Between shopping for school supplies, packing lunches and managing new schedules, it’s easy to feel like your own personal wellness simply has to take a backseat during back-to-school season. But prioritizing your health is always vital, even if you only have a few minutes to yourself each day. In these cases, it’s important to emphasize small actions that you can do consistently.
“Habits form when we repeat rewarded actions in the same contexts,” says Wendy Wood, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist who is a professor at the University of Southern California and the author of Good Habits, Bad Habits. “So it’s important to find times in your schedule when you can regularly repeat an action.” The reward, she explains, is the sense of fulfillment or enjoyment you get from the activity. “When you enjoy something, your brain releases dopamine, which helps to build habit associations in memory.”
So to help make your transition into this new school year a positive one, we’ve gathered a week’s worth of strategies—each taking 10 minutes or less—designed to optimize your physical, emotional and mental health. Start now and self-care will be second nature long before Thanksgiving break.
Monday: Just breathe.
After drop-off, find a quiet place for a mini mindfulness meditation session. The benefits go well beyond stress relief, including potentially lowering blood pressure, easing anxiety and depression symptoms, alleviating pain and slowing cognitive decline. To do this, you can either download a guided meditation app or just set a self-timer and go it alone. Sit in a comfortable position and focus on your breathing. Notice as the air enters and exits your body. Acknowledge without judgment any thoughts and feelings that arise, and allow them to drift away.
Tuesday: Check in with yourself.
When you’re making healthy changes in your life, it’s nice to be able to visualize your progress with real numbers and data. Take a moment to check in with your physical health using a scale from WW Scales by Conair. Then either pat yourself on the back for the progress you’ve made already, or remind yourself that progress isn’t linear and tomorrow is another day.
The WW Scales by Conair Digital Glass Scale has a large, easy-to-read LCD display for intuitive use, so you can quickly check in with yourself and hop off — no tutorial needed.
The WW Scales by Conair Color Display Body Analysis Scale meanwhile, has a high-visibility 4.6” color LED display with a 10-user memory and at-a-glance trend indicators so you can easily read your weight along with numerous additional body-composition metrics, including muscle mass, bone mass and body water.
If you need to keep tabs on your ticker, the WW Scales by Conair Bluetooth Heart Rate Scale can calculate your resting heart rate, too. This data automatically syncs with the WW Scales by Conair app through Bluetooth so you can chart your health patterns.
Wednesday: Make a connection.
Social connection is critical to our emotional and physical well-being: People who feel more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression, a reduced risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease and stroke and less age-related cognitive decline. Make hump day your day to chat with a former colleague or new neighbor, or call a friend you haven’t seen in a while. In a 2022 study, “just because” check-ins (a brief phone call, text or email) had surprisingly profound effects for both recipient and sender.
Thursday: Teach yourself new tricks.
Learning skills as an adult helps keep your brain sharp. Brainstorm activities you’ve always dreamed of trying: Have you always wanted to play the guitar? Want to brush up on your high school Spanish or excel at chess? Then spend 10 minutes a day practicing the skill. Slowly but surely, your ability will grow with consistent practice. And if your first selection doesn’t stick as a new passion, simply move onto the next.
Friday: Focus on the good.
Expressing gratitude helps lift your mood by shifting the focus away from stress and negativity. In a journal, write down five things you’re grateful for, whether they’re big (say, your children or a personal relationship) or small (that morning latte!). Then elaborate on at least one item on your list, explaining why it’s important to you.
Saturday: Bust a move.
Exercise has a bevy of health benefits, from elevating your mood to lowering the risk of chronic disease. But if a 30-minute sweat session isn’t happening today, you can get similar results by breaking your workout into small increments. Spend 10 minutes dancing around the room to music you love, do a series of body-weight exercises (like push-ups, lunges and squats) or do a quick jog to get your heart pumping.
Sunday: Meal-prep for the week ahead.
Do a little advance work so healthy food options are easily accessible throughout the week. Make a batch of overnight oats, slice and freeze fruit for smoothies or hard-boil some eggs. Come Monday, you’ll be less tempted to make poor food choices—and have more time to set even more healthy habits in motion.
