By Schuyler Corrigan

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July 9, 2024

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If your summer months feel a little more chaotic than the rest of the year, we have a few tips and lifestyle tricks to support you during this season. Even though the days feel long and the weather is hot and humid, offering a feeling of slowness, for many, their routines are in flux, kids are home from school, and vacations can feel like more work than relaxation. Here are a few ways we’re sustaining our summer sanity this year:

 

1. Maintain some anchors of routine. 

Summertime can feel just as chaotic as the holiday season, and our everyday routines can dissolve into an endless to-do list to make the most of the summer days. Our body thrives with routine, and predictable placements of habits and tasks throughout the day can be a mental lifesaver when you stick to them. Examples:

• Wake up at the same time each morning and maintain your bedtime routine in the evenings. This helps to keep our circadian rhythm and enhances sleep quality in the long term.
• Consume your meals at the same time daily to support overall blood sugar balance and maintain a sustained energy level throughout the day. 
• Keep up with a basic batch-cooking routine, even if it’s prepping 1-2 dinners each night, to always have a healthy go-to in the fridge or freezer for those extra-long days. 
• If you have an exercise routine (e.g., going for a daily walk, yoga class, hitting the gym, or taking a swim), make sure exercise and movement remain part of it. 

 

2. Eat seasonally whenever possible.

We don’t need to recreate the wheel with every meal every season. Having some essential go-to recipes for quick summer meal prep can take the edge off of the mental load of thinking about “what’s for dinner” every night. Keep it seasonal with a few easy options:

• Classic BLT’s with a tossed salad
• Red Pepper, Onion, Pineapple & Chicken kebabs + Quinoa 
• Early Summer Abundance Bowl
• Minty Black Bean Salad

Read More: Eat the Rainbow! Health Benefits of Every Color 

 

3. Stay Hydrated (and cool).

If you live in a hot and humid climate during the summer, make sure you’re staying hydrated every day. We can easily forget to drink water, and dehydration can happen quickly on hot days. Symptoms of dehydration include headaches, irritability, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, dry mouth, and overall feeling exhausted and fatigued. 

How to calculate your minimum hydration requirement: Take your body weight and divide it by 2. That is the minimum number of ounces for your daily intake. For example, if you’re 160 pounds, you should aim for 80 ounces of water daily. This is your minimum amount, so if you’re traveling, exercising, sweating, or the weather is extra hot, you should increase this.

Read More: ND Lifestyle – Water and Hydration

 

4. Take this season to unplug & reconnect

Turn off or get away from the internet for one day a week, spend time at home making crafts/arts, spend time in nature, read an indulgent book, do some gardening, or just rest. Internet connection is addicting. We are responsible for our mental health and having appropriate boundaries for our psyche. When we disconnect, our nervous system has a chance to unwind, and our mind has an opportunity to pause and center.

If you need extra support this season to maintain your mental and physical health, our practitioners at Richmond Natural Medicine are here to support you. Contact our office today to connect with one of our naturopathic doctors and get started.