Practicing self-care implies taking care of oneself physically, mentally, and emotionally. The concept of self-care might be different for each individual. In some ways, caring for your mental wellbeing is more complicated than caring for your physical wellbeing, such as eating, drinking, and maintaining personal hygiene. Taking care of our physical health can have a favorable effect on our mental health for some people. A unique method of self-care is essential to ensuring that you maintain a healthy outlook on life.
WHO defines “self-care” as the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote their wellbeing, prevent disease and maintain a healthy lifestyle with or without the assistance of a healthcare professional.
Health promotion, illness prevention and control, self-medication, caregiving for the dependent, and rehabilitation (including palliative care) are all included in this model, which sees individuals as active participants in their health care management. It is not a replacement for the current healthcare system but rather a supplement.
Subscribing to guided self-care and health procedures that can elevate your life ensures that your wellbeing will be in its optimal state.
Read: How to Be an Active Participant in Your Mental Health Care
Self-care is not selfish
Given that self-care is the discipline of looking after one’s physical, emotional, and psychological well being, it should be no surprise that it affects one’s mental health.
You must check-in with yourself regularly. Otherwise, you may be unaware that things are changing or spiraling out of control. Checking in with oneself enables you to assess your healing progress. You may discover that you need to change the stage of your action plan or experiment with different coping mechanisms.
Self-care encompasses the activities individuals engage in on their own to improve physical and emotional health and the methods by which individuals interact with physicians and healthcare institutions to promote physical and emotional health.
Self-care is all about you. And no, this is not about selfishness
The beauty of a self-care routine is that it can be customized to fit the needs of the individual. You may have tried some ideas that didn’t work in the past. You can accomplish this, and you’ll get there. For optimal effect, this must be done both deliberately and regularly. You can improve your entire health and wellbeing through time. It’s possible to see benefits right away, even if you’re just getting started.
Self-care and Public Health
From public health, self-care is essential for both individuals and healthcare institutions. Individuals must make informed healthcare decisions and employ readily available healthcare providers to manage a health condition successfully.
For instance, viewing self-care as supplementary to consultation with reputable healthcare providers elicits awareness on when to take suboxone if an individual will undergo a treatment.
Taking care of oneself may be the only option available to many people who live in low-resource areas and have limited access to medical care. A few people might like this option. While self-care is essential for everyone to maintain a sense of self, it is significant for marginalized or vulnerable people.
Many health problems and diseases can be prevented or alleviated by practicing good self-care. According to the International Self-care Foundation, on average, 70% to 95% of all ailments can be treated without a doctor’s intervention. A pillar 1 (health literacy) and pillar 2 (self-care) self-care competence is knowing when to seek the advice of a healthcare professional (self-awareness).
As a result, self-care should be recognized as a critical public health resource in all communities. Many people underestimate and undervalue the importance of self-care, likening it to the bulk of an iceberg underneath the surface.
The government’s personalization strategy relies heavily on the concept of self-care, which gives citizens a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. Resilience and self-care can be fostered through social prescribing, “a method for any healthcare professional to refer patients for support either to a link worker – to provide them with a face to face conversation during which they can learn about their options and design their individualized care”—or to a broader network of leisure centers and specific programs such as exercise, arts, and gardening.
Currently accepted prominent definitions show broad agreement on the scope and goal of self-care and place a proper emphasis on disease prevention, recognizing that lifestyle modifications are primarily a matter of individual choice. To keep up with the ever-expanding options for risk reduction and disease prevention, future iterations of these standards are likely to contain references to appropriate self-medication. Access to healthcare information and health characteristics may now be tracked via various technologies, which suggests that it may be essential to address health literacy specifically in the future.