There is plenty of advice available about the changes that will happen during your teenage years. There is information about puberty and what will happen as part of that process. There is also plenty about sex and relationships, especially consent, including on our page Looking After Your Physical Health as a Teenager.

However, your teenage years are also the time during which you develop good or bad habits that will last you long into adulthood. It is therefore important that you learn more about how to look after yourself as a whole: your general well-being, which includes both physical and mental health. This page explains about self-care for teenagers, and how you can develop habits that will give you a good work–life balance now and in the future.

Why Self-Care Matters

Your teenage years are a time when pressures seem to ramp up a lot.

You are navigating a world of changing friendships, changing bodies and new relationships.

There is also more and more schoolwork, and often public exams to take. Adults around you may be emphasising that these exams will affect “the rest of your life”. It’s hard not to take the message that you should be working all the time, and never doing anything else. There are so many challenges that life can sometimes feel overwhelming.

The answer is not to bury yourself in work—or avoid work altogether. It’s also not to spend so much time worrying that you don’t have capacity for anything else.

All work and no play doesn’t just make Jack a dull boy (or girl), it can make Jack physically or mentally ill. You need time to relax if you are to work, study and learn effectively, and cope with all the challenges that life throws at you.

You need, in fact, to look after yourself mentally, physically and emotionally—and that’s where self-care comes in.

What is Self-Care?

Self-care is all about looking after yourself.

When you hear adults talk about self-care, you could be forgiven for thinking that it boils down to yoga, scented candles and hot baths.

For some people, that might be right. For others, however, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

This is because self-care is completely personal.

Self-care is simply taking time to do things that give you pleasure, and make you feel good about yourself.

There are three types of self-care, and they all matter (see box).

Self-care therefore looks after your mental and physical wellbeing. It helps you to stay healthy physically. It also helps you to feel good about yourself, and means that you feel able to cope with life and all its challenges.

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Self-Care: Getting the Basics Right

Self-care starts with getting the basics right even (or possibly especially) when life is very hectic and stressful. You will certainly not feel good about yourself if you are not getting enough sleep, or only eating junk food.

There are several aspects to looking after yourself that are really important, including:

• You need to make sure that you eat well and healthily

  Fundamentally this boils down to avoiding too much ultra-processed food (which is most ready meals and fast food), and trying to eat a balanced diet that is largely home-cooked, and contains plenty of fruit and vegetables.

  There is more about this in our pages on Food, Diet and Nutrition.

• You need to get enough sleep

  This can be tricky as a teenager, because your body clock shifts and you tend to want to stay up later in the evening, and wake up later in the morning. Schools and workplaces don’t permit the late rising, and the net result is generally a growing sleep deficit.

  You can train your body clock into earlier habits—but you need to do it consistently.

  Getting up late at weekends or in school holidays, though nice at the time, is generally a quick way to lose any progress made during the week.

  There are some ideas to help you sleep more effectively in our page on What is Sleep?

• You need to take regular exercise

  Exercise helps to keep you fit, and when you are fitter, you are generally better able to manage stress and whatever else the world throws at you.

  It is therefore important to build in time to exercise, even when you are really busy or stressed. Even in the middle of public exams, you should take time out from revision to go for a walk or bike ride every now and then. You (and your revision) will be better for it.

  Exercise needn’t feel like a chore or be done alone. You can exercise with friends by going for a walk, swim or bike ride, or to the gym.

  There is more about this in our page on The Importance of Exercise.

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Beyond the Basics: Self-Care is Personal

The basics matter—but there is more to self-care than just your basic health. You also need to look after your mental health, and you as a whole.

Fundamentally, self-care is about giving yourself time to enjoy the things you enjoy.

That might be spending time with friends, going for a walk or a bike ride, going to the gym, or having a long, hot bath. Everyone’s self-care takes different forms—and you need to find the form or forms that work for you.

Self-care can be as simple as taking five minutes out just to breathe or sit still when life feels a bit much. It can also be much more than that: whatever makes you happy.

What Works for You?

How can you work out what self-care will work for you?

Young Minds, the charity that focuses on young people’s mental health, suggests asking yourself a series of questions:

• What can I do within my power that will make me feel better?

• What helps me recharge when I'm feeling drained?

• What helps me forget about my problems?

• If my best friend were in my position right now, what would I encourage them to do?

• Are my needs right now emotional, physical or practical?

The charity suggests that thinking about these questions will help you to focus on what will be helpful to you, right now—and that’s what is really meant by self-care.

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A Final Thought

Self-care is about being kind to yourself.

If you’re really struggling, and doing anything for yourself feels too much, start small. Get yourself a glass of water or a cup of tea, or go for a gentle walk around the block. If even those feel too much, just sit and breathe. It’s all looking after yourself, and that’s what matters.

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