Jump Start January: Healthy Week: Day 1

Day One of Healthy Week was a bit of a treat. The plan was to have a relaxing day: not lazing around but making time to actively relax. Most of us have busy lives and it’s easy to mistake crashing out in front of the telly for relaxation.

The best ways to truly relax tend to be free, but it is also nice to have a bit of pampering. To get Healthy Week off to a good start I decided to use up my flotation tank voucher for Floatworks. Going for a float is basically giving yourself permission to completely switch off for an hour, and the epsom salts in the water make your body buoyant so there’s no effort needed to stay floating and all the weight is taken off your joints.

There are various new agey claims made for it too, but I’m really not sure about all that. The other bonus is that you get to pretend you’re in a deep space cryo-pod in a science fiction movie while you’re getting in and out of the tank. But I digress.

It’s a bit of a treat. However, it’s not something I’d do regularly as it’s on the expensive side and I limit visits to times when there are vouchers for it on daily deals websites. You do come out very chilled out after the session, so it’s definitely worth the discounted fee, talking from personal experience.

In the evening I tried a couple of the exercises on the free relaxation CD from Healthier Scotland, which has some straightforward, sensible relaxation techniques on it. If you’re feeling really stressed you might want to have a look at the rest of their Steps For Stress website too.

There are other free stress-busters all over the place, from leaflets from your local doctor’s surgery to relaxation smartphone apps. I’m not suggesting that everyone should go off on a yoga retreat or take up TM, but ten minutes of properly relaxing once a day is definitely good for you and it’s something anyone can do without any expense.

Do you have any favourite sites, apps or podcasts to help you relax, sleep or meditate? Please let me know.