031 - Susan Clinton - Relax, Rest, And Digest! A Special COVID-19 Episode

In this special episode, we speak to Dr Susan Clinton, physical therapist/physiotherapist extraordinaire, about how long periods of stress can affect our health and well being... and what we can do to try to combat this.

Around the globe, huge changes have been taking place since the arrival of COVID-19. Our daily routines and the simplicity of things like going to the gym or having a coffee with friends have been completely upended. We are all feeling some degree of anxiety, wondering "when will this end? How bad is it going to get?"

So we asked Susan, who has a love for the parasympathetic nervous system to come and give us some tips on how we can take care of ourselves during these difficult times.

Here are some of her thoughts in point form (we recommend listening to the whole thing though, so you can hear Susan expand on them):

1. Create a schedule
2. Break bread with friends and family eg over facetime
3. Habit stack
4. Practice self compassion (https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/self-compassion.break_.mp3)
5. Find movement/exercise daily. Try and get a combination including slower forms such as tai chi or yoga.
6. Put the phone away
7. Consume alcohol on occasion only (eg for celebration, not regularly to relax or self soothe!)
8. Work on sleep hygiene. Get rid of those screens! Consider how you feel when you wake up in the morning.

We also had a great chat about children and how we can model some of those behaviours for our own kids during this period of homeschooling.

This was a wonderful chat and we are grateful for Susan sharing her time and compassion during this time.

You can find Susan at:
https://embody-pt.com/ 
https://www.thegeniusptproject.com/ 
https://toughtotreat.com/