The pressure of keeping New Year’s resolutions can make it easier to avoid making any changes in January.
Your resolutions don’t have to be momentous, time-consuming or hard to keep. In the new year, a new you can evolve with a few simple adjustments to your daily routine.
Look after your mind and body with these 3 simple steps to a new year, new you.
1. Start The Day With A Journal Entry
If your day kicks off with a burst of stress as you race to get ready for work and hurry the kids to school, or you end your day by checking social media before bed, try journaling instead.
Jotting down a few thoughts to start or end your day can provide benefits to your mental health.
- manage anxiety
- reduce stress
- cope with depression
There are no rules, either. You can write a gratitude journal, a “good for me” journal, or explore creative writing. There’s even an association of journal writers, with helpful “how-to” guides.
2. Practice Meditation
It might seem intimidating, but meditation doesn’t have to be. Those who practice have been known to say: “If you can worry, you can meditate.”
All you need is a quiet setting, a comfortable place to sit, and 10 minutes to focus your attention and practice deep, even-paced breathing. Try repeating a calming word, thought or phrase, and if your mind wanders, simply bring it back to that phrase. Play some calming background sounds like ocean waves if that helps.
Meditation can provide emotional and physical benefits, like lowering your resting heart rate and blood pressure, helping you sleep better, teaching you to focus on the present, and giving you skills to better manage stress.
3. Incorporate Pelvic Health Habits
Wait, pelvic health? Yep. You heard that correctly. We get a lot of advice to look after our heart and lungs. We’re told to check our breasts every month for changes, to exercise, to quit smoking, and to cut back on fats, sugar and salt.
As women, however, pelvic health is as important as looking after the rest of our bodies. Besides the vital organs in our pelvis—the bladder, bowel, uterus, and vagina—there’s also a structure of muscles and ligaments called the pelvic floor. This vital hammock-like structure spans the bottom of our pelvis and supports those organs, as well as providing vital bodily functions like bladder and bowel control (and release) and enhancing sexual function.
We may not know much about the pelvic floor, but we’ll find out quickly if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, pelvic floor disorders are common, with 1 in 4 women in the United States reporting moderate to severe symptoms of urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, or fecal incontinence.
That’s why it’s worth investing in your pelvic floor—whatever your age, whether you’ve just had a baby or you’ve decided not to have children, and whether you’re just finishing college or you’re in menopause.
Pelvic floor exercises are a proven method to strengthen those vital muscles. Commonly known as “Kegels,” research has shown that pelvic floor exercises help keep pelvic floor muscles “fit,” and can be performed as a preventive measure, or as treatment for women already suffering with conditions like stress urinary incontinence.
However, they must be done properly to be effective. One way to be sure you’re performing them correctly is by using a tool like the INNOVO Urinary Incontinence Kit. Using Multipath Technology, your pelvic floor is engaged and strengthened, allowing you to perform 180 precise Kegels per session without side effects. Think of it as the perfect Kegel exerciser, allowing you to properly train your pelvic floor.
These “smart shorts” have been cleared by the FDA. In a clinical study of women with incontinence, 87% of women were defined as dry after just 12 weeks, and 90% of users would recommend the therapy to others.
The targeted muscle stimulation provided by INNOVO’s clinically proven technology helps activate and strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. If you’re experiencing issues with incontinence, you can use them in the comfort and privacy of your own home. However, they are also effective as a preventive measure, helping women avoid weakened pelvic floor muscles that can lead to problems like incontinence.
New Year, New You
Three easy ways to embark on a new journey this year, and look after your physical and emotional well being.
Get started on the path to pelvic health with INNOVO.