Wellness is all about making a little break in each day, in order to make a conscious effort to take care of yourself - both mind and body. These are frustrating, often anxiety-inducing times that we’re living in, and so, now more than ever, we have to put mental health as our top priority.

The great thing about wellness is that it does not necessitate huge changes to our routine, expensive equipment or long hours of the day (which, let’s face it, would make it a pretty difficult new practice to realistically stick to). Instead, we believe that focusing on wellness is very much the equivalent of putting our best foot forward right now.

These self-care rituals are super personal - they should take the form of whatever works best for you. Take the time to explore all of the different wellness practices that exist (there is a huge variety of different ideas out there), test them out, and see which ones you find to be the most relaxing. In this week’s article, we’ll be detailing a few of the most popular wellness self care ideas around. Then, we’ve got our divine recipe for the ultimate aromatic wellness tea.

We hope that these fun, simple and easy-to-recreate ideas will help you to unwind and break from the stresses of the moment. By taking a bit of extra care of ourselves, we will get through this challenging time.

Below, you’ll find our top 8 wellness tips. They’re all about celebrating the lovely little things in life, and ensuring that you take a little break from the day’s hustle and bustle, to re-centre your mind. These de-stressing little activities make for super-manageable introductions into your daily routine (after all, there’s no point in calling it wellness if you find it stressful!). Have a try at a few of these different options, to find your favourites and learn which mindfulness practices work best for you.

Gentle all-body movements

This light exercise will help boost your wellness in a rather different way to a high energy cardio workout. Moving your body by going on a walk, going through a short yoga routine, or spending 10 minutes practicing some pilates are wonderful ways to release some endorphins. They will help you to feel more upbeat and positive, without leaving you dripping with sweat!

Taking a break from the technology

Although social media can make a great distraction from everything that’s going on right now, you should try your best to not let your screen time creep up too much. Spending all day on our devices can leave us feeling anxious and out of touch with the moment. So, make a conscious effort to put your phone down for a bit of time each day.

We would recommend making little tech-free switches to your daily routine. For example, for at least half an hour each evening, spend a bit of time doing an activity that isn’t watching TV. You could also try to get out of the habit of checking your phone as soon as you wake up in the morning. Or, just doing something small like turning your phone notifications off for a few hours each day can really make a big difference.


Try to eat intuitively

You know that familiar feeling of finishing off one meal, and then immediately thinking about what you fancy for the next? Daydreaming about food constantly over lockdown - we’ve all been there. Hunger and boredom often come hand-in-hand, so it’s hardly surprising that many of us have been having a few extra treats here and there.

In order to try and balance greed with satisfying your hunger, intuitive eating is a great way to cure those obsessive food-oriented thoughts, and leave you feeling far more free about what you’re eating. Intuitive eating involves listening to your body’s hunger cues, and eating the right amounts of food accordingly. So, eating when you’re hungry, and sticking largely to healthy wholefoods, but then listening to your body’s cravings when they do happen, but then stopping eating when you are full.


Drink more water

It’s the most simple piece of self-care advice in the book, but boy does it work well. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day will bring a huge number of benefits to your physical and mental wellbeing. By making a few clever switches here and there, you can easily get your water intake up to a better point. Try things like starting off every day with a glass of water, adding a slice of lemon, lime or cucumber to your water (to make the taste a bit more exciting), and eating fruits and veg that have a high water content (like oranges, watermelons or cucumber).


Be mindful of toxins

Without even realising it, many of the products we buy expose us to toxic materials and harsh chemicals. By making yourself more aware of the existence of these chemicals, and taking steps to erase them from your daily life, you are taking great steps towards taking better care of your body.

The key areas in which to look out for these detrimental substances are in the products that you use for cleaning, cooking and your beauty routine. Where possible, avoid buying products that contain toxic materials or a long list of chemicals, and instead look for brands that offer a non-toxic alternative.


Look inward, and reframe your mind

It’s important to remember that feeling more positive starts from within. Stress is one of the worst culprits for physical tension in the body and poor mental health. So make sure that you shift your mindset away from prolonged stress, in favour of a focus on the more positive things that you have to be thankful for.

Taking the reins over your thought patterns, and replacing negative or stressful thoughts with positive affirmations, self-love, gratitude or even just calmness is a fantastic practice that will go a huge way towards improving your wellness.


Prioritise a good night’s sleep

A bad night’s sleep can have a huge impact on how you’re feeling the next day. While we can’t all guarantee a perfect sleep every single night, it’s certainly worth considering little things that you can do to help yourself to sleep better across the whole. This could involve taking a herbal tea with you to bed, practicing meditation, buying some lavender scented spray for your bedroom, or turning off your phone for a full hour before bed.

You should be aiming to get around 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Achieving a consistently improved sleeping pattern will help you to concentrate more, improve your immune system, keep you more productive, and leave you feeling generally more positive.


Making time for daily self care

Self care should not be a one-off treat, it should be something that you get to enjoy every single day. It doesn’t have to cost you anything, or even take up much of your day.

Self care is entirely personal to you (it’s essentially whatever leaves you feeling happy!). These little daily practices could include:

A bit of drawing or colouring-in
Having a walk around the local park
Lighting a candle
Reading a good book
Cooking a delicious, nutritious dinner
Donning a face mask
Brewing a particularly delicious pot of tea


When it comes to that last point, we can definitely help provide you with some home brew inspiration. For us, few things help us to relax and reconnect with the moment quite like a delicious cup of tea. We think our recipe for Golden Wellness Tea makes the perfect addition to your new self-care routine - it’s brimming with health-boosting ingredients, while also proving to be a particularly fragrant, aromatic and delicious cuppa.

Golden Wellness Tea recipe

Ingredients:

• Water, 950ml
• Fresh ginger, 100g, chopped
• Turmeric, 50g, chopped (or, if you can’t find fresh turmeric, you could switch this out for 10g of powdered turmeric)
• Peppermint tea, 60ml
• Lemon juice, from 1 whole lemon

Method:

1.  In a kettle, boil the water at 93ºC. Then pour the water into a large saucepan on a low heat.
2. Reduce to a low simmer, then add in the ginger and turmeric. Allow the mixture to simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and add in the mint tea. Let the mixture steep for 10-15 minutes.
4. Strain the tea through a sieve lined with cheesecloth (or a piece of muslin) into a large glass jug.
5. Add the lemon juice and stir well.
6. Keep the tea concentrate refrigerated until use. This tea concentrate can be used to make a total of 8 cups of tea - all you need to do is dilute the mixture with hot water, to a 50:50 ratio.

These fresh, highly nutritious ingredients help to protect, defend and support your body in all kinds of different ways. These natural remedies and superfoods make this herbal tea an effortless way to keep your body in tip top condition.

You could also shake up this tea recipe by adding in other flavours, like a dollop of honey, a stick of cinnamon, marshmallow root, or even nettle. Have fun experimenting with the core ideas in this recipe.

With the iKettle on hand, home brewing has never been an easier hobby to get into. Our smart kettle is an intuitive piece of kitchen technology, which allows you to boil hot water whenever you need, from anywhere in your house. All you need is your phone. Or, take your high tech approach to tea breaks one step further by connecting your iKettle to your voice activation devices and, the next time you want the kettle to boil, all you need to do is ask.

We’ve just introduced three new colours to our iKettle range, so now you’ve got the choice of white & chrome, light grey & chrome, and dark grey & chrome - you’re sure to find the perfect match for your kitchen aesthetic.