MASSENA, NY – It is time to stop making excuses and to do something only you can do – be good to yourself.
August is National Wellness Month and it is the perfect time to refocus some of your time and energy on you and only you.
Massena Hospital’s Joseph Salamy, PA, is a member of the St. Lawrence Internists team and noted each of us is responsible for investing in ourselves and listening to our bodies. Eating healthy and exercising help our bodies to physically feel better. Meditating, relaxing, and stress relief, further assist us to mentally feel better.
“It is important to remember that both our physical and mental/emotional health are interconnected and directly affect each other, so when one is off balance it directly affects the other,” PA Salamy said. “We all have time for these activities, we just have to make it a priority to schedule it into our lives.”
He suggested starting with small steps by changing things we already do in our routine, such as parking further away to get extra steps in, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, swapping that piece of candy for an apple, or taking a handful of almonds rather than chips. The next step is to start incorporating bigger things into your routine like signing up for an exercise class, doing daily meditation, or making lifestyle changes to your diet.
“Spending time on ourselves and caring for ourselves is the best thing we can do. We only have one body and we need to take care of it because no one else can do it for us. We need to take care of ourselves so our bodies can function to their fullest potential,” PA Salamy continued.
Some people may feel guilty and think they are being selfish when they carve “me-time” out of their schedules. In today’s society it sometimes feels as if there is a competition between friends and family members to say how busy our calendars are and that we have no spare time.
“Taking care of ourselves is not being selfish at all, it is self-care, and enables us to better ourselves to be the best person we can be,” PA Salamy said. “When we feel our best we find we are able to properly care for others. Wellness is important at any age, and the younger we incorporate and think about wellness, the better.”
He pointed out wellness should start with preventative care, and the earlier that care is incorporated into our daily lives, the better ability each person has to avoid further health issues in the future. A proper wellness plan also means having regular physical exams with an established primary care provider. For information on Primary Care services offered throughout St. Lawrence Health, visit https://stlawrencehealthsystem.org/Services/Primary-Care.
