It’s not likely you think about the importance of self-care, especially when you’re preoccupied with your career in the Air Force and dealing with your family. Being an Airman comes with many unique challenges that can have a drastic impact on your physical and mental health. These stressors can affect your health long-term, which is why it's crucial to practice self-care in your day to day life. In this guide, we’ll discuss why you should focus on self-care and different methods for implementing it into your day. 

The Importance of Self-Care While Serving in the Air Force

If you’re not doing well physically or mentally, you won’t be able to perform to the personal or professional standards required in your life and career. The Air Force often exposes Airmen to things that can have an impact on their physical and mental well-being, which is why it’s important to focus on self-care when you can to combat these effects.

For example, Airmen who have been deployed are usually exposed to rigorous conditions and experiences that can follow them beyond their contact. Injuries and other traumatic experiences can also create additional physical and mental health challenges.

There are several reasons Airmen should be focusing on self-care, but the most important include:

• Managing stress: As an Airman, you’re exposed to plenty of stress that can evolve into a chronic problem with lasting impact without proper management. Self-care is a great way to manage your stress so you’re less likely to let your stress bleed into your personal life and career. With the right tools, it will be easier to adapt to the challenges you have to deal with as part of your job.  
• Improving mental health: Traumatic events and excessive stress can take a toll on your mental health, and Airmen are often exposed to these conditions more than most. Some Airmen even have to deal with conditions like PTSD because of what they experienced during their service. You can prevent mental health conditions from worsening and manage your symptoms by engaging in acts of self-care, especially when you’re feeling challenged. 
• Maintaining physical health: Self-care will help you maintain your physical health, which is also important in maintaining your mental health. If you fail to take care of your body, you may find that you’re unable to perform at the standard necessary for your work or life. It’s critical to focus on your physical health so you can continue doing what you do best.
• Improving performance: When you take care of yourself, you’ll have the motivation and energy when you go about your day. With more focus, you can tackle the challenges you experience at work and in your personal life with ease and efficiency.
• Increasing resilience: Being an Airman can be stressful, but learning how to manage this stress can make it easier to deal with these challenges so you're better equipped to handle your day. 
• Improving relationships: It’s easier to be present and available in your relationships when you’re taking care of yourself. Make sure you’re making an effort to take care of yourself so you can better care for the people you love. 

Tips for Practicing Self-Care as an Airman

While it takes some effort, practicing self-care while you’re in the Air Force is easier than you  might think. There are several different ways you can practice self-care, but the most common and most recommended include:

1. Stay Active

Exercise is critical to your physical and mental well-being, and regular exercise can be an excellent form of self-care. With a regular work out routine, you can improve your physical health while also releasing endorphins that positively impact your mental health. You may even feel less stress and anxiety and should start sleeping better at night. Overall, you’ll start to feel better, which will make it easier to participate in other forms of self-care. 

You can try many different types of exercise based on your capabilities and interests. Some options include:

• Weightlifting
• Hiking or walking
• Swimming
• Martial arts
• Bicycling
• Pilates or yoga

Your Air Force installation may have a free fitness center you can get started at, which helps you save on the monthly cost of a gym membership. Your local community may also have sports teams you can sign up for if you want to stay active with an activity you enjoy. 

2. Make Sure You’re Sleeping Enough

Sleep is incredibly important to your well-being, and if you don’t get enough each night, you can actually cause significant harm to your physical and mental health. Even just sleeping poorly or for too few hours for a single night can leave you feeling unfocused and lacking energy, which is only compounded the more sleep you miss.

If you’re someone who needs to improve your sleep so you can feel well rested in the mornings, consider the following:

• Create a schedule: Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule ensures you’re getting enough sleep each night, which is critical for your health. You should try to go to bed at the same time each night and aim for around eight hours of sleep, even on weekends. 
• Reduce screen time: Our TVs, phones, computers, and tablets all emit blue light, which can disrupt your sleep or make it harder to fall asleep. You should try to avoid exposure to blue light at least an hour before bed, which means no more scrolling through your phone before bed. Instead, consider finding another way to wind down, such as reading or spending time with loved ones. 
• Think about what you eat: What you consume before bed can impact the quality of your sleep, so you’ll want to avoid large meals and smoking. You’ll also want to avoid drinking alcohol or drinking too much too soon before bed, or you might be waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.
• Make time to relax: Relaxing before you go to sleep can help improve your sleep quality, so you should try to get at least an hour of relaxation before you finally get some shut eye. You can do this in different ways, whether you prefer to listen to music, read, or something else that makes you feel calm. 

3. Eat Healthy

Your physical and mental health rely on your diet, which is why it’s critical to eat well and make eating a nutritious meal a part of your self-care routine. Improving your physical health will make it easier to care for your mental health, so eating a balanced diet is a step in the right direction for improving your overall well-being.

If you want to prioritize your diet as part of your self-care routine and for your health, here are a few tips you can follow:

• Eat right in the morning: Your first meal of the day is important as it kickstarts your metabolism and gives you the energy you need to tackle your daily challenges. Make sure you’re eating a healthy breakfast, and include things like protein or fiber so your breakfast feels more filling. With the right choices, your breakfast can even prevent you from overeating during your other meals. 
• Choose the right foods: Your diet should be balanced to ensure you’re getting the important nutrients you need each day. Carefully consider what you’re eating and try to target each food group throughout the day. If you’re finding it difficult to eat what you need to throughout the day, consider meal prepping so you don’t have to worry about it all the time. 
• Consider light snacking: It’s normal to get a little hungry between meals, especially if there’s a large time gap between when you can eat. Think about light snacking between meals so you don’t ruin your appetite, which can include things like trail mix, popcorn, hardboiled eggs, and other small things.

You may be able to find free nutrition counseling at your installation if you’re finding it hard to eat right, who can assist you with building a meal plan that matches your goals and needs.

4. Make Valuable Connections

Having a good social life will help improve your mental health, so it’s important to make an effort to make a connection with the people in your life. As an Airman, it’s likely your duty station is far from home and you’re far from the friends and family you grew up knowing. Trying to contact them regularly through phone or video calls to maintain these relationships. You can build new relationships where you are by making friends with your coworkers or finding a club or group that aligns with your interests.

While making friends comes easy to some people, it’s harder for others. If you seem to find it difficult to make valuable connections, consider joining a military support group. You can talk about any challenges you’re facing in your life, and you’ll instantly be connected with others who understand what you’re going through. You can also find other people to connect with by volunteering within your community, which has the added benefit of expanding your social network while you help others.

5. Reward Yourself

It’s important to put in the work to achieve your goals, but it’s also important to reward yourself sometimes so everything feels worthwhile. You can take some of the stress out of your day by rewarding yourself for a job well done from time to time. The way you do this will depend on what you like. For example, maybe you like to sit in nature while you enjoy a nice lunch, so maybe you’ll plan a nice hike and picnic for yourself.

There are several ways you can choose to reward yourself, with some options including:

• Enjoying a sweet treat, such as ice cream, a cookie, or a slice of cake.
• Buying an item you’ve been eyeing for some time.
• Taking a small break from work by taking a day off before the weekend starts.
• Watching something you’ve been looking forward to.
• Getting a massage to help with muscle soreness and stress. 

6. Find Hobbies You Enjoy

Hobbies are important for maintaining a balance in your life and improving your mental health. You can even find friends while you engage in your hobbies, making connections with people who enjoy similar things as you. There are seemingly endless options for hobbies, with some options including:

• Playing musical instruments
• Hiking or exercise
• Baking or cooking
• Volunteer work
• Painting or crafting
• Journaling or blogging

Remember that this isn’t an all inclusive list, and there are plenty of different hobbies you can experiment with until you find something you like. 

7. Get Involved With Nature

Nature has plenty of benefits for your mental health, allowing you to put your stressors aside and focus on relaxing instead. If you’re struggling with your mental health, getting out into nature and some sunlight can help alleviate some of your symptoms.

There are several ways you can start spending more time in nature, including:

• Hiking
• Biking
• Nature walks
• Eating or reading outside
• Adventures in nature parks

8. Limit Social Media Consumption

While social media has its benefits, especially as a way to stay connected with loved ones and meeting new people, it can also be detrimental to your health if you’re spending too much time on it. Social media can also be addicting, causing you to lose hours of your day in meaningless scrolling. 

You don’t need to quit social media completely to improve your mental health, but you should consider reducing how much time you spend on these sites, especially if you’re spending hours a day on them. Try to limit your time on social media to around two hours. You can use settings in the app or on your phone to send a reminder if you’ve been spending a certain amount of time on the app, which can help provide you with a reminder if you’ve been scrolling too long. The time you save can be used to pursue your hobbies or spend time with friends.

9. Talk to a Professional 

Sometimes, there are things that are outside of our control with our mental health and we need a professional to guide us toward healing. Being an Airman, you’ve likely experienced some hardships that are difficult for the average person to deal with, and you’ll need professional intervention to start feeling better. 

There’s no shame in seeking help when you need it, and a professional has the necessary tools and resources to help you improve your mental health and related symptoms. You can also talk with a professional about your challenges and hardships, which allows you to get your stressors off your chest and you can problem solve together for the right course of action.  

10. Use the Resources You Have

As an Airman, you have plenty of resources to help you improve your physical and mental health, and using them is a form of self-care. You can choose from various resources from your installation and local community, and many of them are targeted based on specific needs. Some common resources you can turn to when you need help include:

• The Military Crisis Line
• Military One Source
• The National Military Family Association

Find More Resources Through AUSI

Here at AUSI, we understand how difficult it can be to be in the Air Force and the various struggles you’ll face as part of your career. Even after leaving the Air Force, you may still be finding it difficult to adjust to civilian life and deal with what you experienced as an Airman. At AUSI, we try our best to support our Airmen, especially through our blog content that is designed to help Airmen, veterans, and their families. We also try to provide active duty Airmen with the uniforms and equipment they need to make it easier to stay AFI compliant so there’s one less thing to stress about during the day. You can check out our selection to see what we mean or contact us if you have any questions.