It’s very normal to feel a degree of anxiety about our health and that of our loved ones, particularly at the moment. However, there are things that we can do to regain a sense of control.

This week, we are looking at protective health behaviours. Protective health behaviours are the things we do proactively to keep ourselves healthy. They include behaviours that look after our physical health, such as exercise, and behaviours that look after our mental health, such as connecting socially. Our Wellbeing Venn Diagram below demonstrates how a balance of achievement, connection and enjoyment can support your wellbeing. The good news is that there is so much flexibility in this approach that you have the freedom to experiment and discover what works for you.

We can sometimes experience a gap between our intended behaviours and those we actually carry out. To help reduce this gap between our plans and our actions, we can plan our daily routines to support us in following through on our good intentions. Our Implementation Intentions Table can support you in doing this by breaking down your intentions, making them achievable, easy to practice and, eventually, automatic. Examples of such behaviour include embedding exercise into your daily routine and eating a more balanced diet.

The Six Ways to Wellbeing them for June is ‘Be Healthy’ and the Wellbeing Team has a host of resources on this topic, including tips for getting a better night’s sleep as well as nutrition advice and recipes.