Here are two pieces of advice I have for you if you want to be happy and healthy. Drink water and learn how to breathe. It’s that simple. Well, it should be simple but it’s not. I have to remind myself to do both constantly. But when I do it’s shocking how good I feel. By just drinking more water and learning how to breathe to relieve anxiety, effectively.
Let’s start with drinking water. Hydrating. Not easy. It’s not that I forget because I have actually found a way to drink more: Every time I want a sip of coffee or a sip of a soft drink, I tell myself to drink water instead. So basically all I drink, on those days, is water and a cup of coffee. One cup of coffee. I have three kids. I should be allowed three cups of coffee. But it makes me anxious and I don’t like that. And I have caught myself sipping on a cold coffee all through the morning without having a single glass of water. Apart from the one I drink when I wake up. I always drink water just after I wake up.
Drinking water isn’t easy for me for another reason. Having to go to the loo every half an hour is just NOT doable with two little kids in the house. And you can imagine what it’s like at the supermarket or on the school run. And I’ve given birth to those two naturally. Having babies vaginally, drinking loads of water and leaving the house is a very bad idea.
I try to make up for it once we’re home in the late afternoon and I always have three to four cups of ginger in the evening. Overall it seems that I am caught in a phase of focusing on myself in the evenings. I have been managing my time better which is something that I find impossible to do with the kids in the mornings. So I’ve stopped forcing myself to work in the morning or be productive in any way and put all my effort and focus on a couple of hours in the evening. I’m actually far behind on Netflix!
So the breathing part. I am happy to report that I am back to doing yoga. This time from home with the help of an app. I do 20 to 25 minute sessions, once the kids are in bed, at least three times a week. My aim is four and then gradually I am hoping to get into the habit of practicing yoga everyday. It does wonders for the pain in my back and neck from lugging kids around all day. It has also taught me the importance of breathing. I always feel so much better during and after deep breathing exercises.
One specific breathing technique I have learnt also always helps me fall asleep. The 4-7-8 breathing technique is amazing for anxiety too which I know I suffer from like most of us living fast-paced lives. In a nutshell you:
inhale through your nose for four counts, hold for seven and exhale for eight through your mouth.
It’s taking effort to be consistent with these two simple changes, I’m not going to lie. But I genuinely feel so much better mentally and physically after doing either or both so that’s definitely a boost to keep it going even on the maddest of days. Actually on those days if all I do is drink two litres of water then I consider it a success. Baby steps are good.
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Feature image by Unsplash
