For many of us taking good care of our health means being registered with a local family doctor, a caring general practitioner as well as having access to quality specialist care if required. We may pay into private health care insurance schemes or be registered through our employment so that we can avail ourselves of speedier treatment should an emergency situation occur.
It's good to observe that many of us are becoming increasingly involved in the level and quality of care we receive from our healthcare professionals. We ask more questions, demand more answers, want to know what we are being prescribed, how long will we need to take it, are there any known side effects, what is the longterm prognosis, do we need this procedure, are there other options? Access to online information has added to the level of interest over the last few years, sometimes contributing valuable knowledge, other times fuelling health anxiety about symptoms and diagnosis.
The good effect is that many of us are looking to take more personal responsibility for our health and wellbeing. We look to support our ongoing health and invest emotionally, mentally and physically in ways to take better care of ourselves and support good health.
- Ways to support good physical health are often readily available in a plethora of magazines and the media. Eating a healthy balanced diet, minimising the consumption of processed food, alcohol, sugar and fat are seen as a common sense decision by many people. Exercise is good for better physical health and is also an excellent way to de-stress, manage weight and can include a fun social element if it involves team games like football and rounders or a brisk walk with family and friends.
- Stress is often regarded as harmful and bad for our health but some stress can be a good for us. It keeps us on our toes, takes us out of our comfort zone and often enables us to achieve more than we originally anticipated in a crisis or pressure situation. Sustained stress impacts negatively on mental and physical health and is recognised as a major factor in high levels of sick leave and absenteeism.
Learning to recognise your own warning signals of being overstressed can provide valuable insight and enable you to introduce effective ways to manage stress more effectively. Your personal warning signs may include loss of concentration, irritability, poor quality of sleep, lack of appetite, headaches. Once these symptoms are recognised as stress alerts you can support better health by taking a break, going for a walk, having some quality food, taking time for hypnotherapy. Find your best ways to support good health, take control and allow your stress levels to subside.
- Work, for many people, is an area of unremitting, sustained stress. Deadlines, excessive volume, urgent demands, the pressure of competition can impact on the quality of other areas of life by devouring your time, energy and good humour. Identify the key areas of pressure, your problem areas and consider ways to effectively manage those concerns. Do you need to delegate, prioritize or schedule your time more efficiently, are you lacking in knowledge or skills where you'd benefit from additional training or would it be helpful to build relationships with other businesses so you can share and support each other, thus offering a better, more comprehensive service to mutual customers and clients.
- An important contributor to good health is feeling balanced, at peace and satisfied, where you successfully accommodate the different and diverse areas of your life. A positive mindset benefits your mental health and raises your spirits, bringing joy and allowing you to maintain an optimistic outlook. This balance may be achieved through a combination of undertaking charitable good works, sharing fun time with family or friends, having personal time to pursue your own hobbies and interests, feeling a sense of pride in the efforts you've made to succeed in your career development and business, doing something special with your personal goals, maintaining successful personal relationships.
Maintaining a positive outlook occurs as you become increasingly aware of your thought patterns and intercept those that are negative or unhelpful. It involves supporting a good, realistic outlook on life, where you deal with things you can change and enlist help in areas that you can't. Hypnotherapy can help to change unhelpful habit patterns, negative thinking and self-doubt, thus enabling a more constructive mindset, behaviour and attitude to become the norm.
