Achieve wellness
Women’s Health Digital Editor Amy Hopkinson’s balanced approach will teach you to feel good today – and every day
Begin your morning in a rush and it can affect your whole day. Fact. That’s why Amy Hopkinson, or @wellness_ed to Instagram, starts hers mindfully with daily habits that she knows make her feel good. ‘There’s only so much one person can remember,’ she says. ‘My advice? Write an on-my-mind list to clear some headspace first thing.’ It’s this attitude that stops her from reaching peak-stress by 11am, when so many others are fretting over their inboxes. Pulling on her first set of Lycra of the day, she’s straight to the kitchen for the next of her morning rituals: making a black Americano. This fuels a power hour of scanning the health news and responding to Instagram messages on her commute – resisting social media until she’s left the house helps keep her stress levels down. And so too does her morning workout at her favourite gym. It’s about working out to feel good – after all, the achievement of completing three pull-ups always beats losing a pound. Her favourite gym tip? ‘Put your phone on airplane mode and connect with yourself, not social media.’ Mid-afternoon, you’ll find her popping into Starbucks to grab an oat latte macchiato. But taking time out to kill minutes this is not. Rather, it’s allowing herself the space to do her best thinking. In only 15 minutes of being out of touch with her phone or emails, she’s in touch with her own ideas and thoughts. From start to finish, her day revolves around living in the moment and connecting with herself, because ‘a healthy body starts with a healthy mind’, says Amy. A mindset we could all learn a thing or two from.
‘WHEN YOU STOP COMPETING WITH OTHERS, YOU CAN START TO CONNECT WITH YOURSELF’