Improving and maintaining health and well-being is the personal responsibility of each person. There might be a lot of activities one could undertake to contribute to their physical and mental health. For this reflective account, I chose interventions such as yoga and dieting. Yoga is popular among those who monitor the body’s health and strive for inner harmony. This ancient practice is based on a combination of physical and spiritual development. Yoga practitioners strive to grow spiritually and improve themselves. On the other hand, the body’s most vital instinct—necessary for maintaining life—is the gratification of hunger. First of all, the food we eat creates the cells and tissues that make up our entire body. Second, eating provides the body with the energy it needs to function. Therefore, dieting—including what we eat, in what quantity, when, and how—depends on our health.
Personal Insights and Relevance to Nursing Practice
Doing yoga and healthy dieting have impacted my understanding of my health. I have noticed that when I implement these activities as habits in my life, I start to notice improvements in my well-being. I feel more energetic, and my immune system becomes stronger. People who practice yoga regularly note that the body becomes strong and flexible, and the mind calms down. When I do yoga every day for a minimum of one hour, I feel my muscles are stronger, and my mind is calmer. In the past, I have suffered from high-stress levels; however, yoga helps me manage such problems. The main thing in yoga is to find harmony and peace of mind, and breathing exercises and meditation techniques help with this. Improved well-being, a sense of peace, and a positive attitude – are just a small part of the positive results that yoga gave me.
It is believed that the improvement of the body is a complex result of physical activity, mental work, and lifestyle changes. Yoga classes positively affect all life support systems of the body. The study held by Hilcove et al. (2021) showed that yoga interventions helped nurses decrease and control stress levels. Mindfulness-based yoga helped participants to prevent burnout and positively affected their well-being (Hilcove, 2021). Another research that was handled by Kim (2020) revealed that yoga intervention helps to solve problems with “chronic nonspecific lower back pain in nursing practice” (Kim, 2020, p. 7). Yoga programs are considered a tool for managing pain relief (Kim, 2020). The activity is also beneficial for the lungs and is recommended for patients with lung problems (Kupershmidt and Barnable, 2019). Thus, implementing yoga intervention in the nursing practice is an effective way to improve the well-being of the patients.
After the first weeks of classes, you can feel the benefits of yoga. It allows you to learn to feel your body, manage your health, and expand the range of your lungs. At the same time, the physical activity allows us to see quick results. Classes have practically no contraindications or age and gender restrictions. Initial data and level of preparation do not matter. Now joint lessons with children, couples, and wellness sessions for the older age category are popular. If a beginner pursues not only the goal of losing weight and getting a beautiful body but also accepting himself and his needs, learning to live in harmony with the mind and shell, then yoga will give him this.
Adding healthy dieting to yoga made me see an even bigger positive effect on my well-being. Because yoga aims to teach mindfulness, I have become more conscious of my diet. Drinking more water and cutting out junk helped improve my health conditions. The body needs to consistently consume a variety of nutrients, including proteins, carbs, fats, water, minerals, and vitamins in the right amounts and proportions. The risk of contracting certain diseases increases when specific nutrients are either insufficient or excessive. Healthy eating helps build up mental and physical vitality, enables weight maintenance without harsh restrictions, and aids in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Healthy eating and dieting are an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
Of course, the role of dieting in nursing practice can not be underestimated. Distinct types of patients with different health problems require specific diets. The study provided by Kurnia and Yulia (2021) showed that nutritional education is crucial for patients with diabetes and their families. Food affects the sugar levels in the blood, and thus, people who suffer from diabetes should pay attention to their food choices (Kurnia and Yulia, 2021). Dieting helps control many aspects of the human body and thus plays an important role in patient care. A complex relationship and interdependence exist between substances that enter the body with food. For example, calcium is needed to build and maintain bones. In turn, calcium can be absorbed in the body only in the presence of vitamin D (Riccio and Rossano, 2018). For calcium to function, phosphorus and magnesium are required; they act only in the presence of copper and zinc. Nutrition is one of the important factors of human health that provides adequate growth and development in childhood, high performance of the adult population, and active longevity of the elderly and old people.
Advantage for the Future Practice
The information I have gained from this activity will be useful for my future practice. Now, when I have explored the benefits that yoga and dieting interventions can bring, I will try to implement them when relevant. Nurses are responsible for contributing to the well-being of their patients. That is why it was highly motivational for me to analyze how specific activities affected my health and lifestyle. Moreover, these and many other interventions may demonstrate positive results systematically and properly. A person’s well-being depends on what activity they undertake in their everyday life. Both yoga and dieting interventions showed to have positive results on my health, and I hope it will be the same for my future patients.
Relevance to MNC Code
This reflective account is relevant to the MNC code and its distinctive themes. Generally, the code includes four themes referred to prioritizing people, practicing effectively, preserving safety, and promoting professionalism and trust (NMC Code, 2022). I want to discuss effective practice and promoting professionalism and trust. For instance, yoga and dieting are related to the ‘practice effectively’ theme. When yoga is practiced regularly, it brings more results for the body and mind. Accordingly, when dieting options are made correctly, they will be more effective and beneficial for the patient’s health. ‘Promote professionalism and trust theme is also connected with the two interventions as patients should trust the process. Health care professionals should educate patients about the efficiency of the activities they implement to be aware of the purpose of these particular interventions.
Reference List
Kurnia, D. A. and Yulia, Y. (2021) ‘Understanding food selection and dieting patterns: type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and their families.’ International Journal of Endocrinology (Ukraine), 17(6), 456-458.
Hilcove, K., et. al. (2021) ‘Holistic nursing in practice: Mindfulness-based yoga as an intervention to manage stress and burnout.’ Journal of Holistic Nursing, 39(1), 29-42.
Kim, S. D. (2020) ‘Twelve weeks of yoga for chronic nonspecific lower back pain: a meta-analysis.’ Pain Management Nursing, 21(6), 536-542.
Kupershmidt, S., and Barnable, T. (2019) ‘Definition of a yoga breathing (pranayama) protocol that improves lung function.’ Holistic Nursing Practice, 33(4), 197-203.
Riccio, P., and Rossano, R. (2018) ‘Diet, gut microbiota, and vitamins D+ A in multiple sclerosis.’ Neurotherapeutics, 15(1), 75-91.
NMC Code. (2022) The Nursing and Midwifery Council.