Lockdown Self Care Series: Coping With Change And Excessive Screen Time
Here in California, we have been “working from home” and “sheltering in place” for about five weeks, which means our physical location here in East Sacramento has been closed that whole time. My Enlighten Bodhi Spa business cohorts and myself have had a lot of realizations about our time and energy, where we could focus better and what took a lot of our time, and surprisingly have also continued to be able to (virtually) work with and for our clients. One way I get to do this is through these blog posts, which had to shift in a way I didn’t see coming before our current lockdown. Being in the treatment room, I have the opportunity to chat with people everyday and hear their questions and what’s trending in skincare. Not being in that environment, my awareness has shifted and the requests are different. I keep getting asked what I am doing, what’s my routine, how am I keeping sane during all this and most importantly am I working. To respond to all of these questions, and hopefully encourage anyone else going through staying self motivated right now, I have decided to write about my experience in lockdown. The first few days after closing our doors temporarily and taking home work that I couldn’t get to before, I was scrolling through Instagram and read a quote on one of Fab Five Jonathan Van Ness’s posts (I am paraphrasing):
“This is the time to dot all those i’s and cross all those t’s that you didn’t have time to get to before.”
And that is exactly what we did! This first blog is going to focus on how a focused mindset can shift our whole body wellness, and the increase of screen time and it’s effects on our eyes and skin, because of course I have to talk about skin care ;-D
I saw this picture when I was creating the images for this blog and it instantly put everything into perspective. This moment, like all before and after, are opportunities for our growth, it is all in how we look at it.
When you are have a sudden shift in your reality, especially one that is outside of your control like a pandemic, you have an opportunity to either view it as a chance to make a change and evolve through it or to sit by and not take that chance. This time in solitude has shown us that maybe the way we were running our lives and business before was not allowing us the opportunity to truly thrive.
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Every morning I check LinkedIn and see what’s the beat on the street in the small business circles, and it has always served as a source of inspiration. There are a lot of large companies, like Dyson and Virgin Atlantic, creating ventilators and masks in large quantities while also taking extra precautions for the safety of their employees. There are small deli’s making bag lunches for nurses and doctors on the front lines, and boat sail makers sewing up masks for those still going out to work and for essential supplies. Now, I don’t sew nor does my business offer something as amazing as ventilator fabrication, and being so small I also don’t have the capitol to donate financially as it all has to go towards keeping our doors closed for now so we can safely reopen later. The first hurdle I had to get over in my lockdown-mindset was thinking my contribution to the world was not enough, that I should be doing or giving more. Like FOMO but more heart-wrenching. So for this, I started with getting my mental game more focused. Meditation and prayer are known to help calm the mind and release thoughts that are not serving us, something very important right now where we are alone a lot with our thoughts. I up’ed my meditation and my daily Buddhist practice of chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, and immediately the shift started.
To keep my lockdown-mindset positive and not traveling down a sad, dark hole, I have to daily practice meditation and prayer. Without starting there, I wasn’t able to see the opportunities I had before me. Once I set my intention, and coupled it with determined daily self-reflection I was able to move forward and start creating value, like this blog I get to share with you!
“The most powerful part of meditation come from having a regular, daily practice.”
Another facet to our lockdown is the increase to our screen time, and this can affect us in more ways than we think. In my working from home lifestyle, I typically have my TV playing YouTube music videos, in front of my computer, with my phone right next to my keyboard constantly using it to AirDrop. When I was at the spa, I had to take “screen breaks” at least an hour to two hours three times throughout my workday to work on clients. Currently not working on clients, if I don’t make a mental note to step away from my computer and not sit down and watch a show, my eyes and my skin are subject to blue light damage more now than ever. So what’s the real deal, is it harmful? Is there anything you can do to keep your precious skin and peepers safe?
“Long-term blue light exposure to concentrated sources of blue light energy can cause skin damage, including color changes, inflammation, and weakening of the skin’s surface. Simply put, blue light promotes stressors in skin that cause photo-aging; that is, aging from exposure to light.”
Over my years in the treatment room, I have noticed that the number one issue I see with skin is an impaired barrier. It will be interesting to see when I get back to working on my clients what the effects of blue light will have had on their skin. Let’s look at some science begin blue light. It lives on the Light Spectrum in the 380-500 nm range, which means it falls in the UV section with comic rays and microwave radiation. The one perk to most of our (previous to our current moment) blue light radiation came from the sun and was dispersed as it had quite a ways to travel to reach our eyes and skin. The damage though is still very real, damaging the surface of our skin and our eyes called “photo-aging”. Photo-aging is UV radiation damage that has broken down the proteins in our dermis known for supporting healthy skin, collagen and elastin. This results in wrinkles, leathery looking skin surface, broken blood vessels, uneven pigmentation and sagging of the skin.
However, that same blue light that we get from our sun, is what our cell phones, tablets, TV and computers emit as well. There is quite a difference though between the two, the issue being that we are way closer to our cell phones when scrolling through FB or IG for an hour. That proximity is what is leading to more visible damage from blue light:
With millennials checking their phones an average of 150 times a day, and a 2019 report finding most people, on average, spend three hours and 15 minutes on our phones a day, with the top 20 per cent of smartphone users having daily screen time in excess of four and a half hours, we’re getting significantly more blue light exposure than we used to from the sun alone.
-Bridget March, Harpers Bazaar “Effects of Blue Light on the Skin - How to Prevent Damage”
With our current lockdown orders for our health and safety, we are on our devices more so than ever. Even our kids, who before this were discouraged from “screen time”, are on their tablets mandatory for school! What can you do in the meantime to take care of your skin and eyes? There’s actually a few things that are simple and can be done with only clicking your screen.
Our smart phones are actually pretty smart, most of them have a mode called “ night mode” or “nightshift” where the screen switches from blue light to a warmer, yellow light. You can find it in the settings section of your phone.
Retailers like Amazon or Best Buy sell “blue light screen shields” which you can place on your tablet or computer screen.
Most optical retailers now have a “blue light shield” option you can coat your prescription, or even non-perscription, glasses with. A friend of mine got a pair of blue light glasses, they were so cute and non-prescription as she has 20-20 vision, safety and preventative care reward the diligent.
Invest in skincare serums that are rich in antioxidants. We have one that our clients love called the Vitamin C Green Tea Serum, it is loaded with all the goodies to keep your skin healthy and protected.
Make sure the products that you are using daily address environmental stressors and damage. I have written a few blogs on the subject, most of it being in the “Summer Skin Series”. One great way to know whether your skincare does or does not address this, is by checking out the ingredient list. Be your own skin detective and google or bing search what exactly are the first five ingredients in your main products. Those are the most active and in the highest concentration in your product.
That should give you a good foundation on blue light and being proactive in your whole body wellness. Be diligent and persistent in your healthy lifestyle and you will thank yourself later!
With that, let this be the starting point where we together, as one big human family, take advantage of the time we have, and to reconstruct our daily lives so that we make sure to make the most of every moment. Every moment is so precious, how do you want to fill it?
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri