Looking after your mental health is an essential part of life and can make a huge difference to the quality of your daily life. Research from The Oxford Mindfulness Foundation found that our minds are naturally more drawn to difficulties and unpleasant feelings, often ignoring more pleasant feelings.
It can be hard to stop and look at what you are thinking and how you’re feeling when you get caught up in everyday routine. However, finding a few minutes a day to do this can have a massive impact on your mental health.
The NHS states that looking after mental health should not only be something you do when you’re feeling down or anxious and it should be something you actively invest time into all the time, just like with your physical health.
It can be hard to stop and look at what you are thinking and how you’re feeling when you get caught up in everyday routine. However, finding a few minutes a day to do this can have a massive impact on your mental health.
The NHS states that looking after mental health should not only be something you do when you’re feeling down or anxious and it should be something you actively invest time into all the time, just like with your physical health.
So how can I look after my mental health?
1. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is defined as “a mental training technique which teaches you to be aware of your thoughts, feelings, moods an bodily sensations”. Using mindfulness, you can become better at labelling the thoughts and feelings you are having and therefore start to have more power over what goes on in your mind.
Mindfulness allows you to be fully aware of yourself and not be as reactive or overwhelmed by things going on around you.
Mindful states there are a few different mindfulness techniques:
Finding the right time of day to do your mindfulness practice can help you to fully implement it into your daily routine.
There is an abundance of scientific and experiential evidence to support the benefits of mindfulness which include:
To practice mindfulness, you can follow the steps below:
Mindfulness allows you to be fully aware of yourself and not be as reactive or overwhelmed by things going on around you.
Mindful states there are a few different mindfulness techniques:
- Seated, walking, standing and moving meditation
- Short pauses inserted into everyday life
- Merging meditation with other activities such as yoga or sport
Finding the right time of day to do your mindfulness practice can help you to fully implement it into your daily routine.
There is an abundance of scientific and experiential evidence to support the benefits of mindfulness which include:
- Reduced stress
- Enhanced performance
- Gain insights to yourself
- Increased self-awareness
- Increased attention to others well-being
To practice mindfulness, you can follow the steps below:
- Take a seat on something stable ideally with your feet touching the floor
- Straighten your body so your head and shoulders can rest comfortably on your body
- Situate your arms parallel to your upper body and let your hands drop on to your legs
- Let your gaze fall or close your eyes
- Be present there for a few moments
- Feel your breath or follow it as it goes in and out.
- When your mind gets distracted, bring your attention back to your breath to refocus
2. Get good sleep
Getting enough sleep is essential to maintain optimal health and well-being. There is a huge amount of research to support the fact that getting enough sleepy can contribute to better concentration, productivity and cognitive function.
Sleep also lowers your risk of weight gain as sleep can be shown to affect the hormones responsible for your appetite.
Other benefits of adequate sleep include:
Sleep also lowers your risk of weight gain as sleep can be shown to affect the hormones responsible for your appetite.
Other benefits of adequate sleep include:
- Better performance intensity
- More energy
- Better coordination
- Lower risk of heart disease
- Social and emotional intelligence
- Prevents depression
- Lowers inflammation in the body
- Boosts your immune system
3. Connect with others
Spending quality time with your friends and family and talking about how you are feeling is really good for your mental health, even if you do not feel like engaging with other people.
One landmark study found that lack of social connection can have more detriment to your mental health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.
Stanford Medicine found evidence to support connectivity with others, showing that people who are more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as higher self-esteem and greater empathy.
One landmark study found that lack of social connection can have more detriment to your mental health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.
Stanford Medicine found evidence to support connectivity with others, showing that people who are more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as higher self-esteem and greater empathy.
4. Do activities that you enjoy
It is important to make time in your life to do the things that bring you happiness. Whether that is sport, cooking, reading or playing with your pet, you should have a routine which makes time for activities that make you feel happy.
5. Be curious and open-minded to new experiences
It is easy to get stuck in a routine when you do the same things again and again. This can cause us to get stuck in familiar ways and frame the way we see the world.
Doing something small and simple to change your routine can have a big impact on shifting the way you are feeling, even something as small as changing your route to work or what you eat for breakfast.
Engaging in curious thought is shown to shift your mind from being passive into being active, helping you to find new ideas and open possibilities for new things.
This can also be seen in a willingness to be wrong. When you open yourself to other people’s insights and opinions rather than focusing on being right, you might find that you can solve more problems than you could alone.
Doing something small and simple to change your routine can have a big impact on shifting the way you are feeling, even something as small as changing your route to work or what you eat for breakfast.
Engaging in curious thought is shown to shift your mind from being passive into being active, helping you to find new ideas and open possibilities for new things.
This can also be seen in a willingness to be wrong. When you open yourself to other people’s insights and opinions rather than focusing on being right, you might find that you can solve more problems than you could alone.
6. Look after your physical health
This includes exercising and eating a good balanced diet. The Mental Health Foundation states that participating in regular exercise can increase self-esteem and reduce stress and anxiety.
Physical activity also has a positive impact on our mood with researchers finding that people feel more content and calm after being physically active compared to periods of inactivity.
Eating a good diet is also shown to help us think more clearly and be more alert, improving concentration and attention span.
There is a lot of research showing that healthy gut can impact your brain. Your gut and brain are physically linked via thevagus nerve. So, while the gut can influence your emotional state, the brain can also alter the bacteria living in the gut.
The gut is hugely important for producing serotonin (a mood stabiliser) as it is believed it produces 95% of the body’s supply of serotonin!
Staying on top of your mental health as part of your daily routine will have only a positive impact on your life, allowing you to reduce your risk of physical health problems and help to better manage difficult times in the future.
Physical activity also has a positive impact on our mood with researchers finding that people feel more content and calm after being physically active compared to periods of inactivity.
Eating a good diet is also shown to help us think more clearly and be more alert, improving concentration and attention span.
There is a lot of research showing that healthy gut can impact your brain. Your gut and brain are physically linked via the
The gut is hugely important for producing serotonin (a mood stabiliser) as it is believed it produces 95% of the body’s supply of serotonin!
Staying on top of your mental health as part of your daily routine will have only a positive impact on your life, allowing you to reduce your risk of physical health problems and help to better manage difficult times in the future.