9 Simple Everyday Ways To Improve Your Mental Health
Last month, a New York Times article on the impact of the pandemic and global lockdowns on our mental healths described the feeling of "bleh", many people have felt in the past twelve months as a state of "languishing”. Wharton organisational psychologist Adam Grant, explained languishing as the “neglected middle child of mental health. It’s the void between depression and flourishing — the absence of well-being”. Even for people who don't suffer from clinical mental health disorders, this is not the strangest consequence of the global lockdowns we have seen yet. In fact, following a year where there was a record-high number of reported cases for depression, anxiety and suicidal ideations (especially among young people ages 18-24), health experts also suggest the lingering feeling of despair may continue to surface as physical or psychosomatic illnesses.
Admittedly, there are still very few alternatives to seeking professional help for mental health conditions, however, as vaccine roll-outs are underway around the world, there are simple everyday ways we can all engender a better sense of well-being.
If you have heard the expression "waking up on the wrong side of the bed", then you're no stranger to the immense benefits of a healthy sleeping habit on your mental health. When you don't sleep well, your body accumulates stress. Stress is linked to a range of physical and mental health disorders including anxiety and depression. To sleep well, you should avoid late dinners, drink sparingly and avoid caffeinated and fizzy drinks after 5pm. A better sleep cycle will not only help you better manage your state of mind, but it will also boost your immune system. Your body resets, recharges and repairs itself while you sleep, which helps reduce your stress levels and prevents you from being a grumpy cat all day long.
There has been a lot of talk in recent times about how dieting habits greatly impact our mental health. But what's often understated is when and what to eat. According to this Cambridge research paper, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day and has been linked to better mental health in adults and adolescents. Having a healthy dose of vitamins and fats in your diet is another way to boost your mental health. This means your diet should be incorporated with foods like chicken, fatty fish, eggs, fresh fruits, tomatoes, yoghurt and chocolate (whenever you can sneak it). Additionally, cruciferous and leafy vegetables like beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, aspagrus, kale, eggplants, and spinach amonsgt others can also be excellent additions to your diet because they reduce risk of chronic illnesses like heart problems and lifestyle-related cancers.
As a discipline that emerged from the combination of art and psychotherapy, art therapy involves the use of creative expression through visual media to treat mental health conditions. While art therapy in itself, is not a stand-alone approach to tackling mental illnesses, it has been scientifically proven by cognitive neuroscientists to boost mindfulness, which may complement adjacent therapies and treatments, and sustain overall mental wellness. Likewise, art appreciation by listening to music, visiting a museum, watching a stage play or musical etc, are also habits said to be beneficial to the workings of our brain. According to psychology professor, Jan Packer, viewing art reduces mental exhaustion and boosts focus, in the same way taking a walk outdoors would.
A 2011 paper by the Tokyo Institute of Technology exploring the relationship between social interaction and good mental health, revealed that people who have large amounts of social interaction tend to be less stressed. Most people who are experiencing depression or anxiety episodes tend to be avoidant of social interaction. The top recommendation for them is to go against every grain in your body that's desperate to shut the world out. Reach out to those around you, you don't have to go into specifics of how you feel if you don't want to talk about it but chin up. Vulnerability is no easy feat, but it's also a great way to show your strength in face of uncertainty. So, make that call, grab that coffee, have that dinner — do anything, but don't wallow in your bedroom, thinking nobody cares or will understand.
In today's fast-moving information world, things can feel a bit mad when you're constantly hounded by notifications, emails and alerts from across multiple platforms and devices. That's why you need to know when to take a step back from your computer, go off social media, turn off your phone and relax away from usual distractions. Don't worry, your friends, your annoying boss and all the funny posts you won't see offline will still be there when you come back. For now, relax.
The older we get, the less likely we are to have the free time to do the things we really enjoy. Between trying to meet deadlines, paying bills and keeping up with a social life, past time behaviours like hobbies may fall by the wayside. Yet, what science tells us is that creating free time to do the hobbies we enjoy could greatly boost our mental health. Many hobbies also often tend to be creative or artsy and therefore experimental. According to neuroscientist, Dr. Daniel Levitin, these experimental activities expand networks in our brains, creating connections that may not have happened otherwise. In psychotherapy, it is not unusual for doctors to recommend non-medical approaches known as social prescribing (such as picking up a hobby) as a treatment for mild depression, instead of medication. Hobbies can also help treat, anhedonia, a symptom of poor mental health, that causes sufferers to be unable to enjoy things previously enjoyed.
This one is a no-brainer. Besides shaping up the perfect abs for your summer body, the benefits of exercising go beyond the physicallity of sweating it out in the gym. Research says regular exercise can greatly reduce risks of depression, anxiety and stress while simuteneously improving your quality of life. In fact, you don't have to be a religious gym rat to reap the benefits of exercise, as even a moderate amount of exercise can greatly boost your memory, help you sleep better and improve your focus and boost energy levels.
Although much of its tenets have surfaced in alternative traditions for many years, mindfulness as an approach to promoting mental health just started gaining popularity in recent times. In practice, mindfulness is the act of paying attention to your thoughts and feelings using meditative techniques like measured breathing and yoga. Mindfulness can greatly help reduce stress, deal with the woes of everyday living and most importantly help us prevent overthinking by staying in the present.
It's understated but altruism is a great way to boost your sense of emotional well-being. Studies show that doing something nice for others can greatly improve your peace of mind, reduce stress and give you a better sense of community and belonging. There is also evidence that when you help others, it often comes back to you in multiple folds. It may not come directly from people you have helped, but the social support we extend to others, often finds its way back to us.
