Ways to Increase Your Health and Well-being After a Car Accident
The mental and physical challenges after a car accident can be overwhelming. Post-traumatic stress can be tough to get over even after the physical injuries have healed. If you are still feeling levels of anxiety and stressed, it would be in your best interest to seek a good counselor that specializes in these types of anxieties after an accident. The physical therapy part may be easier to deal with than the mental at times. If recovering from a physical injury, try to get into a good exercise regimen. You will get stronger and feel better, which ca help you mentally. The health and fitness industry is on the rise recently due to increased awareness of health issues across the globe. It is partly in response to the increasingly sedentary lifestyles we all live and partly due to situations such as personal injury on the job or a bad car accident.
With a busy family and work life, where there are many outside circumstances that could affect your health, it can be difficult to find time to increase your fitness and look after your health properly, but even a little goes a long way. Taking basic steps such as improving your diet and doing more physical activity can mean long term rewards, even if you aren’t going to devote your life to look like a body builder! This is especially important if you have recently experience trauma in an accident. According to an accident attorney at Beauregard Law in Lowell, Massachusetts, “Car accident injuries can have a ripple effect on every aspect of your life.” We all know that our health is the one irreplaceable competent of our lives, therefore, we have put together some ways that you can improve your health easily and in turn, increase your confidence and well-being too.
How to Get More Exercise – Start Small
Getting starting in an exercise program doesn’t mean you have to devote hours a week and set your sights on a marathon or triathlon or anything like that. Even doing a little goes a long way, and many healthcare professionals will advise that spending half an hour to an hour of walking per day is much better than nothing.
You can do this in a few ways, and you will kick yourself when you realize just how easy it can be! Walking is the best way to introduce yourself to physical activity, particularly if you haven’t done any in a good while, or you have existing health issues. This is because it shouldn’t be a great strain for most people to spend a bit of time walking, for instance, going to the grocery store by foot instead of car, taking the stairs instead of lifts, etc.
If you already spend a fair amount of time on foot and would still like to increase your fitness, the next step would be to get a bike or join a gym. I believe that cycling is a cheaper option as most people can get easy access to one – you can borrow one from a friend, family member or use the internet to find a bargain! Biking can also be integrated into your busy lifestyle.
You can commute to work once or twice a week on your bike (I recommend whenever the weather is fine!), and you will find yourself burning calories and increasing your fitness levels – this can be increased or decreased to as many days as you feel comfortable with. The other benefit to cycling over a gym membership is that you can always sell the bike on if you find yourself not cycling as much as you should, you can’t do this with your membership – of you don’t go it is money wasted.
If neither of these would be convenient for your lifestyle, you can always try exercising at home.
Build Your Confidence
Improving your health after a car accident will go a long way to increasing your confidence levels and overall well-being, but is only part of the equation. By making yourself feel better you will be more inclined to keep exercising, therefore continuing to reap the rewards of a healthier lifestyle.
One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to go out and get yourself a new wardrobe! I don’t mean you have to get a complete new wardrobe, just treat yourself to a new outfit or two. If you are eating and exercising right, you’ll find that some of your old clothes will no longer fit as well as they used to and treating yourself is a reward for that hard work.
Another way to achieve the same benefits is to treat yourself to a makeover. You can do this for a special occasion when you might have considered it anyway – you don’t need me to give you an excuse to look good.
Final Thoughts
There are many ways to improve your health and well-being, these are a few great methods to start out. The key thing to remember is to keep it fun. I’d also recommend that you speak to an appropriate health care professional to seek advice before starting out for your peace of mind.