Your mental health during pregnancy is just as important as your physical health if not more. I find if I’m not mentally well, it’s hard for me to have the energy and motivation to do the things that are good for me, like eating nutritious foods and engaging in fulfilling exercise.
For me, checking items off my to do list actually release oxycontin, the happiness hormone but sometimes I can get a little bit too carried away and next thing I discover is that I’ve said yes to too many things and I’m feeling more stressed than accomplished.
So it’s important that we check-in with ourselves on a daily basis and one of the most simple ways is, meditation. Meditation isn’t about sitting cross legged and saying ommmm and waiting for enlightenment. For many, it’s an opportunity to go inwards. To seek guidance from our own inner wisdom that often we neglect. Women’s intuition is a powerful tool that sometimes we overlook. When we scheduled 10 minutes day for some quiet time, it’s amazing what can happen. It’s very common to feel “too busy” to meditate but what you’ll discover that meditating actually helps you become more productive, intentional and focused. You actually get time back threefold!
Right now I’m 26 weeks pregnant and admittedly there are moment that I’d like to go and have a 6 week vacation to get away but for me that’s not quite that practical with all the things that’s going on in my life. However incorporating a few minutes to recentre and rejuvenate as part of my daily routine helps me feel happier and supports me to make healthier and better choices.
Here are some soul nourishing tips that you can implement straight away:
Enjoy eating without technology
For many women, we have a negative relationship with our food. Eating while watching a series, scrolling on our mobile phones or working actually robs us of the enjoyment of eating and it encourages mindless eating.
When I use to work on corporate, it was common to see women eating at their desk thinking that multi-tasking was going to save them time but does it really?
I know for me sleep is so important, I’ve actually made it a rule not to watch a series whilst pregnant, getting hungry at midnight and eating out the fridge only to find myself at 4am finishing a series then to be greeted by a toddler at 6am to start his day.
Take every opportunity to eat for quiet reflection or to catch up with your partner, friends and loved ones as a great way to refocus, connect and eat mindfully.
Do one task at a time
In the home when your pregnant, you might have this desire to start nesting and suddenly by the end of the day, you discover that you have created more mess! Although women are great at multi-tasking, it can also make us less efficient because we are devoting ourselves to multiple tasks at once.
Checking items off your to-do list actually releases oxytocin so even if you just have a list that says something like, do the dishes after every meal and complete 1 basket of laundry each day, it can be quite fulfilling.
Tip: Putting a timer on for 10 – 15 minutes and focusing on one area of the house a day.
Put your phone to bed
Not take your phone to bed! These days it’s hard to imagine living without our mobile phones, we use it to get to places, stay connected to the people we love and to research pregnancy and baby stuff! But at the end of a long day, adopting a “no phone in bed” policy can be key in getting a good night’s rest.
Sleep is essential for the energy to help your baby grow, so relaxing and unwinding and creating your own bedtime routine is so imperative to setting your body and mind for bed. The blue light from the phone screen and alluring desire to see what’s happening on social media, flicking through Netflix or checking your email just one more time can make it harder to fall asleep. So try putting your phone to bed charging in a separate room.
Do you have some tips on self care tips that helped you when you were pregnant?
Would you like help in incorporating self care in your life? Curious about how health coaching can help you make your own healthy changes? Let’s talk! Schedule a free maternal wellness and self-care assessment with me today.
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