Here are five small self-care habits that you should implement into your life that are actually backed by research. Welcome back to my series, Backed by Science. Number one, we have writing a to-do list at the end of the day before going to bed. A recent study, it was actually found that people who spend five minutes writing down a to-do list before bed at the end of their day, fell asleep faster than people who just wrote about things they'd already accomplished during that day. Not only is this going to help you fall asleep faster, but it's also going to help you for the next day because half of your tasks are already written down. Number two is reading a book and not doom scrolling on your phone before bed. Now, first, I will say I'm guilty of this. I definitely have been known to doom scroll certain days of the week before going to bed. However, I will also not get tired of ever talking about how important reading is and how we should strive to do that. We are deep, deep in this country in the middle of a literacy crisis, so reading is truly more important now than ever. And there are countless studies that have found that reading not only helps relax your brain because you're essentially shutting off your own brain and getting immersed in a story, but you're also not on a screen. And being on a tablet and iPad, your phone right before going to bed, it actually decreases the melatonin that your body naturally produces. And as we all know, melatonin is what really helps you fall asleep. So you definitely don't want to be doing an activity that's going to decrease melatonin. Number three is something that I personally started doing at the beginning of this year and it really makes a difference and that's going for a short walk after your meal. When I used to work in office, this was a little bit more challenging, but I did with a coworker, we would go on laps around our parking lot or we would like do even if it was like a little 10 minute walk in the building. Now that I work from home, I try to actually do these walks outdoors. I also know that walking pads are really popular and this definitely counts. So after you have your meal, going for a short little walk is definitely beneficial. Studies have found that even two to five minutes of light walking after a meal leads to a more subtle blood sugar rise in your levels. So less of it is going to build up in your blood, which is a super great benefit because over time, frequent blood sugar spikes have actually been linked to a higher risk for type two diabetes and heart disease. Number four is getting outside and being outdoors in nature for at least two hours a week. And I know this may seem super low bar, something really attainable, but as somebody who works from home, I oftentimes don't really go outside during the week at all. A study of almost 20,000 people found that those who spend at least 120 minutes in nature a week were more likely to report good health and wellbeing. And if you are someone that just cannot do two hours, you can definitely spread that out throughout your week and that comes out to about 17 to 20 minutes a day, which I think sounds a little bit more doable. And number five is something super simple, but it is a non-negotiable for me and that is drinking water first thing in the morning, like as soon as you wake up. There's nothing magic about the morning, but while you sleep, you do get a little bit dehydrated, which is we wake up a lot of times feeling really thirsty and parched. And even mild dehydration has been linked to headaches, fatigue, and trouble concentrating. So starting your day with water is just going to give you a boost to have a great baseline to start to your day. As always, hope you found these habits and the science behind them helpful. Curious to know which one you're going to be trying next.
