With the 2024 Summer Olympics starting this week, we want to help you win a gold-medal in Body-focused repetitive behavior FREEDOM! To stick the landing, you need to do the right warm-up exercises. Here’s 10 things that you should start implementing into your daily routine that will sharpen the skills you need to manage your hair pulling (Trichotillomania), skin picking (dermatillomania), and nail biting (Onychophagia).
- Deep Breathing Exercises: Hair pulling serves a purpose: self-soothing. To manage it, you need to build up other self-soothing skills. Deep breathing is a great one because you can do it whenever you want, wherever you want, and no one will notice. Implementing deep breathing into your everyday life helps you create a new self-soothing skill that you can use when you need it.
- Notice your 5 senses: Practicing mindfulness can help increase awareness of BFRB urges and triggers, which keeps you more informed, and your nervous system more balanced. Throughout the day, take 30 seconds to notice what you’re seeing, feeling, touching, tasting, and smelling. It seems like a simple activity, but it is an easy exercise to help build your awareness muscles (essential in managing your BFRB).
- Morning stretches: Start your day doing something for the sake of your body and mind. Morning stretches help wake up your body and regulate your nervous system for later in the day.
- Take Fidget Toys With You: Use stress balls, fidget spinners, or other tactile objects to keep your hands occupied when you’re doing focused activities like watching TV, reading, or working.
- Notice where your hands are: You might be surprised how many times a day your hand finds its way to resting on your cheek, your chin, or in your hair. Sure it’s not technically pulling or picking, but it’s a bridge to it. Notice when your hands wander and set an intention to stretch and redirect when you do.
- Taking Walks: Regular physical activity, such as walking, running, yoga, or swimming, increases the chemicals in your brain that make you feel happier. Taking walks is an easy way to start getting in regular physical activity, and lets you get some fresh air, too!
- Journaling: Keep a journal to track pulling urges, triggers, and patterns. Writing about feelings and experiences can help you identify patterns, as well as get out anxious thoughts that might trigger pulling.
- Artistic Outlets: Engage in drawing, painting, or other creative activities because they keep your hands busy and give you an outlet to express yourself, as well as giving you an awesome sense of satisfaction when you finish a project!
- Find Support: Trichotillomania comes with a feeling of shame. When you can find a community of people who get it, and have open and judgment-free conversations with them, the sense of shame will begin to feel less intense.
- Wear the Keen2 Awareness Bracelet: Putting on your Keen2 bracelet everyday is doing something amazing for the sake of YOU. Keen2 vibrates when you do your behavior, helping you build your awareness muscles and prompting you to engage your mindfulness muscles to choose a healthier self-soothing activity. It also keeps track of your data in the companion app, giving you insight and helping you identify patterns.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, just like Olympic athletes didn’t perfect their form on their first try! That’s why it’s so important to do these 10 tasks regularly and diligently. They won’t feel perfect, or problem-solving the first few times you do it, but gradually over time, they will make a difference in your Trichotillomania urges and your overall mental health.
Header photo by Alexander Redl
