Time to look after ourselves

Today (Thursday, 24 July) is International Self-Care Day, a day dedicated to promoting self-care and the importance of taking simple, everyday steps to maintain and improve your health and wellbeing. 

Self-care isn’t just about sticking a plaster over a graze or resting up to recover from a strain - It’s everything from eating and drinking the right things, staying active, taking action to support your mental health, using health services in a timely and appropriate way and taking medication as and when directed by a healthcare professional. 

Self-care also means attending regular health screenings.  as screening is aimed at groups of people who are more prone to developing certain conditions, so having a test can help to spot problems early and enable them to be successfully treated. 

Our health needs are as unique as we all are, so what works for one person may not always work for someone else - so it’s about finding the self-care methods that work for you. 

Self-Care Day is a reminder to everyone to take greater control of their own health. So, whether you’re going out for a daily walk, monitoring your blood pressure or doing some mindful breathing exercises, it’s all part of self-care.