10 Science-Backed Self-Care Tips for Professional Cheerleaders

The career of professional cheerleading is a superhero’s occupation to me. Some of you ladies out there are juggling school, work, or parenting life together with squad activities. This goes the same to aspiring pro cheerleaders.

You have workouts in the morning, office or school until the afternoon, and squad practice in the evening. Like superheroes, these assortment of activities make it hard for pro cheerleaders like you to tend your own welfare. It can be the physical, spiritual, or mental aspect.

The 10 self-care tips you’ll find below are very simple and mostly free.

1. Breathe in the healing scents

In yoga, we’ve known that breathing techniques have profound health benefits. But, what we breathe is also as important as how we breathe. Find out if you’re not allergic to aromatherapy first.

When you’re in the clear, choose your scent for healing. You can pick Lavender to relieve stress or Lemon for headaches and mood improvement.

2. Meditation

Sit on the floor, close your eyes, and breathe deeply in a calm manner. Clear your mind and relax. Let your thoughts wander into places. This will help you reinvigorate your spirit while resetting your mind through letting go of the psychological stresses you face.

3. Eat more fruits and veggies

As pro cheerleaders, getting enough nourishment is hard to achieve due to intense daily activities. Not to mention, to supply the demand for energy and satisfaction, you have a chance of mindlessly resorting to unhealthy food.

To keep your body’s healthy nutritional balance, substitute your sweet cravings for fruits. If you get hungry often, veggies with high fiber will keep you fuller for longer. You’ll also get a lot of vitamins as well depending on the greens you consume.

4. Take a long warm bath

After a long day at the gym or the office, nothing beats a long warm soak in the tub or shower. Warm water is best to soothe muscle pains due to workouts, routine practices, or by sitting in the office.

5. Engage on technology-fasting

Constantly facing a computer or phone causes dry eyes, blurred vision, and headaches. At night it makes dozing off to dreamland even harder. Take a timeout from screens of gadgets at least twice a day in a week or for a few hours in the day.

You’ll be giving yourself time to heal your overworked eyes. Besides, too much technology use can be suffocating and the outdoors is too beautiful to ignore. So why focus on social media drama when you can go sightseeing?

6. Talk with someone you love

Nothing beats the high of having a little dose of oxytocin. Being with the one you love, hearing their voice, or seeing their face is enough to turn a bad or boring day into a celebration. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the phone and far away from each other. It’s communication that matters.

7. Lend a hand

Another way to feel better about yourself is to help others. It can be giving spare change to the homeless or helping a friend in need. The feeling of accomplishment by doing something good is already an emotional reward itself.

8. Take naps during the day

Even if you get your recommended hours of sleep at night, there are times where you’ll still find yourself exhausted during the day. Listen to what your body tells you. If you’re sleepy, then take a good 30-minutes to an hour-and-a-half nap.

9. Make one small healthy change to your diet

Every week, go the extra mile of being healthy. This can be an additional glass of water drank every day or an extra serving size of veggies on your plate.

10. Go cloud-watching

If meditation isn’t your ideal mental self-care method, you can go out to the park and lie down under a tree’s shade. Watch the soothing blue sky and white clouds go by on a good weather day.

Reflect on yourself. Doze off if you want. That’s mental, spiritual, and physical self-caring in one sitting.

The best self-care you can give yourself is to keep a conscious effort not to overdo things especially workouts. Nourish yourself with vitamins and minerals to stay healthy by eating vegetables and fruits. Get your recommended hours of sleep every night. And, don’t forget to foster healthy relationships with friends and family members.

Here are more self-care articles from PRO CHEER LIFE™:

Stay updated with Pro Cheer Life's best fitness, beauty, motivation, and audition day tips

Our professional cheerleading community has all the tools and resources you need to achieve your pro cheer goals. Whether you are a dreamer, pro cheer candidate, newbie or veteran, Pro Cheer Life is here to help you succeed.

Join our community by signing up for our mailing list below. What’s in it for you? We offer you free pro cheerleading advice that will boost not just your pro cheer career but also improve other areas of your life.