Dedicating time to focus on your health and wellness is important, but it can also be challenging to set time aside to keep a healthy mind and body. Our top wellness tip? Start small and stay consistent.
But we know you鈥檒l need more as you continue to strive to ensure you鈥檙e always at your best 鈥� both on and off duty. Below, we鈥檝e rounded up 24 wellness tips for you to concentrate on this year.
FAMILY AND HOME
1. Exercise with your family. You spend long shifts away from your family. Instead of going to the gym to workout, go home and exercise with your family. Get creative in the activities you do together 鈥� like completing a yoga challenge or even playing a dancing video game.
2. Spend time in nature. On your next day off, you鈥檝e been wanting to tackle with a friend, neighbor, spouse, family member or dog. Being outside not only boosts your mood and mental health, but it also reduces stress, anxiety and depression.
3. . Regular practice can help improve symptoms of stress-related conditions, lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease, and can improve sleep quality. Bonus points if you include a spouse or significant other in your meditation practice.
4. Start journaling. This could be as simple as writing down three things you鈥檙e grateful for each day. Be specific and write them down at night. Or you could even journal in the morning to start the day off right.
5. Connect with your spouse, children or family members. Maybe this looks like a regularly scheduled date night where you don鈥檛 talk about work or the kids. Or perhaps grilling or cooking your favorite meal for your loved ones helps ease the stress from the day. After all, there鈥檚 nothing like a summer BBQ with good friends and family.
COMMUNICATION
6. Talk about your day, your stresses and your feelings. Don鈥檛 bottle them up. Talking things out 鈥� whether that鈥檚 with a mental health professional, spouse, family member, friend or colleague 鈥� helps your body and mind release tension. This isn鈥檛 a sign of weakness. Rather, it鈥檚 a sign of strength to take charge of your well-being.
7. Listen to a friend. If you open up, it could encourage others to do the same. You may have similar problems and can help each other come up with ideas on how to tackle certain difficulties. This makes others feel more supported and less alone.
8. Check in on your strong friends. We all have that one person in our life who seems to have it all together and is ready at a moment鈥檚 notice to lend a listening ear. But is their emotional wellness being forgotten or overlooked? Ask your strongest friends, family members or colleagues how they鈥檙e doing and really listen to their answer. Don鈥檛 forget to check in on the people who support you. They likely need you just as much as you need them.
9. Ditch the texts and make a phone call. It鈥檚 easier to text someone you鈥檙e doing great than call them and let them hear your tone that indicates you鈥檙e not OK. Maybe after shift, you go home to an empty house. It鈥檚 quiet. You have a lot of time on your hands to think, analyze and pick apart your day. Pick up the phone and talk to someone. You don鈥檛 have to talk for hours. You don鈥檛 even have to talk about work. Touching base can help you feel more connected to others outside of the rig.
10. Create and maintain healthy boundaries. Do you have a difficult time saying 鈥渘o鈥� to things because you don鈥檛 want to let people down? We get it. But it鈥檚 vital for you to understand when too much is just simply too much. Setting boundaries and communicating this with others will save you added stress and allow you to spend your time the way you want to (especially off duty). It鈥檚 OK to say no 鈥� with no guilt attached.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
11. Reconnect with family. You probably find yourself missing a lot of important events like holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. And while some of those things are unavoidable with your schedule, pick one day each month to reconnect with your family or friends. Did you miss family movie night last Friday? Look at your schedule, pick out another movie night and make sure the next one happens with you there.
12. Pursue a hobby outside of EMS to give your mind and body a much-deserved breather. Some examples: hunting, fishing, bird watching, painting, knitting, singing, playing instruments or dancing. The options are endless.
13. . Reading for just six minutes a day can improve your sleep quality and reduce stress. Reading can even relax your body enough to lower your heart rate and ease muscle tension. Mental health professionals even use books 鈥� recognized as bibliotherapy 鈥� to help support someone with mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression or complicated grief.
14. Dance like nobody is watching. When you dance, you release endorphins into your body that reduce your stress and improve your mood. It鈥檚 also a great social activity and helps with emotional expression.
15. Learn a new language. This not only will help you communicate better with people in your community as a police officer, but it will literally make your brain stronger. When you learn a new language, you鈥檙e increasing the white matter of your brain. In turn, people who speak more than one language have better cognitive functions, leading to a greater ability to concentrate, multitask, manage conflict and recall events.
SELF-CARE
16. Plan and book a vacation. We know you鈥檙e busy, but we also know you probably have a lot of hoarded vacation time. Use it, especially if you鈥檙e feeling burned out. Traveling has been linked to stress reduction and you鈥檙e likely to experience a mood lift from the break in shift work.
17. Schedule a massage. A massage can help ease tension in your muscles, improve circulation in your body, reduce pain and even improve your sleep.
18. Try acupuncture. This is especially beneficial for EMTs and paramedics as many deal with chronic stress. Acupuncture helps improve your mood, emotional regulation, blood pressure and heart rate.
19. Unplug from social media. Stop the doomscrolling 鈥� all it does is take a negative toll on your mind and emotions. In turn, this could lead to loss of sleep, appetite or motivation. You don鈥檛 need to disconnect completely but consider turning on the 鈥渄owntime鈥� setting on your smartphone. With 鈥渄owntime鈥� turned on, only the apps you鈥檝e selected and phone calls will be available. They will turn back on according to the scheduled time you鈥檝e chosen in your phone鈥檚 settings.
20. Take care of your body by . The food you consume directly affects your mood and ability to focus. Stick to a diet of nutrient-rich foods instead of processed foods.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
21. Start a workout routine. You don鈥檛 have to work out 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Focus on . Try doing two 15-minute workouts or three 10-minute workouts. You don鈥檛 need to do them consecutively; you can break them up throughout your day.
22. Get involved in Jiu-Jitsu. There鈥檚 an obvious physical health element of , but there鈥檚 also a mental wellness aspect of this type of exercise. Don鈥檛 be surprised if you notice your mind becomes clearer and your stress levels lessen while training on the mat.
23. Try yoga. EMS providers are prone to tight hip and lower back muscles. Aside from the flexibility benefits, yoga can also increase your ability to focus and problem solve, as well as aid in your situational awareness while on duty. Here are to change your mind about yoga and take it seriously.
24. Focus on functional fitness training. This involves exercises that simulate real-life tasks and scenarios you might face on duty, such as lifting, climbing into the ambulance and maneuvering in tight spaces. An example could be performing a series of bodyweight exercises (like push-ups or squats) and then executing a simulated patient lifting maneuver. This type of training helps improve the physical abilities needed for your duties, enhances agility and reduces the risk of injury.
This article was originally posted March 30, 2023. It has been updated.
