Make wellness a priority this spring
There’s no question the pandemic turned our lives upside down and took a toll on our overall well-being. While we stayed at home, many of us exercised less, ate more comfort food and lost the emotional support that comes from socializing with family and friends. Three long years have passed, and now it’s time to find ways to re-energize our physical and mental health.
What we took care of—and what we didn’t
The pandemic made many of us think about our own mortality, and a lot of people updated their wills and topped up their life insurance. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) made home improvements in their bedrooms, washrooms, kitchens, living rooms, office spaces, and more.
However, a lot of essentials were postponed. During the first year of the pandemic, 30 percent of Canadian adults delayed getting in touch with a medical professional to deal with a physical, emotional, or mental health problem. Services critical to long-term physical health, such as in-person appointments to manage chronic disease and cancer screenings, were still well below pre-pandemic levels in January 2021. And as recently as January 2022, self-reported moderate to severe anxiety, loneliness and feelings of depression rose back to levels seen early in the pandemic.
Now, after the challenges of the past three years, it’s time to start prioritizing all aspects of our physical and mental health—and the good news is that it’s much easier to book appointments and health tests thanks to many health providers’ shift towards online tools.
Getting back on track
As you start catching up on missed health checks, also be mindful of how much (and how well) you’re sleeping, eating, exercising, and having fun. If there’s room for improvement, consider a Love, Play, Work, Health dashboard. It lets you see how you’re doing in terms of balancing these aspects of life and where you can improve, and helps you plan to reach your goals.
