6 Health Tips Your Clients Need During COVID-19
As a health and wellness professional, sharing your wealth of knowledge with the community will help us all get through the COVID-19 crisis. Put your expertise to good use by sharing info, staying engaged and remaining a source of comfort as you help your clients stay as healthy and active as they can. Not only is coaching your clients through this time a great exercise in relationship-building, it’s also great added value for your community. As an authority on the subject, you have the opportunity to help your clients maintain a healthy, active lifestyle while isolation is still in effect.
Here are some of the key subjects to tackle with your clients to keep them healthy:
1. Get enough sleep
While the world waits for this pandemic to pass, many of us are feeling anxious and our sleep is suffering! It’s recommended that for optimal health, people need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep per night. The trick here is that it has to be quality sleep! Advise your clients that their strategy for getting the right amount of zzz’s should include:
- Going to bed early
- Putting away technology before bed
- Reading a book
- Taking a bath
- Anything else that puts them in a physical and mental state of relaxation
Get them working on perfecting their routine so they can count on a good night’s sleep to better their health.
2. Manage stress
This is certainly a stressful time, so your clients are going to need your help here! Give them the tools they need to keep their stress levels low and their energy high. Suggest things like going outside for fresh air, exercising, meditating or journaling.
You might also focus on the social aspects of managing stress. While we’re distancing, there are lots of ways people can still communicate and stay social by making a phone call, video conferencing or even via email. Communication and staying connected have a big impact on our state of mind and sometimes people forget how important social contact is.
3. Boost your immunity
Focus on immunity-boosting practices to help your clients protect themselves. Eating a natural, immune-boosting diet with lots of whole foods like fruits and vegetables will help improve energy levels, boost immunity and give the body what it needs. It might be tempting for your clients to go the easy route and eat packaged foods or make unhealthy choices, especially when they’re feeling stressed. Motivate them to try something new! Cook a new dish, go back to an old favorite recipe or focus on immunity-boosting ingredients like spinach, peppers, almonds and so many more. Make sure your clients know that boosting your immunity with diet is a delicious way to better their health.
4. Avoid stimulants
Many people don’t even realize that they suffer from the ill-effects of caffeine and other stimulants like sugar or alcohol. Give your community health tips that’ll help them relax! Advise your clients to listen to their bodies and look for signs that they’re reacting to certain stimulants so that they can adjust accordingly. If too much caffeine is keeping them up at night, advise them to cut back or ingest it earlier in the day to see if that helps. Or if alcohol makes them too groggy in the morning, try reserving it for the weekend when they can sleep in a little. Stimulants impact us all differently, so you can take a personal approach to coaching your clients through this part of their health.
5. Add supplements
You are already a trusted source of information, so giving them what they need to know will keep you at the top of their health expert list. From vitamins to minerals to herbal remedies, your community might need to supplement their nutrition right now. For people feeling sluggish, tired or lacking energy, adding supplements can help address any nutritional deficiencies. Although they do not directly protect us from a viral threat, supplements like vitamins C and D or zinc can help fill in the gaps to boost your immune system and overall health. These are the sorts of tips that your community will appreciate since there is so much conflicting information out there.
6. Stay active
With so many of us stuck at home, we’re spending extra hours on our phones or computer, often at the expense of our fitness. It’s your job to get your community moving! Convey the importance of remaining active (improving health), the fitness benefits (endorphins, boosted happiness, etc.) and provide tips on easy ways to stay active while our lives are out of sorts. This step includes looking for new ideas, fresh inspiration and a different way to look at their workouts. That’s where you come in! Inspire your community to move their bodies to improve their health with an original take on staying active during the pandemic.
Here are some home workout tips you can suggest to keep your community active and motivated:
Go online
If your business offers classes, we have great news: WellnessLiving is integrating with Zoom! All you have to do is create a Zoom account, set up your virtual classes, and invite clients to book. You can then grant special access to your exclusive video classes using our all new FitVID on Demand! Keep an eye out for our announcements over the next couple weeks to learn how you can take advantage of these new features!
If your business doesn’t offer classes, encourage your clients to explore online. Whether they feel like yoga, martial arts, HIIT classes or any other type of exercise, it can all be found with just a few clicks! So many studios and gyms are offering online classes or streaming while the pandemic persists, so your clients can follow their favorites.
Do bodyweight exercises
Things like squats, push-ups, lunges, sit ups, skipping without a rope, planks or burpees can really get the heart rate up and build strength simply by using their own body weight. Looking to increase the intensity? They can switch to stair jumps or wall pushups as their workouts progress. The added bonus with this type of exercise is that they’re measurable in reps or time, so your clients can set goals and mark their progress to help stay motivated!
Make your own props
Your clients may not realize it, but they have their own props right at home! They can use whatever they have around the house as a weight or to turn into makeshift fitness equipment. A bag of flour, sack of potatoes or bag of rice makes for a great weight, as do small children and pets! Dishcloths or paper plates can be used as sliders. A chair can help out with tricep dips. Let your clients know that getting creative with their household items will make their workouts even more fun!
Do double duty
Some of your clients may be lucky enough to have some gym equipment and props at home that you can work with to perform more than one task. Most basic gym equipment can be used in a different way, as part of their workout, if they just give it a try. Use a skipping rope for cardio and then use it as a resistance band later in the workout. If they happen to have a BOSU ball (traditionally used for balance and stability), it can also be used to ramp up your pushups or to make sit-ups more challenging. There are even different ways to use a treadmill by walking backwards or doing side shuffles to mix it up.
Offer these tips to your clients as part of your blog, in videos or include them in your automated marketing to remain a source of information, motivation and inspiration while COVID-19 continues.
Do the heavy lifting
As a respected wellness professional, your clients are looking for your expert advice to stay strong and motivated during this health crisis, so you’re going to have to do the heavy lifting here! Provide your clients with the advice they need to stay focused and headed toward their goals. Health tips like recommended sleep, stress management, nutrition and fitness tips will keep them focused and have them loving your business like never before.
