Self-care Types: Physical & Mental Self-care Tips For Sound Mental Health

May 2024 · 6 minute read

With the development of the personal growth industry in recent years, self-care is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot.

When you search the internet for self-care tips, a lot of content about what is self-care and how to practice it comes up, including paid courses on how to practice it.

Regrettably, some of these contents are adding to the misconception about the self-care as a concept.

Here, we take a look at what it is, how to practice it, and what it isn’t. 

What is Self-care?

To understand self-care better, we need to understand it in a fuller context.

Brief History

The concept of self-care began from the concept of primary care done by mentally ill individuals or elderly patients themselves under the supervision of health professionals.

Self-care in the physical sense then encompassed the management and prevention of chronic illness through the modification of existing physical behaviors.

Now, there are generally six types of self-care. Out of them, this article will discuss physical self-care and mental self-care for now.  

How to Practice Physical Self-care? 

Self-care can be practiced by anyone and has three dimensions to it: maintenance, monitoring, and management. These dimensions are explained below. 

 Self-care in the physical sense, as we can see, is to maintain or manage a healthy lifestyle. However, mental health practitioners have also been advocating the importance of self-care on mental health. 

How to Practice Self-Care for Mental health? 

Although there are many resources online on how to practice mental self-care, there is no single or right way to practice it.

Any suggestions that are given by people on mental self-care may or may not work on you. This is why we need to understand the basics of mental self-care. 

Here, we will analyze how self-care in mental health borrows from the same principle of medical self-care. Keep these three points in mind when you’re making your mental self-care routine. 

In Conclusion: 

 Self-care is all about how true you are to yourself.  It is not about the goals of the present. It prepares us for the future. It is about self-reflection and acceptance of the flaws that you currently have.

It is merely a tool that you use to better yourself, and you should, by no means, be stressed when implementing any of its processes. 

Self-care is not: 

Practicing self-care the wrong way can do more harm than good. Try to avoid the points listed below while practicing a good self-care plan.

A planned self-care strategy is not:

ncG1vNJzZmign6G5usPOqJummaOge6S7zGinqKhdmMKtwNSrnGirlaGzbq%2FAq5xmrKmlsrR5z6GwrKGTlrluucSnq5qkXaiyrbKMnJirnV2ptrG%2FjKacp6yRoXqpscClq6FmmKm6rQ%3D%3D