Self-care is not just manicures, highlights, and shopping sprees. I mean, it is…but self-care can be so much more.
As a society, we tend to associate self-care with purely physical attributes such as our appearance (hair, face, clothes, etc.). While there’s nothing wrong with caring for these attributes, it reinforces the belief that it's our outer selves we need to focus on, not our inner selves.
As an intuitive-eating aligned dietitian, I guide my clients to look at internal attributes such as emotional and mental self-care in improving our sense of well-being overall.
Why is self-care important in PCOS?
Self-care, as described by the National Institute of Mental Health, “means taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health. When it comes to your mental health, self-care can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy.”
In PCOS, women struggle with physical as well as many mental symptoms. PCOS is also associated with higher inflammatory and stress markers. It becomes clear that focusing on self-care can be beneficial in addressing these issues and be seen as a necessary treatment to improve your overall symptoms of PCOS and your quality of life.
What type of self-care?
There are multiple aspects of self-care. Here are four groups that I have highlighted, but there are many other facets of performing self-care.
Physical Health
Emotional Health
Mental / Intellectual Health
Collective Health
Physical
The most commonly referenced form of self-care relates to how we take care of our physical body. We do this by choosing foods that will nourish our body, exercising to keep it functioning, and monitoring our symptoms to provide care when needed. Here are some examples of how you can practice physical self-care (with an IE focus):
Eat nutritious and pleasurable foods
Honour your hunger
Move your body with enjoyable exercise
Prioritize sleep
Treat your body to massage, hair care, beauty care
Wear comfortable clothes that fit your body as it is now
Take your medication or supplements
Monitor your symptoms
Emotional
Emotional health is often connected with mental health. We practice self-care by getting in touch with our emotions and by learning to cope when difficult emotions arise. Ways to practice emotional self-care:
Spend quality time with friends and family
Practice self-compassion
Practice positive affirmation statements
Practice gratitude and appreciation
Set boundaries
Breathing exercises
Therapy
Increase emotional awareness and acceptance through journaling
Mental/Intellectual
Growing and strengthening your mental and intellectual curiosity is a less obvious way you can enrich your quality of life. We are curious beings and are meant to explore the world around us. This enriches our experience in the world and can stimulate and gain new levels of satisfaction. At the same time, these types of activities can positively impact how you experience and manage your stress levels. Ways to practice mental/intellectual self-care:
Read, listen to music
Get into artwork (visual art, crafting, etc.)
Practice an instrument
Practice a hobby
Travel
Learn a new skill or hobby
Practice mindfulness or meditation
Community
Have you ever found that cleaning up or creating order in your physical space improves how you feel internally? Or volunteering time to help someone else increases your own self-esteem. Sometimes the best way to care for our inner self is by investing energy to care for our external environment or community. Ways to practice community self-care:
Spend time in nature
Take care of the environment
Declutter
Make your bed
Decorate your space in a way that makes you happy
Garden
Volunteer in community
Support a local business or organization
All of these examples reach internal self-care. When practiced regularly, these actions can help you improve your feeling of well-being, help you appreciate intrinsic qualities, improve stress management, and improve your self-esteem.
Which of these four aspects of self-care resonated the most with you? I’d love for you to share with me how you practice self-care.
✨ Tip: As a lifelong journal writer (or #bujo writer), I personally love to visually jot down all the actions that fill my self-care bucket. Create your own Self-Care “Happy” List by making a large table with four quadrants. Each quadrant is for a different type of self-care. Jot down different activities that fill your happy bucket. You can refer to this list to help you recenter during moments when you may be experiencing more negative thoughts, emotions, or days
References:
- Caring for your mental health. National Institute of Mental Health. Available: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health#:~:text=Self%2Dcare%20means%20taking%20the,illness%2C%20and%20increase%20your%20energy (Accessed: 2023-06-14).
- Mancini, A. et al. (2021) ‘Oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation in polycystic ovary syndrome: Controversies and New Insights’, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(4), p. 1667. doi:10.3390/ijms22041667.
- May, M. and Fletcher, M., 2012. Eat what you love, love what you eat, with diabetes. Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger Publications.
- Tribole, E., 2020. Intuitive eating. New York: St. Martin's Essentials.