When the pressures of life start to pile up, it’s easy to feel like you have no control over the situation. A busy week at work, a calendar full of social and family obligations, not to mention evenings packed with exercising, grocery shopping, meal-prepping, and — if you’re lucky — a little bit of relaxing. It’s easy to feel like you have no say in the life you’re living.
This out-of-control feeling can quickly snowball into stress, anxiety and depression. But the important thing to remember is that, no matter how much it feels like it, you haven’t lost control at all. Check out following the tips below.
- Take your vitamins. Even if your diet is squeaky clean, you still need to make sure you’re getting the proper nutrients and support that can be provided by daily supplements. Choose products that cater to your specific concerns. For example, skin supplements can support your hair, skin and nail health when you know you’re not getting enough omega-3s, collagen or biotin through your food. Taking Multigenics can help support your whole body so you feel your best each day.
- Get better sleep. It’s virtually impossible to overstate the importance of sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the quality and duration of your sleep has an impact on our ability to concentrate, think clearly, process memories and ward off diseases. Without it, we can’t think, move or function at our best. If this is a problem you face, commit to a plan that helps you get better-quality zzz’s. Whether it means installing blackout curtains or using a sound machine, make investments that help you improve and increase rest time.
- Focus on your digestion. Stomach troubles are often brushed off as “something you ate” or a fleeting bug, but pay close attention to your gut issues to ensure that they’re not a lingering problem. Taking probiotics and other gut health supplements can help get your tummy troubles on the right track for the long term. If that doesn’t help, it may be time to see a gastroenterologist or start an elimination diet to see what’s triggering your issues.
- Make your own food more often. When you eat out or consume packaged foods, you’re essentially giving up a big portion of the control you have over what goes into your body. The fact is, regardless of how in-depth the nutrition facts are, you still may not know what’s in your food unless you prepare it yourself. Cooking doesn’t have to mean sweating for hours on end in the kitchen, either. Keep things quick and simple to save time and stay on track.
- Keep your mind sharp. One of the side effects of stress and anxiety is not being able to focus on a task or think clearly throughout the day. If you are experiencing this, consider starting out the day with cognitive support supplements or mental exercises that will help you attack the day with lots of clarity. Not only will this help you stay on your A-game throughout the day, but it will also help you feel more in control when you go to complete certain tasks.
- Set (realistic) rules. Setting rules to help improve your health and wellness is a great way to set boundaries that prevent you from backsliding into your old unhealthy ways. However, the key here is to set rules that you will follow; otherwise, they won’t do what they’re meant to do. Set realistic goals that help you inch, rather than sprint, toward a healthier life. Whether that means keeping your alcohol intake to one or two days per week or only eating out on weekends, easy-to-follow rules will help you feel like you’ve regained control.
- Make a list of health goals. Being overwhelmed by too many tasks or thoughts is one of the biggest contributors to that dreaded out-of-control feeling. The best way to conquer this and get it under control is to write out all of your health goals, concerns and plans so you can visualize exactly what needs to be done and when. Chances are, once you get them out of your head and onto a piece of paper — or the notes app on your phone — they’ll feel a lot more manageable than they once did. Clean up your thoughts with a beefed-up journaling app (we love Notion and Evernote, but there are tons out there) that will help you organize recipes, workout ideas, etc.
- Set personal boundaries. At the end of the day, the choices you make are the only things that will help you reach your personal goals. Be firm about staying on your preset routine and schedule most of the time so you can get into a groove and aren’t tempted by pressure. Just make sure not to get too rigid with your schedule, as that can quickly lead to obsessive behavior, anxiety and stress.
Getting control over your physical and mental wellness is step one to living a healthy lifestyle. If you feel like you have no say in what you eat, when you work out or how much time you spend enjoying things you love, you’ll never be able to put energy toward the things that keep you healthy. The above tips will help you feel like everything is in order so you can live life to the fullest.