When we talk about post-surgery recovery, much of the dialogue tends to rotate around the best ways to care for yourself physically.
However, it’s important that you’re keeping your mental health well looked after, too.
Indeed, cosmetic surgery can cause a whirlwind of emotions, and during the healing process, it’s absolutely normal to experience feelings of doubt, uncertainty or unease.
Such feelings can include the likes of lethargy, brain fog, emotional sensitivity, irritability and anxiety. You may also experience guilt from being less productive due to having to rest/having less mobility than usual.
We here at Dr John are here to guide you through these emotions.
Generally, we find that most of these feelings will subside after about 2 or 3 weeks. To speed up the process, we suggest considering the following:
Reaching out to family and friends
It’s is always useful to reach out to people who care about you. They can provide you with friendly words of advice and can provide you with any necessary help that you may need with things, such as work around the house. Expressing these feelings to loved ones can also help increase your sense of belonging, improve your self-confidence, and also reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
Going outside
It’s true that your body only needs 5 to 15 minutes’ worth of sun to benefit from vitamin D. Not only does vitamin D help aid your physical recovery, but it’s also essential for your mental health. Research shows that not having enough of the vitamin can lead to depression-like symptoms, so why not go for a walk?
Don’t delay resuming your usual routine
We appreciate that after surgery you may feel lethargic, or grow quickly accustomed to lying on your couch watching that new season of your favourite TV show on Netflix. However, it’s important that you try to resume your usual routine as soon as you feel fit and able to – whether this is work, your hobbies or any other daily activities you’d usually partake in. This should work wonders in returning you to a state of normality.
Avoid napping during the day
Napping during the day can disrupt a normal bedtime routine, and prevent your body and brain from getting the vital time for rest and rejuvenation that it needs. Try to hold off on this (if possible).
Following your surgery with Dr John, you’ll be equipped with the details of his aftercare team who will always be willing to assist you further.
Of course, in the unlikely case that you find that you’re still not feeling like your usual self, then we would kindly suggest that you reach out to your GP – they shall be able to help.
