1. Self Care and Your Health
Objective: To promote and encourage self care among students

2. Why talk about self-care?
Areas of vulnerability during medical school (Ball, 2002)
Life satisfaction
Physical activity
Alcohol use
Sleep deprivation

3. What is self-care?
Self-care is a practice. It includes the intentional and deliberate steps taken by an individual to identify his or her needs and to compassionately attempt to meet those needs. (Iphelan, 2014).

4. Dimensions Physical Care Emotional/Psychological Care Spiritual Care
Professional Care
Think about what activities you do in each of these areas and if you’re not doing anything or would like to do more, consider some of the following to incorporate. If some or all areas are lacking, consider what the barriers or challenges to incorporating self-care activities have been and how to overcome those.

5. Physical Care (By lphelan on October 30, 2014: Faculty of Medicine, Post Graduate Medical Education. University of British Columbia)
Eat regularly (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
Get regular medical care for prevention
Get massages
Dance, swim, walk, run, play sports, sing, or do some other physical activity that is fun for you

6. Physical Care Take vacations Wear clothes you like Get enough sleep
Take time out just to rest during the day

7. Emotional/Psychological Care
Make time for self-reflection
Write in a journal
Read literature that is unrelated to school/work
Engage your intelligence in a new area, e.g., go to an art museum, history exhibit, sports event, theatre, concert

8. Emotional/Psychological Care
Practice receiving from others
Notice your inner experiences – listen to your thoughts, judgments, beliefs, attitudes and feelings
Say “no” to extra responsibilities sometimes
Identify comforting activities, objects, people, relationships, places and seek them out

9. Emotional/Psychological Care
Make time for your social life. Spend time with others whose company you enjoy
Stay in contact with important people in your life
Give yourself affirmations, praise yourself
Allow yourself to cry
Play with children

10. Spiritual Care Spend time in nature
Find a spiritual connection or community
Cherish your optimism and hope
Be aware of non-material aspects of life
Be open to not knowing

11. Spiritual Care Meditate Pray/Sing
Take in inspirational content (literature, talks, etc.)

12. Professional Care
Take a break during the work/study period (e.g. to eat)
Take time to chat with colleagues
Make quiet time to complete tasks
Have a peer support group

13. Professional Care Set limits with colleagues
Identify projects or tasks that are exciting and rewarding
Regularly consult with a mentor

14. Benefits
Self-care will go a long way in reducing burnout and making you feel better about the time you actually spend studying
You will feel better about yourself

15. Benefits You will have more energy
You will be less likely to get sick (which will definitely interfere with studying!)
You will have more credibility as a physician-in-training (taking care of your own health establishes your ability to care for the health of others)

16. Reminders
Choose the aspects of self-care that resonate most with you and that represent reasonable goals
Avoid blaming yourself or feeling guilty when you are not perfect at the practice
Strive to become more aware of what you need to thrive and do your best to move closer towards meeting those needs regularly

17. Works Cited
Ball, S. & Bax, A. (2002). Self-care in medical education: Effectiveness of health-habits intervention for first-year medical students. Academic Medicine, 77,
Iphelan (2014). Components of Self Care Practice. The University of British Columbia. ents-of-a-self-care
Schnipke, B (2014). Self-Care in Medical School: A Lesson from the Heart. The student doctor network.