How to Start Putting Your Own Health First As A Parent

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Prioritise Sleep

Everything is much harder when you’re sleep deprived and saying “get more sleep” isn’t helpful to anyone. But prioritising your sleep is a good place to start.

Adults need seven to nine hours sleep a night so you need to make sure you’re blocking out time to get as close to that as possible. 

In the first instance, you might find it easier to go to bed half an hour earlier and build up from here. It might be that perfecting your sleeping environment works for you or reducing caffeine or alcohol intakes helps you sleep better.

Because as a parent, broken sleep is standard especially in the early years and not everyone is able to get a full night’s sleep. But by prioritising it where you can, you can reduce the side effects of poor or lower sleep levels. And if that looks like taking a nap during the day, take it, you’ll feel much better.

Eat for Health

This isn’t about dieting, it’s about giving your body the nutrients it needs each day. Picking at what’s left over on the kids’ plates isn’t going to sustain you, nor will you get all the nutrients you need, regardless of how well your kids eat.

You need to make sure each day has balance. Pizza on a Friday night? Great, but at some point in the day, grab some fruit or salad, so you’ve gotten some goodness in.

Make it a priority to have different colours on your plate, and when you’re snacking, try adding one piece of fruit in or a handful of nuts to help you balance energy and hunger levels.

The changes don’t need to be drastic, you don’t even need to cut out all of your treats, but you do need to make sure you’re getting nutrients in your daily life to give your body what it needs.

Drink More Water

The thing here is that it doesn’t always matter how you get water in you, just that you do.

Drinking plain water is ideal, obviously, and everyone knows that. But if adding sugar-free squash to your water helps you drink more, then go for it. If adding fruit is the key, chuck it in. Even the water in tea, coffee and soft drinks counts and don’t forget food too. Plenty of foods have high water content, so that makes a difference as well.

It’s not just about chugging glass after glass of water either. It’s regularly hydrating throughout the day, so you’re not suddenly feeling dehydrated, and you inhale a litre of water at once.

Consider Private Healthcare

Parents are busy. There’s no denying that, and when you’re struggling with health, the last thing you want is for time to be lingering around impacting your life and ability to look after your family.

This is where private health insurance comes into the picture. The NHS is an amazing resource; however, at times and for certain conditions and illnesses, the wait times can be lengthy. And if you’d rather not be at the back of a waiting list or you want faster access to a diagnosis and treatment, then covering yourself and your family with a private cover could help you get what you need when you need it without waiting too long. Companies like My Health Protected allow you to compare plans so you can find cover to fit your needs and those of your family, too.

Book the Check Ups

One of the best ways to stay on top of yourself is to go for the annual screenings you need to or the regular checkups. This will vary person to person, but it’s your bi-annual dental check-ups, your annual eye appointments, having your smear test done and going to the GP when you need to for health conditions, for your regular checks all matter.

These are typically the appointments that get pushed back, and they lose priority to other things. But committing to booking and attending them can give you a better insight into your health status and help you catch any potential problems before they get worse.