How to Stay Healthy During a Move

Intro

• Even when you’re moving, health comes first. 
• When you’re healthy, you can manage stress better, be more flexible to when circumstances change, be more self sufficient, and maintain a happy mood. 
• Moving shakes up our routines and muddles our habits. 
  • We start packing and suddenly our treadmill is covered in boxes -- ah well no exercise today. 
  • Moving tasks pile up and there’s no time to cook dinner. Takeout again. 
  • There’s so much to do you don’t even know where to get started, so you skimp on sleep to get more done before and after work. 
• All of this leads to more stress, brain fog, and unhealthy mind and body. 
• Take care of yourself while you move. 

Hydrate

• It’s amazing how being busy can cause us to forget about drinking water
• When you’re feels stressed, drink a glass of water, it helps. Hydration keeps stress levels down (WebMD). 
• Trying to keep up with your to-do list with coffee? Double the water. 
• There’s no way around it. Keep a water bottle with you at all times and keep drinking
  • Add lemon or cucumber to increase hydration (electrolytes) 
  • Eat hydrating foods like fruits and veggies. 

Anticipate Stressful Situations, and Manage it Appropriately

• It’s moving - there will be stress. KNow how to manage it. 
  • Schedule time for yourself (the gym, read a book, lunch with a friend - whatever energizes you). This is also important to keep stress down and motivation high. 
  • Exercise - channel tension and frustration, get your heart rate up, sweat it out, energize yourself for your to dos.
  • Meditation - if you practice it, kick it up a notch. If you don’t try 2 minutes a day.  

Eat a Balanced, Healthy Diet

• It’s SO easy to go with takeout every night while you’re moving. But that does damage on your wallet and your health. Stock up your fridge with whole foods that energize you. 
  • Don’t worry about fancy meals. Stick with stir fries, salads, pastas -- quick meals that provide clean energy. 
    • With the amount of 15-minute recipes online, there’s no excuse.
      • Just tired? Have ingredients you can just toss together, or use your InstaPot to cook up meals in no time. 
• Now is not the time to crash diet or live solely on potato chips and grocery store sandwiches. Your body and brain need healthy food to operate well and keep up with everything going on.
• Don’t skip meals
• Do you body and brain a favor and feed it what it needs to get through this move sanely. 

Sleep

• It’s tempting to stay up to get stuff done - sometimes you can’t avoid it. But running on empty throughout your move will only lead to you forgetting important details, starting fights with family members, and making things harder on yourself. 
  • You ever been so tired you forget why you walked into a room? Do you really want that going on while you’re moving and everything is out of place? Sleep. 
  • You will get MORE done if you take care of yourself. 

Take it One Step at a Time 

• Surefire way to stress out is to procrastinate. Give yourself plenty of time and small tasks to conquer every day.
  • EX: today I will sort my closet into “donate” “keep” “sell” and “throw away”. Tomorrow I will call my kid’s school and set up registration. Etc. 
  • Breaking things up into small, manageable chunks keeps you sane and things get done at a more realistic rate. 

Know Your Limits

There’s a lot to do, and you want to do it right. Understand what can be done now, what can wait, and what you may need help with. 

• Don’t lift boxes if they’re too heavy. 
• Say ‘no’ to commitments if you don’t have time. 
• Stop packing, organizing, or handling a moving task if you’re overworked. 

Prevent Injury and Stay Safe 

• Use proper lifting techniques
  • Lift with your legs. 
• Use proper equipment
• Ask friends to help
• Rely on professional movers 
• Wear proper clothing 

<Conclusion>

Reiterate main points + explain hiring professional movers makes things easier 

DRAFT:  

There are studies that show that moving is one of the most stressful events a person will experience in their life. Here are some reasons why that might be true: heavy lifting, separating, organizing, donating, garage saling, finally throwing away your coke can collection, turning off utilities, turning on utilities, being on hold with the cable company, saying good-bye to old friends, oh yeah and UPROOTING YOUR ENTIRE LIFE! Let’s just say, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re moving. 

One of the first things to get tossed out along with your beloved coke can collection? Your health. It’s hard to stay healthy when moving. Moving shakes up your routine and muddles your habits. Exercise? Can’t. There are boxes on the treadmill. Balanced meal? No time. Have to get take out for the fifth day in a row. Sleep? Ha! Waaay too much to do for that. Yet these unhealthy tendencies that take over during a move only cause more stress, brain fog and a renewed addiction to french fries. Instead, read on for healthy moving tips that will keep you safe and sane during your move. 

Hydrate

Stress and moving might as well be synonyms. It’s easy to get caught up in all the gazillion things you have to get accomplished while moving. One thing to always keep at the top of your list is H2O. That’s right, water. According to WebMD hydration keeps stress levels down. Make sure to keep a water bottle with you at all times. Maybe add a lemon or some other fruit to make it more enticing to drink. It also helps to eat hydrating foods like fruits and vegetables. Did someone say watermelon break? Keeping caffeinated to speed up the move? Double your water intake.  Caffeine is a diuretic and can work against staying hydrated. It’s also a good idea to keep a timer that goes off every hour to remind you to take five sips before continuing with the chaos of sifting and sorting. 

Anticipate Stressful Situations, and Manage it Appropriately

You don’t have to Google it to know that moving is stressful. So instead of waiting for the stress to come at you, be ready for it and combat it head on! Start by scheduling time for yourself to take a break, read a book, smell the roses. While it may be hard to workout when you’re busy, exercise is a great way to channel your moving stress by sweating it all out. If you meditate, kick it up a notch and work in an extra ten minutes. If you don’t, try it. Even taking a couple of minutes to breathe deeply will help calm your nervous system. 

Eat a Balanced, Healthy Diet

Why invite more stress into a move by stressing out your body? Instead, take care of your body by making sure to eat well when moving.  Resist getting takeout every night the week before your move. Stay fit when moving by stocking  the fridge with whole foods that energize you. Don’t have time to cook a fancy meal? Stick to “throw together” meals like stir fry, salads and pastas. These are easy meals that still pack in the nutrition. Don’t have time even for that? Throw some veggies and a protein in a crockpot on your way to work so it will be waiting for you when you get home. Now you have that whole hour that you would have spent cooking to work on moving. Now is not the time to crash diet or live solely on potato chips and grocery store sandwiches. It’s important to eat healthy when stressed so your body and brain get what they need to operate efficiently. Resist skipping meals and do your body a favor by feeding it what it needs to get through this move sanely. 

Sleep

Have you ever been so tired you forget why you walked into a room? Sleep. Have you ever stayed up too late trying to get things done that you find yourself on the floor at 3 a.m. drooling over old photos? Sleep. Have you ever started a pointless fight with a family member that later makes no sense? Sleep. Why make things harder on yourself during a move? Instead, well, you know, sleep.  Things will be clearer, happier and more productive in the morning!

Take it One Snowflake at a Time 

Ever heard of the snowball effect? It’s when you take all the snowflakes (all the tasks that you have to do), put them all together, and suddenly, they form a giant snowball (your entire move).  That’s about the time when you decide to do nothing and take a nap. Not what one would call the best way to move yourself. Instead of letting procrastination win, deconstruct the snowball and eliminate one snowflake at time. Breaking things up into small, manageable chunks keeps you sane and productive during your move. 

Know Your Limits

There you are with a whole house full of things that need to be sorted, cleaned, packed, sold, donated and moved. You stand before 50 million things, yet there is only one of you. Don’t get crazy. If it’s too heavy, get help to lift it. If you need a break, take one. If someone asks you for a favor, don’t feel bad about saying no so you can focus on your move. Know your limits and keep your boundaries. 

Prevent Injury and Stay Safe 

Last, but certainly not least, it’s important to stay safe and protect yourself from injury on moving day by following these healthy movement precautions: 

• Use proper lifting techniques. Always lift with your legs by bending your knees and never with your back. Have bad knees? Let the movers do it or get help from a friend. 
• Use proper equipment. Things like dollies, lifting belts, back braces, moving blankets, etc. can help you move heavy equipment safely. 
• Wear proper clothing. Don’t wear anything that might get caught on a corner or a protruding nail. Wear long sleeves and long pants to avoid scratches and bruises. Always wear closed-toed shoes and make sure those laces are tied nice and tight!

Conclusion

While it’s easy to focus on the move and getting things done in a timely fashion, taking care of your health will help keep your stress levels low. If you need help, you can always count on the professional movers and Moving Forward to do all the heavy lifting for a safe and efficient move.