Everyday Wellness: Sleep, Nutrition, and Movement
Sleep
Adequate sleep is one of the pillars of holistic wellness. If you're struggling with your sleep, or just want to try making your nights more restful, these resources from the Harvard Center for Wellness and Health Promotion and the Harvard Medical School are great starting places.
For even more information about sleep, you can explore the NHS website sleep page and the National Healthy Sleep Awareness website.
Sleep resources for kids
- Information about healthy sleep habits for kids from the Child Mind Institute (free)
- Classes and guides for helping babies and toddlers sleep from Taking Cara Babies (paid)
- Information for creating a bedtime book ritual from PBS (free)
Nutrition
Harvard offers a number of resources to help you learn about nutrition and sustain healthy eating habits. Check out the core concepts of healthy eating from the Center for Wellness and Health Promotion and the extensive resources (e.g., nutrition news, recipes, a newsletter, and articles about different kinds of diets and nutrients) on the School of Public Health Nutrition Source website.
If you're interested in seeing a nutritionist or dietitian, you can schedule an appointment through Harvard Health Services.
Cambridge Farmers markets are currently open with COVID-19 precautions in place. More information can be found on the Farmers Market page on the Cambridge website.
During times of stress, it can be difficult to maintain healthy eating habits. But with practice, eating can become a mindfulness ritual to ground your day. Try out some of these mindful eating exercises and tips.
Nutrition for kids
- Healthy, kid-friendly recipes from the Feel Good Foodie
- Recipes and tips from the Super Healthy Kids blog
Daily Movement & Mindfulness
Regular movement is essential to physical and mental health. Recommendations for daily movement can be found on the Harvard Center for Wellness and Health Promotion website as well as the Harvard Medical School website.
The Harvard Center for Wellness and Health Promotion defines mindfulness as "paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance" and provides recorded meditations to get you started on a mindfulness practice.
The Center for Wellness and Health Promotions also offers zoom meditation sessions and links to a variety of other local and online resources.
Mindfulness resources
For adults/parents
- Virtual classes and programs from the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (free short "drop ins" and paid longer programs)
- A guided rainbow meditation, from Child-Parent Psychotherapy on YouTube
- A podcast about Mindfulness, Bias, and Racial Justice from Point of View
For kids
- A butterfly meditation for kids, from Breethe on YouTube
- A two-minute mindfulness practice for kids, from Fablefy on YouTube
- Instructions for a number of mindfulness practices for kids, from TherapistAid
Mindfulness and Meditation apps
- Headspace and Headspace for kids
- Calm
- Liberate
a mindfulness app designed for members of the BIPOC community - Insight Timer
Emotional Wellness
What is Emotional Wellness?
Emotional wellness means being able to monitor and adaptively respond to your own emotions (sometimes called "self-regulation"), as well as promoting positive emotions like gratitude and joy.
For adults/parents
- Get to know your own emotions better with the Atlas of Emotions website
- Information about promoting self-regulation in kids, from Child Mind Institute
For kids
- An activity to "melt" bad feelings, from GoNoodle
- An activity to control stressful energy, from GoNoodle on YouTube
- A mindful awareness game, from Susan Kaiser Greenland on YouTube
- A belly breathing activity, from Sesame Street
- A feelings charades game to teach kids to understand and recognize emotions, from PBS
- Instructions to make a "calming down jar"
Mental Health
- If you're looking for mental health support as a member of the Harvard community, Harvard Health Services' Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMS) is a good place to start. Appointments can be scheduled through the patient portal for Harvard students or members of the Harvard community who receive care at Harvard University Health Services. CAMS also provides online workshops and groups for Harvard students and supports the University wellbeing initiative.
Another option for students is TimelyCare, a virtual health and well-being platform. However, it's important to note that TimelyCare is only available to students who have paid the Harvard Health Fee.
- If you're interested in finding a community-based mental health practitioner, you can check out Thriving Campus, a website that partners with Harvard to connect students and affiliates to local practitioners. Their "help guide" page also provides information about first appointments, navigating insurance, and more.
Mental health resources for BIPOC
- The Safe Place app (free)
- An excerpt from "The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health" by Rheeda Walker, on Buzzfeed
- Latinx Therapy
A website for finding Latinx therapists and speakers.
