The Importance of Routine
by Annie O'Brien | 15th Jul 2020
The Importance of Routine
Routine can be an anchor. No matter what’s going on in our day, knowing that we will be having our dinner around 6 pm, and going to bed around 10 pm, can be seriously comforting. Above all, the certainty of our routine can help us to manage the uncertainty that life can throw up, especially after Lockdown. Moreover, coping with unpredictable periods of time can feel more doable when we have a little structure in place to look to. Let’s look at the benefits and main factors involved in The Importance of Routine.
Having a regular routine can help you:
- Lower stress levels
- Form good daily habits
- Take better care of your health
- Help you feel more productive
- Help you feel more focused
Daily Habits
Having a routine can help us to cultivate positive daily habits and help us to focus a little more on self-care. Many people are either working from home or faced with the reality of an unknown period of unemployment. While the idea of working from home seemed fun at the beginning, many have quickly discovered that the constant isolation and lack of a normal schedule can be mentally taxing.
Therefore, by organising our time, it can give us the opportunity to carry out things that are important to us. It could include things like time to relax, making a cup of tea, or a regular bedtime. When they’re part of our routine, carrying out these tasks no longer requires much thought because we have the time to do them and they become our ‘new normal’.
Sleep Routine
One of the things that having a regular routine can really help with, is sleep. Firstly, we completely underestimate the importance of sleep for our health because going to bed and waking up at a similar time most days allows our body to get used to our sleep cycle and sets our body clock accordingly. Secondly, by having a regular sleep routine, especially if we add in some time to wind down before bed each day, we should begin to find it easier to go to sleep and will notice a huge difference in our quality of sleep.
Healthy Diet
When we’re struggling, it can be really hard to plan, cook, and eat a balanced diet. Furthermore, food can really affect our mood, so it’s important that we try to keep things as balanced as possible. Therefore, a routine can help with this, because it allows us to block out some time for cooking, eating, and cleaning up afterward. Having this time might not mean that we always have the energy or headspace to cook. At GourmetFuel, we offer 3 Day and 4 Day Meal Plan options for when you need a little bit of support in your diet. This allows you to spend your time on more important things like relaxing or spending time with family and friends.
Exercise
Not all of us are a fan of exercising, but exercise can seriously boost our mood and help us release all those amazing endorphins. If, and when, we feel able to start exercising, one of the big barriers to doing it can be time. During Lockdown, many of us turned to home workouts and some of us even stopped exercising altogether. In short, our exercise routines were completely thrown off-kilter, along with our sense of routine.In addition, it can be difficult to fit exercise into our day, particularly when life gets busy. By having a daily routine, even if exercise only features in it a couple of times a week, we can create time to take part in our exercise of choice.
Everyone is different. Not everyone requires a fully scheduled day to reap the health benefits of a routine, so make the choices that work for you, knowing they’ll only make you healthier and more efficient with your time.