Make Time for SELF-CARE

When you’re living with arthritis – especially in the face of global upheaval – taking care of yourself is essential to health and well-being.

- EMILY DELZELL

“We see our doctors occasionally, but it’s what we do on a day-to-day basis that drives our health and determines our quality of life,” says pain psychologist and scientist Beth Darnall, PhD, clinical professor at Stanford University in California. “Those daily choices about whether we move more, eat well, manage stress and get proper sleep can either amplify our pain or dampen our pain, and help our functioning and quality of life or impede it.”

Good self-care can mean committing to regular physical activity, a plant-based diet or getting enough sleep, but it also includes mental and emotional care – learning to break negative thought patterns and avoiding social isolation. Making self-care routines habitual makes it easier to keep them up when the going gets tough.