The impact of the pandemic has been monumental. Disruption to our daily lives, health and the economy presented a significant challenge. Some of the key learnings we can take from 2020 when it comes to saving money are actually quite profound; especially in the realm of improving mental and physical health.
The magnitude of the economic impact is reflective of the technical recession experienced in the second quarter of last year, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting a decline of GDP by approximately 20.4%. Disruption to employment and social events has equated to the financial squeeze, felt both nationally and globally when it comes to spending habits.
One of the lessons learned from the pandemic is that we are able to adapt our spending habits to ensure our physical health and mental well-being is maintained. Below, we outline three savvy ways to enhance your health while on a budget.
- Get moving outside
Let’s be honest here…the gym offers much more freedom when it comes to exercising compared to doing so from home. You have more equipment, space and motivation to get stuck into a session. However, with gyms being shut last year, we have also realised that going for a run, walk or cycle is a highly cost-effective alternative for cardiovascular fitness and health benefits.
If you mainly do cardiovascular exercises at the gym and you have open space nearby or a safe route, it might be worth considering trading in your gym membership or switching to a pay as you go format. It’s always important to weigh up how many times you are using the gym, if you use it frequently and enjoy it then definitely stick with it! But, if you go infrequently and pay in excess of £40 per month, you could save roughly £500 per year by simply training outside instead.
- Use YouTube as your very own personal trainer
Personal trainers and the gym offer excellent ways to enhance your workouts. However, if you feel the cost is too high or cannot access these facilities/services, there are a vast amount of training sessions and exercise tutorials available on YouTube to help guide you right from home. Training at home can be a challenge when it comes to resistance-based exercises, but for body weight exercises, resistance band exercises and dumbbell exercises, YouTube could be the way forward.
To help step up your at-home training sessions should you feel they would benefit you, you may wish to purchase some cost-effective equipment; such as an exercise mat, dumbbells, or a resistance band.
- Get cost-effective medication delivered direct online
We observed during the pandemic how difficult it was to physically visit pharmacies and stores to collect prescription and non-prescription treatments. Sometimes, the business of daily routine and financial constraints, can make getting important health treatments a challenge. It’s important to be proactive when treating sensitive health conditions given the temptation to disregard them. For example, erectile dysfunction is one of the most common male health conditions, it can be easily treated with erectile dysfunction treatments such as Viagra without the need to visit a GP.
It’s important to source medication from a reliable source. Pharmica, the UK’s trusted online pharmacy, sell effective treatments that can be ordered discreetly, delivering them quickly and directly to your door. They also have their Pharmica Price Promise, which helps to ensure you don’t pay more for prescription treatment than the lowest price if offered elsewhere for less.