Mental wellbeing is just as essential to physical wellness; it impacts how you think, feel and cope with life’s challenges.
There are various things you can do to improve your mental and physical wellbeing, such as exercising regularly, eating healthily and getting enough restful sleep. If these natural methods of stress reduction don’t seem to be working for you, consult a mental health professional for help.
1. Exercise
Physical exercise has long been recognized for its benefits in improving heart and joint health, strengthening muscles and joints and helping manage all manner of diseases. Recently however, exercise has also been demonstrated to benefit mental wellbeing, lifting mood and energy, decreasing stress levels and alleviating depression. Studies show that moderate amounts of physical activity can make a big difference – no gym membership necessary!
Exercise helps us feel better in many ways, including by releasing feel-good endorphins that can aid in combatting symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing self-esteem, improving sleep quality and strengthening memory. Low intensity workouts such as walking can even provide some benefit by relieving tension in muscles while creating an emotional sense of accomplishment; when combined with social engagement it can further bolster mood enhancement.
Establishing a regular workout routine may be particularly challenging for those suffering mental illness; however, research shows that exercise has a profound impact in treating depression and other mental illnesses when combined with traditional therapies; in more serious cases it may even ease symptoms altogether.
As long as it fits within your daily life and schedule, incorporating exercise creatively is sure to be more fun and keep you motivated. Instead of setting lofty goals like running a marathon or working out every morning for an hour, starting small will make exercise part of your everyday routine without feeling daunting or unattainable.
Even though exercise doesn’t need to be prescribed as part of mental wellness programs, experts recommend at least 30 minutes three to five times each week, in various forms such as walking your dog, picking fruit at an orchard nearby, jogging with friends or joining an outdoor group fitness class. Even playing online games such as online poker on websites reviewed on https://centiment.io will help you to boost your mental health.
2. Eat Right
Eating well can be one of the best ways to boost mental health and wellbeing, complementing other therapies or approaches like exercise, sleep hygiene, quitting smoking/alcohol consumption as well as developing good stress management techniques.
Many individuals with mental illness struggle with poor nutrition. This may be exacerbated by poverty, lack of education and social isolation as well as by their symptoms of their illness.
Research shows that eating healthily can have a dramatic impact on mental wellbeing, particularly if your diet includes foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and antioxidants – such as fish, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, wholegrain bread/cereals/avocados.
Selecting foods low in processed and added sugars can also aid your mental wellbeing. One common problem when we feel stressed or depressed is eating too much, leading to weight gain and worsening of depression symptoms. If you want to make changes but are struggling with where to begin, start small by replacing processed snacks with fruit snacks or decreasing caffeine beverages consumed each day.
If your eating habits are having an effect on your mental wellbeing, reach out to an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD). APDs are university-trained nutrition experts who offer tailored and straightforward advice tailored to meet the unique needs of their clientele.
Mental wellness involves more than simply being free of mental illness; it is an ongoing journey of personal development, growth and love that must include the ability to overcome setbacks and hardships, build meaningful relationships and discover purpose in life; discovering joy and meaning in daily activities while laughing at ourselves with laughter – this is true mental wellness!
3. Sleep
As you’ve likely heard, “a good night’s sleep is essential to having a healthy mind.” In reality, however, there’s more than an element of truth behind this common saying. Research has proven the correlation between mental health disorders and poor sleeping conditions; both contributing to each other in various ways – mental illness making it harder to sleep well while poor quality rest, such as insomnia, can worsen these disorders further.
Sleep is essential to overall wellbeing; one of its primary advantages being energy maintenance throughout your day. A good night’s rest also improves memory; anyone who’s experienced having trouble recalling someone’s name or where you left their keys/car can testify to this fact. While exactly how memory improvement occurs during sleep remains unknown, one theory suggests consolidating and strengthening memories while simultaneously organizing them more easily to make accessing memories easier and quicker overall.
Sleep not only strengthens memory, but can also regulate emotions by impacting two areas of the brain: amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Amygdala is responsible for responding to threats or stressors causing emotional reactions like fear or anger; when this area of the brain becomes overactive it may trigger fight or flight responses; sleep helps protect from this by calming emotions down and enabling prefrontal cortex to take control.
Establish a regular bedtime and wake time, avoid large meals, caffeine, alcohol, bright screens (including your phone), cool and dark bedroom environment as well as relaxing activities such as meditation or breathing exercises before bed. It may be helpful to visit a psychologist or mental health provider in the case of anxiety or depression that are leading to sleep disturbances; treating this problem will make achieving good rest easier.
4. Stay Connected
The internet can be an incredible source of mental health information; however, it should be remembered that its sources may be inaccurate or misleading. Before acting upon any advice found online or elsewhere for mental health problems, take a deep breath and carefully consider where its coming from before acting upon any information found therein. When in doubt seek professional advice instead.
As is well-known, strong social connections and relationships are essential for mental wellbeing. People are inherently social creatures, and we all benefit when we feel loved and cared for by others. Forming healthy connections doesn’t necessitate having many friends; rather it means making an effort to spend time with those you care about; whether this means meeting over coffee for a quick chat or planning weekly dinner dates can have a dramatic effect on mental and emotional well-being.
Additionally, adding some exciting activities into your life can help you stay sharp mentally. From starting a new hobby like painting or playing an instrument to practicing mindfulness and gratitude practices – adding exciting activities can help your brain stay alert!
Finally, it can also be beneficial to limit how much time is spent on social media and other distracting apps such as gaming consoles. Studies have indicated that even cutting back just 30 minutes a day on screen time can significantly enhance mood, focus, and sleep quality.
Maintaining good mental health may take hard work and dedication, but the rewards can be great: research has demonstrated that those with strong mental health are better able to cope with disappointments and negative emotions. Therefore, patience must be shown as it takes time for these strategies to work. If you need extra assistance improving your mood, consulting a mental health professional could also be useful.