Autumn Self-Care Ideas For Students

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Autumn is well and truly here. Colder weather, darker evenings and lots of rain have arrived. The kind of weather where you just want to stay cosy inside and enjoy mindful activities.

When the weather is that little but colder it requires a change in your self-care routine. As the weather changed it often causes more discomfort and pain with my Fibromyalgia. As I have also started university self-care is key for my physical and mental health and wellbeing.

What is self-care and why it is important?

Self-care is the practise of looking after and to improve your health and wellbeing. Self-care is a crucial part of living a healthy lifestyle. It is about looking after yourself so that you have the energy to support yourself and your loved ones. Practising self-care brings positive feelings, motivation, self-esteem and much more.

Self-care in Autumn for me is so important and I try to make sure every day I have done something that promotes my physical or mental wellbeing. It is something I ensure to avoid burn out. As a student, there are so many things you need to balance: your studies and assignments, working, your finances and having a social life. It is also important to keep you feeling refreshed and motivated.

Here are some easy self-care ideas that you can try:

1. Baths with bath bombs

One simple way to relax your whole body almost instantly is a Warm bath. The heat your muscles to release tension ans it activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which ins the part of your body responsible for relaxation. As your nervous system adjusts to the warming effect of the water, you begin to experience levels of stress. There is something so comforting about coming in from the cold or rainy weather and relaxing in a warm bath.

Why not fully embrace the Autumn and Halloween vibes with these fun Lush bath bombs:

Punkin’ Pumpkin

The pumpkin is filled with bright citrus oils, not only giving your bath that uplifting orange scent and colour, but leaving your skin soft from the pumpkin powder.

The bath bomb’s ingredients include: cinnamon, orange, lime and mandarin.

SCREAMO

Why not fully embrace the Halloween spirit and put a little ‘scream’ into your bath with the SCREAMD bath bomb. This bath bomb leaves your water cobalt blue giving you the uplifting cherry-almond fragrance.

This bath bomb’s ingredients include: benzoin, ylang ylang and almond.

Alien

If you want to relax in a bubble bath and love the bubbles, then this Alien bubble bar is for you. Another great Halloween themed item to get you in the spooky vibe. Enjoy the neon-coloured water as you relax with the gorgeous bergamot and litsea cubeba oils. You can wither crumble a little bit or the whole thing under the running water for some fruity foam.

This bubble bar’s ingredients include: bergamot, litsea cubeba and benzoin.

2. Use masks

As the weather becomes harsher, so does the effect it has on your skin, so it is important to look after your skin. Face and eye masks are a great way to give your skin a pamper, but also means you can take the 15-20 minutes they are on to sit or lie quiet and still, a simple mindful break. Taking that little bit of time to be still can help you to recentre. I find eye masks really beneficial after I have spent the day reading off screens, writing notes and assignments. They provide a cooling and soothing experience.

Mr Pumpkin Face

Fully embrace the autumnal vibes with a fresh pumpkin face mask. This mask is bursting with vitamins, especially vitamin A that helps to prevent skin breakouts as well as improving your skin’s immune system whilst enabling more neutral moisturisation. Pop your face mask on and take 10 minutes to embrace some quiet time. This mask is fresh and should be stored in the fridge, which gives a really cooling and soothing experience.

The mask ingredients include: pumpkin, cinnamon and clay.

Pumpkin Eye Pads

These are the perfect eye masks for you to use this Autumn with the cooling carrageenan extract and pumpkin puree which helps to soften your skin. These pads are fresh so they should be kept in the fridge, which helps enhance the cooling effect.

3. Create a cosy relaxing space

There is something so comforting about hearing the wind, rain or coming in from the cold and having a warm, cosy space indoors. A simple way to create a calm space is to burn a melt or a candle and what better way to bring the Autumn season inside than to burn an Autumn scent. Candles and burning melts work as the scents affect the limbic system, that many researchers believe have a profound physiological effect including reduced heart rate, blood pressure, memory and more.

Pumpkin Spice

This is a pumpkin-spiced latte Lush melt for your oil burner, but you could break off a square for your bath too. You can break off one or two squares and add them to your burner. The approximate burn time is 6 hours per square. As a Lush bath melt, add one or two into a warm bath. It allows you to relax and have the oat kernel oil lock in moisture to your skin.

This Lush melt’s ingredients include: cinnamon, clove, pumpkin and ginger.

4. Moisturise

Autumn weather can dry out your skin and sometimes you need some extra moisturising to keep your skin soft and smooth. As I have Fibromyalgia is using a lotion each evening, massaging it in really helps with my pain, but also keeps my skin soft, it also means that it is a few minutes each day you are stopping and focusing on yourself, the feeling of the lotion and the scent is a really grounding practice. A simple task which not only benefits your skin health, but it helps to relax your muscles and melt away from tension from a heavy study day.

Once Upon A Time

This is a fun, magical, bright green lotion that brings a fresh apple scent with a combination od illipe and murumuru butters that give you the injection of moisturisation. The jojoba oil gives you that burst of vitamin E giving your skin that protective barrier from the colder weather.

This body lotion’s ingredients include: jojoba, grapefruit and lime.

I know that I am not the only one who knows my body is feeling the changes in weather when my lips are getting dry and chapped. I hate when my lips are cracking because not only does it not look pleasant, but they can also be incredibly sore. So, for me, looking after my lips is a priority in the colder months. Using lip scrubs and lotions are an essential in the autumn and winter months.

Candy Corn

Why not bring a Halloween sweet lip scrub into your self-care routing this Autumn? This scrub has Brazilian orange oil, sesame seed and caster sugar to pamper your lips leaving a candy-flavoured scent. A quick self-care practice, pop the scrub onto your finger and buff your lips and just wipe off any excess. After using this scrub, my lips are so smooth and ready for an oil or mask.

This lip scrub’s ingredients include: sugar, Brazilian orange oil, rose oil and organic jojoba oil.

These are some ways a student can easily practise self-care in the Autumn months. As a student myself, it can be difficult to find the perfect balance, but even in the first 5 weeks, I have definitely felt that I needed to have some self-care in place. So, taking that time to focus on my physical and mental wellbeing has been key in turning up to lectures and seminars refreshed and motivated.

Check out LUSH for affordable clean products to help you look after your physical and mental wellbeing.

Additionally, these are some other simple and affordable self-care ideas for students can include:

• Going for a long walk
• Listening to music or a podcast
• Cook yourself your favourite meal
• Order yourself a takeaway
• Read a book that isn’t about your course
• Out on your favourite film or television show
• Journal about your day/feelings or about your university experience
• Try meditation
• Reach out and catch up with family and friends
• Arrange a day with your friends from university
• Get an early night
• Reach out to the support services offered by your university

Of course, these self-care ideas can be used by everyone can be altered to fit all situations. Self-care for everyone is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, so make sure you are making yourself a priority.

Are you a student? What self-care advice would you give to students? I’d love to hear in the comments.