With the new year around the corner, we’re all likely thinking about ways that we can improve our health, wellness, and self care routines in 2023. We’ve had a rough go of it the last several years to say the least, and as life slowly turns to a more normal face it’s important to not let go of the self care habits that we developed while stuck at home. It’s still very important to make space for yourself, make time for your routines, and make time for things you enjoy in the new year. Work isn’t everything, in fact, work should be a secondary priority over taking care of your health, wellness, and relationships. There are many steps one can take to improve their overall health and it may look different for each individual. To get started, check out these five tips for adopting new health and wellness routines for the new year. 

Know How To Find Emergency Services 

First and foremost, it’s important to know how to access emergency care facilities in your area and according to your insurance. We all know the stress of searching ‘urgent care philadelphia’ and not knowing which facilities take our insurance. This can lead to added stress on top of your emergency. The good news is that there are many services that make finding urgent care in your area much easier than searching google for nearby medical centers. This way you can get access to what you need much quicker and more reliably than before. 

One of the easiest ways to get overly stressed and feel run down is a lack of exercise in your daily routine. Most of us these days work jobs that can lean on the side of being sedentary, which means we have to make a concerted effort to include exercise in our daily routines. A simple way to start the process of creating a routine around exercise is by creating situations where you have to move your body. Consider taking a walk each morning or taking the stairs instead of the elevator if you work in an office. If you work from home, get up a little earlier and try doing 20 minutes of exercise to get your day started. 

Another way to get your health on track in the coming year is to schedule your annual check up after the new year. At the end of the day, how can we know what we need to improve on if we don’t have an idea of how our health is doing in the first place. Annual check ups are something that many avoid, but it’s important to make sure you know what your baseline health looks like before making changes to your routine. 

Staying hydrated is an essential part of staying healthy in the new year, or any year for that matter. Plastic waste is one of the worst types of waste that we create as humans, if not the worst. But there are some easy things we can do as individuals to decrease our waste vastly. One of those things is relying on a reusable water bottle rather than using wasteful disposable bottles and creating more plastic waste. Recycling is another way to deal with plastic waste that we create, but it is becoming common knowledge that our recycling doesn’t always go where we think it does. 

The sleep we get is a big determinate of how our overall health is panning out. If we aren’t getting restful nights sleep for multiple nights in a row, our body won’t be able to effectively catch up on sleep. As one can imagine, the affect from here is exponential and eventually we’ll find ourselves feeling exhausted. Not getting enough sleep can affect our metabolism, immune system, general mood and so much more. Make sure to go to bed early enough that you can get a full night's sleep before the next day arrives. 

Improving wellness routines in the new year can be a daunting task. It’s always easier to carry on as we always have over making marked changes in our habits. But with small steps and essential knowledge about health facilities in your area, you will find yourself more empowered to make those adjustments. Taking small steps like setting a loose bedtime or doing a small amount of exercise each day will help teach your mind that these are positive habits. Soon, you’ll find that you start to crave the very things you used to avoid. Take small steps at the start of the year to set yourself up for success until 2024!