here—we KNOW that you know. If you’re feeling sluggish, lethargic and unable to focus; your exercise levels need to be addressed. Equally—if you’re exhausted all of the time you might be over doing it. Either way, hitting the workout sweet spot is fundamental to your health journey.
Do you sleep well or are you stressed?
No but really, how’s your sleep? Are you waking up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day, or crawling out of bed after snoozing your alarm three times, unable to engage in human contact until you’ve downed a bucket of caffeine?
Being truthful about how you feel on the amount of sleep you get is a fundamental step towards positive change—and remember; just because you’re used to getting five hours sleep per night and vaguely getting through the day, this doesn’t make it a good choice for your long-term health.
Often going hand in hand with the above, your stress levels can impact other areas of your life; like sleep, diet choices and (spoiler), your menstrual cycle. Over time, if your body is in constant fight-or-flight mode, this can lead to mental health problems, digestive issues, heart disease, high blood pressure as well as chronic skin conditions like acne and eczema.
Is your menstrual cycle regular?
As women are becoming more and more empowered to talk about their periods, we’re learning how they’re not just a monthly inconvenience; but actually a key indicator of health for women.
According to Dr. Lawrence M. Nelson, the presence of normal regular menstrual cycles provides evidence that the hypothalamus and the pituitary are providing proper coordinated stimulation to support normal ovarian function, and the ovary is responding to this stimulation appropriately.
Many young women do not appreciate that regular menstruation is a sign that the ovary is functioning normally in its endocrine role, and that absence of menstruation could be a sign of an endocrine deficiency—which in turn can have a knock-on effect on other areas of your health.
According to Jess, the key thing that she considers when assessing her client’s health is that balance is key. We need balance in our mind, body and soul to be of good health—ultimately, the perfect diet and exercise routine doesn’t mean anything if you’re completely stressed out and barely sleeping. Happy spring, ladies!
Keep checking back in to www.amodrn.com for more tips and advice on how to overhaul your life to feel your best this spring!
