Physical well-being is about maintaining a healthy body so that functions optimally now and in the future. What a "healthy body" is, is different for everyone. Our physical health is a product of nature (our genetics) and nurture (our behaviors). We can do a lot to nurture our physical well-being, no matter our genetics. Physical well-being is achieved and maintained through exercise, eating well, getting adequate sleep, noticing the signs and symptoms of illness, and getting help when needed.
Particularly in this time of COVID-19, paying attention to physical health is more important than ever. Getting to know your body, to understand what is different from your norm (Is this cough unusual, or do I always cough in the morning?), is really important, and knowing your body will help you recognize when something shifts physically, whether for the better or the worse.
Some strategies to begin developing physical well-being include:
- Get to know your own body through your senses: sight, sound, smell, and touch.
- Learn about making informed, autonomous choices about your body and your sexuality.
- Keep a journal of what exercises, foods and drinks, sleep/wake times, etc. feel best to you - experiment with yourself.
- Develop good habits around the following:
- Moving every day, with focus on strength, aerobic capacity, and flexibility
- Developing bedtime and morning rituals, at the same times weekdays and weekends
- Choosing healthy foods
- Limiting screen time
- Learn how to feel more comfortable with your physical appearance.
- Practice becoming more competent at physical activities, so that you can enjoy them.
- If you smoke (vape, cigarettes, or marijuana), examine that behavior carefully by getting mindful about it, and get help in quitting if needed.
- Make responsible and autonomous choices about your alcohol use.
- Develop and cultivate active, not just sedentary, leisure activities.
- Know where to get help and medical care for illness, injury, and preventative care.
On-Campus Resources for Physical Well-Being
- Health Services should be your number one stop on campus for illness of any kind.
- Check out all the fitness offerings (classes and gyms) and one-on-one coaching sessions available here (use your Lasell credentials to log in).
- Revisit AlcoholEDU [link coming soon], which you took before you first arrived on campus.
- Make walking campus more fun: here's a campus circuit map [link coming soon].
- Information specific to COVID-19 can be found here.
Additional Physical Well-Being Resources
Some additional resources we like to develop physical well-being include:
The world-renowned YMCA has posted a number of ways to stream free fitness and yoga classes into your home! Get high-quality, family-friendly workouts anytime, anywhere you have internet access. Make it extra competitive by signing up for their virtual fitness challenge.
A workout app for people at varying levels of fitness, now offering its premium version for free for the rest of the year.
A workout app currently offering its bodyweight-based workouts for free.
A wonderful, local yoga school and studio that has transformed into an entirely virtual studio offering 30+ livestreamed classes daily, across all styles of yoga, for all experience levels of practice. Down Under has a library of free pre-recorded classes, and offers a free live community class every Thursday at 3:00pm. Down Under's hope is that this online space will be one of comfort and inspiration as you move through the challenges, and unexpected discoveries, of physical distancing.
A national yoga studio chain that has opted to share their classes with everyone by posting free yoga and sculpt classes multiple times a day on their YouTube channel. Friendly warning that these classes will challenge you!
A yoga emporium that has posted a number of free yoga videos for all ages and abilities.