Self-care means meeting your own needs. You can do this a lot or a little, but it’s important to set a goal and stick to it. Tell yourself that you are valued. If you spend most of your time taking care of others, now is the perfect time to give back to yourself! There are six ways to think about self-care: your body, your job, your relationships, your emotions, your mental health and your spirituality.
Think about each section below and find tips to get started on your self-care journey.
Take care of your body
Physical self-care is about getting back to basics for your body. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Eat in a way that’s good for you</li>
 <li>Exercise often</li>
 <li>Sleep more</li>
</ul>

Manage your work and career
Balance your job and the rest of your life. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Turn off work messages at the end of the day</li>
 <li>Take lunch breaks</li>
 <li>Reward yourself when you reach goals</li>
</ul>

Spend time with family and friends
Get closer to people you love. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Do video calls with family</li>
 <li>Take a walk with a friend</li>
 <li>Ask for help from others</li>
 <li>Join a club or community group</li>
</ul>

Watch your emotions
Ask yourself how you’re doing. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Keep a journal</li>
 <li>Take time off</li>
 <li>Vent when you’re angry</li>
 <li>Find what makes you happy</li>
</ul>

Take care of your mind
Meet with a counselor or do something to calm your mind. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Mute phone alerts</li>
 <li>Take a walk outdoors</li>
 <li>Book a therapy session</li>
 <li>Take time to reflect</li>
</ul>

Make time for religion or spirituality
These needs may not include religion but staying connected to the world around you. Try these tips:
<ul>
 <li>Seek out nature</li>
 <li>Meditate or sing</li>
 <li>Attend a religious or spiritual service</li>
</ul>

Your Guide to Self-care

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Babylon members are now more empowered than ever before to take control of their own health. We’re committed to giving our members the tools and information they need to fully engage in their own care. We recently made three key product improvements that enable our members to get healthy and stay healthy, all from devices they already own.&nbsp;
 
<h2>1. Enabling preventative care through proactive member alerts and early clinical interventions for out-of-bounds blood pressure readings</h2>
Members can now receive smart detection notifications when their blood pressure is out of range through our app’s MyHealth function. MyHealth gives members a view of their health performance over time by tracking metrics like blood pressure and weight. Most notably, this enhancement empowers users to stay informed about their health in real-time.&nbsp;
By notifying our members early about health-related data points, we can proactively address potential health issues.&nbsp;Ultimately, this smart detection feature will help us reduce the cost of care delivery while enhancing the overall well-being of our users.&nbsp;
Depending on the blood pressure reading entered, users will receive color-coded alerts: red for critical values, amber for cautionary levels, and green for normal ranges. Red alerts prompt immediate assistance from a live agent chat to book an appointment, amber alerts direct users to a virtual bot for guidance, and green alerts signify no intervention is needed.&nbsp;
 
<h2>2. Highlighting the most important health information for each member in our app</h2>
Babylon members now have a clearer view of their important health information in the Babylon app. This summer, we revamped the information hierarchy on our app’s metric detail screens. The most critical and useful information now takes center stage, with each user’s “hero number” or personal health score prominently displayed at the top of the screen. Additionally, we introduced a color-coded RAG (Red, Amber, Green) status indication, providing users with immediate visual cues on their health status. This allows users to quickly assess if there are any concerns and take timely action through the “message our care team” button if needed.
<figure data-asset-id="93e5112c-40bd-447c-82d2-3d096d02c874" data-image-id="93e5112c-40bd-447c-82d2-3d096d02c874"><img src="https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com:443/4375e5c0-87b8-0077-7797-0e040a2a0a8d/f2c7b651-19a2-407f-bb03-3c063ef69b2e/Member%20Screens.png" data-asset-id="93e5112c-40bd-447c-82d2-3d096d02c874" data-image-id="93e5112c-40bd-447c-82d2-3d096d02c874" alt="Image of newly released screens in Babylon's app that show personal health metrics and improve the member experience"></figure>
Furthermore, this release brings notable improvements to the graphs within the app’s My Health section. Users can now easily identify the relevant time span below each graph component, gaining a better understanding of their health trends and progress. With this enhanced presentation, users can readily grasp the most critical insights and make informed decisions about their well-being.&nbsp;
 
<h2>3. Enabling 83% faster chat experiences for our members with multi-chat</h2>
About 90% of customers consider a quick reaction from support to their inquiry to be very important. Babylon member agents are now answering more member chats, faster than ever before, providing a superior member experience. A single chat agent is now able to concurrently chat with multiple members through our app, without impacting agent response and interaction timings. We’ve also added the ability for patients and agents to securely send attachments like photos and documents.&nbsp;
Let’s compare before and after:&nbsp;
<ul>
 <li>Chat answer rate: 18% improvement</li>
 <li>Member wait time: Median member wait time is now 21 seconds, an 83% improvement&nbsp;</li>
 <li>Agent interaction time: no impact, indicating that handling multiple chats at the same time is not increasing agent response times or the length of each conversation</li>
</ul>
<table><tbody>
 <tr><td> </td><td>After multi-chat</td><td>Before multi-chat</td></tr>
 <tr><td>Chat answer rate</td><td>84.5%</td><td>66.5%</td></tr>
 <tr><td>Wait time (median)</td><td>0.35 minutes</td><td>2.1 minutes</td></tr>
 <tr><td>Agent interaction time (median)</td><td>7.5 minutes</td><td>7.5 minutes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
At Babylon, we know that by giving our members the tools and information they need to stay informed about their health, we can help them make better decisions about their care and ultimately live healthier lives. The recent product improvements we have made, such as smart detection alerts for blood pressure and improved information hierarchy in each member’s app profile, are just a few examples of how we are working to achieve this goal.

We made three key product improvements that enable our members to get healthy and stay healthy, all from devices they already own. 

Product Improvements Empower Members to Take Control of their Health

&nbsp;The importance of sunscreen is often subject to confusion. We’ve all heard that applying sunscreen in the summer is an essential step to avoiding painful sunburns and limiting skin damage. But should sunscreen only be used when the sun is out?
Should you use sunscreen when it’s overcast? Is it only important in the summer or year-round? What does SPF mean, and how should you choose the right SPF for you? Is broad-spectrum sunscreen better?
These questions and more can make sunscreen use more difficult than it needs to be. Make no mistake, using sunscreen regularly is a must for happy, healthy skin. Wearing sunscreen is certainly a good start—one that everyone should embrace no matter their skin type—but it isn’t all that’s necessary to reap the full benefits of sunblock. That’s right; even if you manage to find a comprehensive guide to sunscreen, including the perfect option for your skin, lifestyle, and more, one question tends to persist.
When and how often should you reapply your sunscreen?
<h2>SPF and reapplication</h2>
To best calculate the frequency with which you should reapply sunscreen, you must have a basic understanding of SPF, what it means, and how it can affect the effective duration of your sunscreen. In other words, SPF is key to sunscreen reapplication.
Sun protection factor—more commonly simplified as SPF—is a way of measuring how well a product protects your skin from ultraviolet rays, specifically UVA and UVB rays.
These UV rays can damage your skin, resulting in sunburn, premature aging of your skin, and even significant health problems like skin cancer. Protecting your skin isn’t just important at the moment; it is vital to your health and well-being long-term.
Contrary to common perception, SPF does not define how powerful sunscreen is or the number of rays it can successfully block. SPF refers to the amount of solar energy (or UV radiation) required to produce a sunburn on protected skin versus the energy required to produce a sunburn on unprotected skin. This can vary depending on the time of day, location, weather, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;
These calculations are made under ideal conditions, meaning that variables can diminish a sunscreen’s effectiveness. Peak hours of sun intensity, physical activity, exposure to water, and more can all decrease the duration of sun protection offered by sunscreen, no matter how strong it may be. Still, the SPF ratings on the bottle are a good guide to follow when selecting your sunscreen.
In general, we recommend looking for labels that say "broad spectrum," meaning there is protection provided from UVA and UVB radiation. The amount of sunscreen that should be used per each application is generally 1 oz but may vary on body size and type of sunscreen. Please be sure to read the instructions on the bottle you use.
<h2>The skin type factor</h2>
Let’s get one thing straight—everyone should use sunscreen. Sun damage can result in age spots, wrinkles, and skin cancer no matter who you are, what your exposure to the sun is, and what skin type you have.
While your skin type is not the end-all-be-all, it does directly influence your risk level and sun sensitivity. Not everyone who shares a similar skin type will share the exact same sensitivity, but there are scales that can give you a general idea of your sunscreen needs.
Speaking to your dermatologist about this particular factor is a great idea, as they can give you a more thorough understanding of how your skin type impacts your sun sensitivity and need for sunscreen. As a general rule, the reapplication timeframe will be similar regardless of skin type, so you can still reapply with confidence.
<h2>When to reapply sunscreen the first time</h2>
Once you have applied sunscreen—preferably 15 to 30 minutes before sun exposure begins—you will want to reapply multiple times depending on the length of time you plan to spend in the sun. The intervals of sunscreen reapplication are not all the same.
There is a prevailing belief that sunscreen should be reapplied between two and three hours after initial use. While this interval is not technically wrong (more on that in a moment), it is not ideal for a first reapplication.
<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11712033/">Research has shown</a> that reapplying around 20 minutes after stepping into the sun maximizes the effectiveness of sunscreen. From there, you should reapply as follows.
<h2>Sun protection every two hours</h2>
After your initial application of sunscreen, and subsequent reapplication approximately 20 minutes later, you can feel confident in the tried-and-true two-hour rule.
As the name suggests, reapplying <a href="https://www.aad.org/media/stats-sunscreen">every two hours</a> is thought to be the best rule of thumb for effective sun protection. In fact, it’s the most common guidance found on most sunscreen packages, making it a reliable recommendation to follow.
When in doubt, reapply your sunscreen every two hours to keep your skin happy and safe!
<h2>Use sunscreen after sweating or swimming</h2>
There are a myriad of factors that play a role in how frequently you should reapply sunscreen to maximize skin protection. The type of sunscreen (chemical or physical), SPF level, your skin type, and more are all fantastic examples.
Despite the impressive ability of modern sunscreens to provide protection even when subjected to the elements, one of the most potent factors in reapplication is liquid in the form of sweat or water. This is especially important to remember if you have kids or are being active yourself.
If you have been swimming or sweating, be sure to reapply as soon as you have the opportunity. Sunscreen will inevitably run off, wipe off, and otherwise become less effective under such conditions. Keep in mind that even though some sunscreens may claim to be waterproof, no sunscreen is fully waterproof.&nbsp;
<h2>When in doubt, ask</h2>
The tips included here are a great start to maintaining healthy, happy skin year-round. If you would like to learn more about sunscreen, reapplication intervals, and how to best protect your unique skin in your unique life, be sure to have a conversation with a health professional, particularly a dermatologist.
Babylon Health is a superb learning and health care resource for you, no matter what questions or concerns you may have. With exceptional care available 24/7, you can find the help you need with convenience and ease that is revolutionizing the way the world thinks about health care.

How often should you reapply sunscreen? | Babylon Health

How often should you reapply sunscreen?

The Babylon member experience has taken a giant leap forward. The month of May has brought four key enhancements that will make our members happier, healthier, and more engaged than ever before.&nbsp;
 
<h2>1. More Personalized Communications for Enhanced Activation and Engagement</h2>
71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, which make consumers more likely to engage, and engaged patients are 3x less likely to have unmet medical needs. Our latest improvements boost personalized member engagement and strengthen our industry-leading integrated, multichannel engagement model.
By enhancing cohort accuracy, standardizing member data, and optimizing data loading and refresh rates, we’ve enabled our teams and our partners to deliver more tailored, personalized and relevant messages to each member with exceptional precision. Our members receive the information and support they need precisely when needed.
 
<h2>2. Streamlined Booking Experience for Seamless Access to Care</h2>
Accessing care should be simple and hassle-free, which is why we’ve reimagined our booking experience.&nbsp;Our goal was to remove unnecessary steps and clarify instructions for our members. Because of this, we’ve enabled 45% of our members to book an appointment in 2 minutes or less.
Additionally, we now provide location confirmation at appointment check-in, ensuring we meet all local licensing requirements for our appointments.&nbsp;
 
<h2>3. More Frequent and Convenient Behavioral Health Assessments for Ensuring High-Quality Care</h2>
We recognize the critical importance of behavioral health support and understand the value of continuous monitoring and intervention.&nbsp;To ensure the highest standard of mental health care, we’ve introduced more convenient and more frequent mental health assessments for behavioral health appointments.&nbsp;
By increasing integrated touch points between our clinicians and members, we can better monitor progress, intervene when necessary, and align our clinicians with member needs. This approach will significantly improve member outcomes and ensures a seamless care experience.
 
<h2>4. Strengthening Our Product for Partner Needs</h2>
Additional updates enable partners to provide seamless referrals for members, minimizing handoff errors and enhancing a member’s overall care journey.&nbsp;
For one partner, we expanded pediatric sleep services access to a broader range of age groups, empowering parents and caregivers to address sleep-related issues more effectively and improve the quality of life for their children. These updates reflect our commitment to building strong partnerships.
 
At Babylon, we are committed to continuously improving our services for our members, providers, and payor partners. Our mission is to bring accessible, affordable healthcare to every corner of the Earth. The May enhancements represent a significant step forward in achieving this goal, enabling smarter care and better health outcomes. Together, we can build a healthier and happier world.

This May, the Babylon member experience has taken a giant leap forward. Explore 4 key enhancements.

Product Improvements for Happier, Healthier, More Engaged Members