5 Things You Can Do In 5 Minutes For A Better You, Instantly
Every woman deserves to feel better, and there is undoubtedly a huge benefit to taking steps every day towards a better you, no matter how big or small they are.
But did you know it can take up to eight months to form a new habit?
According to author James Clear, that whole “21-day” thing that commonly gets spread around is actually not rooted in truth.
Eight months?! We know. It’s a lot to commit to.
But that’s cool. Because baby steps are important when it comes to wellness. So if that’s what you need, we’re here for you.
Here are five things you can do in the next 5 minutes that better your health.
Say goodbye to stress and take ten deep breaths.
Sounds simple, but have you ever heard of the fight or flight state of the nervous system?
It’s basically how our bodies signal danger. And it’s a necessary mechanism for survival... Like when we’re in danger obviously.
The problem is, the way we live our lives in high-stress and busy environments, were often in this nervous system state even when we feel totally relaxed. And unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of health consequences that come with.
The good news is, ten deep breaths can be enough to get our bodies out of this stressful state and into the rest and digest state, where it’s easier for us to unwind, and also digest food!
Stop eating while reading emails. How to de-stress for better digestion.
We know the Betterbare emails are super inspirational and totally life-changing (duh). Subscribe here if you aren’t already. But if you’re in the habit of scrolling through social media, reading emails or even worse, working while you’re eating, you could actually be harming your body’s ability to digest food.
Hint: it has something to do with the nervous system states mentioned in the first tip.
Performing such activities can often place us in that fight or flight state, which doesn’t set our bodies up for great digestion.
Think about it.
If you were in danger, let’s say you’re being chased by a lion. Your bodies’ natural intelligence moves energy away from non-essential activities like digestion, because you need all the energy you have to be able to run away from the lion. Make sense?
Of course, emails are less scary than lions, or sometimes they are equally as scary. The point is when we’re in that fight or flight mode, our bodies don’t actually know the difference.
Straighten up. How body language can change our mood.
We know that when we feel down or overwhelmed, our posture reflects it - we hunch over, our heads hang and our shoulders are up by our ears.
Turns out our body language and stature can actually change how we think and feel. For realz.
A study out of Harvard University revealed that “posing in displays of power caused advantaged and adaptive psychological, physiological, and behavioral changes”. So basically stand like superwoman, and achieve like superwoman.
Ok so maybe we don’t need to solve crimes and fight off ninja villains, is that even what Superwoman does? But we do need to get promotions, be productive, give groundbreaking presentations, pick the kids up from netball and cook a five-star healthy dinner.
Let’s be real. We have a lot to achieve every day, and we can’t do it properly if we’re feeling down, unmotivated or just bleh.
So right now wherever you are. Put your shoulders back and sit up straight!
Laugh to instantly feel happy.
For a long time, laughter and humour have been suspected to have significant behavioural and physiological changes. So much so that this whole phenomenon has given rise to laughter clubs, laughter yoga, and even laughter workshops. It’s actually a thing.
Surely that can’t make a difference? Well, it works similarly to posture and body language as we mentioned above. And it’s kind of that chicken and egg scenario. When you feel relaxed, happy and entertained, laughter is a natural reaction.
But you actually have the power to reverse engineer this process.
So when you don’t feel good, force a laugh, even though it feels as stupid as it sounds. Laughter affects the activity of dopamine and serotonin, which are our “feel good” hormones. So next time your boss finds you laughing at memes on your phone instead of working, you can kindly assure them it’s a necessity for your mental health.
Eat something sweet
Ok, we’re not about emotional eating. But did you know when you eat something sweet, dopamine is released into the areas of the brain that signal reward - aka ya feel good!
In fact, this is one of the mechanisms by which you get addicted to sugar, which is obviously a problem. You also get the same dopamine release from socialising and sexual activity. And since we can’t really advise you to have an orgasm in the next 5 minutes, we went with food instead.
Nutrition is important, so we wouldn’t advise you to go and eat a bunch of sugar-filled junk because you’d end up in a worse place than when you began.
What you can do is indulge in some naturally sweet fresh fruit (the most underrated dessert of all time) or something with natural sweetness like Manuka honey which houses a whole heap of health benefits itself! Just be sure not to go overboard as a little goes a long way.
Need to up your treat stash? Our supplemented gummies combine the best of both worlds with powerful food sourced ingredients and without the cane sugar, so you can have a tasty treat your mind and body will love.
