Embrace a New Lifestyle, Your 2021 Health Reset
As a society, we’re not the healthiest. As study conducted in 2018 found that almost three quarters of British men and more than half of British women were overweight—or obese. This coincides with many of us being generally unhealthy. This puts us at an increased risk of Cardiovascular problems, hypertension, stokes, and cancer. Scary stuff. We desperately need to do something about it. Even those of us that think we’re healthy, could do with a life tune up (if we’re honest with ourselves).
We’re simply not eating what we should or exercising enough. And to make things worse, Coronavirus has exacerbated any bad habits we had before.
Coronavirus isn’t helping our health
What we’re experiencing with the current pandemic is a collective trauma unheard of in peace time. At first, we coped well. However, the relentless financial and economic uncertainty, risk to life, and social isolating is taking its toll. How could it not?
For some of us, this is the first time in our lives we’ve experienced a prolonged trauma, and it’s changing our moods and behaviour in ways unfamiliar to us. Perhaps we’re feeling depressed and anxious, with no easy way of calming ourselves. So, to mitigate our low ebb we’re comfort eating junk food and drinking alcohol—more than usual. This, coupled with longer periods at home and chronic stress, is ruining our health.
Stress alone can have numerous health effects on our bodies, as can a comfort diet high in sugar, fat, and salt. Alcohol too if overindulged in. Suffice to say our typical lifestyle habits, made worse by a global pandemic, have left us in a sorry state.
And to top it off, Christmas and New Year are emerging over the hill. A time of year not known for restraint. But being able to celebrate with our families after a difficult 2020 will boost our mental health no end. Something we all need. We can enter 2021 in a better place mentally, knowing a vaccine is on its way, with the courage to make a positive lifestyle change. One beyond new year’s resolutions.
Go beyond New Year’s resolutions
It’s no secret and often joked about that new year’s resolutions are never kept. It’s true, we make all sorts of promises to ourselves at the turn of the year. The problem is they are made lightly without the introspection required for change. In fact, just saying to ourselves we’ll change a negative lifestyle habit makes us feel better. It is a self-soothing psychological ritual, deferring unpleasant emotions, to be dealt with later.
New year’s resolutions often surround diets and exercise, which is great, but are formed in a post party season haze of guilt, impulsively. Then normality returns, we’re busy with work and life commitments, and our resolutions fade. As if they didn’t exist.
Making a true and beneficial change is not about creating new year’s tick boxes, but getting to the core of who we are, and importantly, who we want to be—cliché as that sounds. It’s about learning to treat our minds and bodies with respect—and educating ourselves on what that means and how to do it. Doctors and health officials like to order us to “eat less processed food” for example. What is processed food? Are we sure we know? Eating healthily isn’t just avoiding chocolate bars; it’s rewriting everything we know about food. This doesn’t happen overnight.
Even if you’ve dug deep and found the motivation to change, the dedication and knowledge required can be overwhelming. However, you don’t have to go it alone. Here at the Glass House Retreat we help you harness that spark of change, kindling a fire, and giving you the information and structure you need to be successful in your goals.
Resetting your life is much easier in a community of likeminded people.
What do we focus on at our retreat?
Relaxation & mindfulness
If we’re stressed out and tense we can’t think clearly, let alone get healthy and happy. At the Glass House we have all manner of blissful, natural spa treatments and massages. Sometimes we don’t recognise how bunched up we are until our muscles relax. It literally feels like a weight is being lifted off us. Honestly, you’ll feel wonderful after some sessions in our spa—able to take on the world once more.
We also offer mindfulness classes. When we’re anxious and running off adrenaline, the baseline for modern existence, we’re not grounded in the present. We’re stuck in our heads, in a past that’s gone and a future that has yet to happen. By learning to be mindful, we’re reconnecting with our body, mind, and environment. If you have mindfulness down, you’ll have a healthy tool to deal with stress in the future.
A wide variety of exercise classes
Exercise needn’t be a chore, or something slogged away at alone. It can be a fun and social activity. We have a range of exercise classes to get involved in, from low intensity to high intensity and everything in between. We want to ensure you enjoy yourself, experience tangible results, and get the chance to push yourself.
Once you start, you’ll find exercising addictive. Unlike snake oil, it’s a real-life cure all. As humans the need for exercise is in our DNA. It’s primal. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that exercising not only improves our physical appearance but has profound and positive effects on our mental health. It’s a natural antidepressant.
Plant based food & cooking classes
People eating plant-based diets and becoming vegan has skyrocketed in the last few years. One of the main motivators behind this is the catastrophic impact of the meat industry on animal welfare, environmental health, and climate change. Another motivator helped on by fantastic documentaries such as the Game Changers, is our health. We’re discovering that we don’t need meat to be healthy, and that eating it might be detrimental to us.
At the Glass House we serve delicious, colourful, and diverse plant-based and vegan food. You’ll see that the alternative to meat isn’t an alternative at all. It’s the next logical step for society to take. Also, we don’t just serve it. We want to give you the knowledge to continue your new lifestyle beyond the Glass House, which is why we offer informative plant based, vegan cookery classes. Not knowing how to prepare wholesome meals is one of the biggest reasons we revert to easy junk food.
Book into the Glass House for a fresh start
Why not gift yourself a new life in 2021, starting with a wellness break? Immerse yourself in detoxifying spa treatments and food, invigorating fitness, educational talks and classes, and pretty countryside. After an emotionally wearing 2020, it’s the chance to start again fresh, putting your personal wellbeing first.