No matter how tired I am, the one beauty ablution I always make time for is applying body lotion. I'm currently using the Rare Beauty Find Comfort collection, but I'm open to most body creams, budget or luxury.
Without fail, I moisturise my body every morning after my shower and just before bed at night. It might seem excessive to do this twice a day, but for me it's a moment to remind myself I'm grateful for my body, and to spend time with myself.
"Moisturising your body can be mistaken as a vanity metric," notes psychotherapist Lauren Baird. "However when you spend time engaging in supportive self-touch, through moisturising your body with a delicious lotion, this can really help you to connect with your body."
"Moisturising our bodies mindfully can be considered a form of meditation," adds Anna Persaud, Managing Director of This Works. "It encourages us to place focus on a particular area of the body and observe with curiosity instead of judgement. The multi-sensorial nature of applying body care whilst performing this mindful application, can also help intensify the effect."
Moisturising your body can ease anxiety
Lauren adds that applying body lotion can also help with anxiety and make us feel calmer – ideal for my pre-bed ritual.
"Your clever nervous system has different branches: your sympathetic nervous system (your fight/ flight responses – think anxiety and overwhelm) and your parasympathetic nervous system (your calm and connect response – think presence and being able to cope).
"Your nervous system responds well to supportive self-touch. Think about how children and babies are held, rocked, stroked and calmed through touch. As adults we are no different and supportive touch can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system, dulling down the anxiety and bringing in the calm," Lauren explains.
"When you moisturise your body, you are activating the parasympathetic nervous system and accessing a powerful self-soothing technique, slowing down your heart rate, reducing stress in your body and increasing self-compassion."
Moisturising helps body awareness
"With supportive self-touch, you are also increasing your interoception, a fancy word for your body awareness.
"Interoception is absolutely key in supporting you to manage your emotions, as when we can tune into how we are feeling we are better able to cope with our experience."
READ: How rejecting diet culture helped me regain my confidence
Self-love through body care
Lauren adds that spending time showing love to our body through treating it to a daily moisturising session can help us appreciate ourselves more.
"Your body is the only home you will remain in forever, so it’s important we tend and care for it, befriending it through kindness and compassion." She says.
"As women, there is so much pressure on us in terms of how our bodies look, and so many of us experience a lot of shame surrounding our bodies.
"When this body shame occurs we can reject our body by disconnecting from it and this often shows up as not nurturing and caring for ourselves."
READ: I'm 34 - why am I still expected to look how I did when I was 18?
She's right, when I'm having a bad body image day, I rush my moisturising routine, preferring to use something that sinks in quickly, rather than having to spend time rubbing in a thicker formula.
Read on for Lauren's advice on caring for your body…
Treat yourself like a friend
"Think about someone you love or care for and how you would treat them with loving kindness if they were having a bad body image day.
"Think about what you would say to them and how you would support them, then direct this response back inwards to yourself. This self-compassion tool can support you to care for your body, be gentle towards it and appreciate it more in return."
Avoid self-criticism
"Self-compassion is the opposite of self-criticism. Self-criticism towards your body leads to greater levels of body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and can lead to mental health illnesses such as anxiety and depression.
"Self-criticism activates your threat response (fight, flight, freeze) and this increases cortisol the stress hormone. Self-compassion on the other hand, involves noticing that you may be struggling and being gentle and caring towards yourself. This deactivates the stress response and supports you to care for your body.
READ: How rejecting clothing sizes made me happier
Look after yourself
People often think they can find happiness if they shrink themselves through losing weight, but actually true happiness comes from finding the things that feel really good and yummy to your body.
"This could be dancing, moving in a way that feels good, yoga or a simple walk. When we connect to these things, it can support us to appreciate what our body does for us, over what our body looks like."
Try body neutrality
"Focus on the function of your body over how it looks. This takes the pressure off of you needing to love your body, instead you can focus on caring for it and appreciating what it does for you."
Visit HELLO!'s Beautiful You hub for move advice on appreciating yourself.