10 Ways to Look After Your Mental Health

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Mental health is health. Mental health is about your everyday interactions with life, and how you cope with it. More importantly, mental health is about your state of well being. Mental health includes your emotional, psychological, and social well being. It’s about how you make choices, relate to others, and handle stress.

You can’t ignore your mental health, because like it or not, its part of you. It’s been with you since you were born. In fact, mental health, emotional health, physical health, and spiritual health work in synergy to make up the complete you. To be mentally healthy you must have good ways to deal with your feelings, know how to enjoy life, and be resilient when you have a bad day.

Why do physical illnesses get treatment and mental health gets judgment? Mental health is often overlooked, not mentioned to doctors, or not treated as seriously as physical health. Full body physicals don’t include a mental health checkup, even though your mental health affects your body and emotions. When you have cancer, your doctor takes care of you and provides treatment plans. When mental health is ill or suffering, it might be denied, misdiagnosed, go untreated, or be judged and mocked.

Your mental health can be simple to maintain. It might not always be easy to keep it happy or carefree. But you can do a few things to take care of your mental health and make your state of well being a positive one. Here are 10 simple and easy ways to look after your mental health.

Talk about your feelings.

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Don’t keep your feelings bottled up. A healthy release of emotions is a good cleanse for the soul and mind. However, it must be a healthy release. This means talk that’s done in a healing, non-judgemental environment. It does not mean temper tantrums, screaming at another person, laying guilt trips, or becoming physically violent. Talk to someone you trust, because when you talk about your feelings, you need to be honest about how you feel. Don’t lie about not being angry if that’s how you really feel. If you feel like giving up, or are suicidal, tell someone. There are many good crisis help lines and people trained to help you. Talking about your feelings when suicidal or depressed is a vital step in the recovery process. People will react differently to what you say. If someone isn’t helpful or doesn’t have the reaction you had hoped for, it’s simply a reflection of their lack of understanding of mental health.

Keep active.

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Keeping active is no easy task when you’re depressed or anxious. Especially when you can’t get out of bed because you’re feeling depressed. But exercise helps stretch those tense muscles, increase lung capacity which means more oxygen to your brain, and helps gets you out of your thoughts. Exercise doesn’t need to be strenuous. Exercise can be the simple daily act of getting out of bed, washing yourself, walking around the house or garden. Being active means movement. Movement helps your body release chemicals that your brain needs to balance itself. Go outside and release some anxiety and stress by enjoying the calming effect of nature. Jog. Swim. Golf. Whatever makes you happy. Being active also helps you sleep better. An active lifestyle also takes you out socially, which means you’re not isolating yourself. You get to see other people. You might even make new friends who like doing the same activity you enjoy.

Eat well.

Eating well is important when you’re anxious or depressed. What you eat can influence how you feel. When your depressed, choose nutritious foods that will help your happy hormone levels. This includes chocolate. There’s two ways you can swing with food – indulging too much or starving yourself. Keeping a proper, balanced diet prevents your body from having to deal with sudden weight gain or loss. Snack on healthy foods. Drink plenty of water. Water regulates your body temperature and keeps chemical reactions properly going. Important brain chemicals and hormones regulating mood function best when you eat healthy, nutritional food and drink at least 8 ounces of water daily. Foods rich in omega-3 help fight depression. Don’t eat late at night. Food sits in the gut because digestion slows right down when you’re sleeping. Limit alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates you, and while it’s a quick upper, it’s also a downer. Alcohol also creates its own problems as an addiction.

Take a break.

Stressed out? Take a break. Whether its 15 minutes or 2 hours, a break helps you refocus and get back to concentrating on the task at hand. A break refreshes your mind, body, and soul. Anxiety is reduced because heart rate goes down. Blood pressure goes back to normal. Nutrients have a chance to be properly absorbed and processed by your body. Muscles relax and breathing becomes deeper, allowing more oxygen into the body and to the brain. Concentration becomes better. Negative thought patterns are suddenly interrupted. You get a chance to escape an environment that’s causing you stress and anxiety. If you are overwhelmed at work or at home, lighten your load and remove some tasks from your schedule. Erase the things-to-do list from your mind at the end of the day. Writing down the list is an easy way to clear the clutter from your mind at the end of the day.

Drink sensibly.

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Too much stress and anxiety can drive any person to drink. Sometimes that drinking becomes too much. Your body is a fragile machine. Too much alcohol in the blood is bad for you, because the alcohol molecules bind to protein bases that do important work. Alcohol also depletes oxygen levels in the blood, and creates more carbon dioxide waste. It’s that waste overflow that gives you an alcohol headache. Alcohol slowly destroys brain cells. While alcohol gives you a buzz and a high, it’s destroying important short term memory cells. The more times you drink and the heavier the drinking becomes, the more brain cells you loose. Your liver suffers most when you don’t drink sensibly, because alcohol is mostly broken down in the liver. Too much drinking causes fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis. Blood pressure also goes up, increasing risk of heart attack. The chance of breast cancer also goes up for a woman who drinks too much.

Keep in touch.

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Keep in touch with people you know. This helps keep you stay connected to life. In depression, a person feels disconnected and alone from the world. Friends, family, even co-workers can be the lifeline keeping a depressed person alive. Friends can help bear some of the load if you’re stressed out. Non-judgemental friends also give you a safe space to clear your head of negative thoughts and a chance to recharge. Mental health forums can offer a welcoming space to meet others with similar situations and conditions. However, every person’s experience with mental health is unique. People live a life of extremes. Some days are better than others and people will behave as such. Groups and clubs can be harsh and judgemental. Be aware of that, and let it guide how much you share. If you are having a bad day, and really can’t be among other people, be honest and let them know.

Do something you love.

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Being active and taking a break are great ideas. But you have to do something you love when you’re active or taking a break. If you love running, then jog. If you hate your job, look for another occupation. When you do something you love, your mental health improves because in those moments you are enjoying life. Ever notice that when you’re doing something you enjoy, time seems to fly by? That’s because your thoughts are fully immersed in each and every moment, savouring the happiness and freedom. Stress, anxiety, and depression are the complete opposite. Those times are when you need to be reminded of things you used to enjoy. Ask a friend to help you. Have your friend go jogging with you, to make sure you actually start jogging, and not so much that you finish it. Do something you love only as long as you enjoy it.

Love who you are.

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Loving who you are is the most important thing in having good mental health. Not the self infatuated type of self-love. But the self-love that says you’re a good person, one who deserves love and kindness. Focus on the good in you. Love who you are now. Accept that the past is over, so let it go. Release guilt because that’s holding onto past pain. Challenge negative thinking, and recognize patterns and triggers that enable negative thoughts. Discard negative people and relationships. Don’t pin images others have of you on yourself. Accept yourself for who you are. Love who you are. Don’t compare yourself to others. There is no one else like you, nor is there supposed to be. You are a unique individual, blessed with certain gifts for a purpose that only you can fulfill. If you’re going through depression, whatever choices you make set examples for others of what they can also do.

Ask for help.

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It’s not a big deal asking for help, even though many people are raised to believe the opposite. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness. It doesn’t mean you’re not a man, or you’re damaged goods. Asking for help means you realize your limits. The hardest part is finding the words. It’s your experience, so whatever words you use are okay. Know how much help you are prepared to receive without feeling angry or resentful. Be respectful of the effort the person makes trying to help you. Sometimes the help that’s offered might not seem to be good, or the best idea. Be careful not to throw out a good idea because its something you’re simply not ready for. Let the person know you need more time. Someone can help you past that point you believe you can’t go past. Once you go past that point, you’ve learned a new skill to process pain and realize that you are more powerful than you think.

Care for others.

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Taking care of your own mental health shouldn’t mean that you can’t help someone else who is struggling. Be compassionate. After all, you’ve been there where this person now is. Be non-judgemental. Simply tell the person how you got through your pain, if the person wants to hear about it. If not, then let the person know you are there as support. Stand up and speak out when someone makes a mean or nasty statement about a person suffering with mental health. Many people are undereducated when it comes to mental health. They think if you are depressed, anxious, or bipolar you are mentally ill and dangerous. Educate the person. Stamp out stigma by bravely talking about your own experiences with mental health, or by participating in community mental health awareness campaigns. Start your mental health awareness campaign, or website, or Twitter, or Facebook account. You never know when you may need someone to care for you!