Understanding how to help your mental health is a struggle for many people in their lives. It often can feel confusing and all consuming at the same time. Where do you go to find the right support that you need? How do you know if what you are doing is the right thing? How do you know if what you are doing is even working?
Navigating your mental health can be a tricky process that can leave you feeling vulnerable and isolated. But you no longer have to feel alone in the process of improving your mental health. There are many different things that can help you with your experience with your mental health and in this article you will learn ways that you can boost your mental health and start a new life.
Continue reading to find out the most important ways to boost your mental health and to begin to feel that you have a new lease on life. It does not happen overnight. There is no magic pill. But with consistency and the right intentions you can build something new and wonderful that is supportive of your life going forward. Read on to find out more.
10 Plus Tips To Boost Your Mental Health
Journaling
Journaling helps your mental health by prompting self reflection. It allows you to slow down and go within. This slowing down allows you to increase your understanding of your feelings and what is taking place within you.
Often you might feel overwhelmed mentally because you have not slowed down enough to take the time to understand what is taking place within you.
Journaling can allow for this slowing down and inner reflection. Often as you journal a lot of your inherent inner wisdom can come forward. This allows you to find the answers to the problems that you have been longing for.
Confiding In A Trusted Friend/Professional
Oftentimes when you are struggling with your mental health you can keep things bottled up inside out of shame, fear of judgment and not wanting to burden others with your problems. But when you step out of this type of thinking, you usually find that you have at least one friend who cares enough to listen and wants you to be well.
But there might be some aspects of what you are experiencing that you might not want to share with a friend, so this is where a trained professional comes in. They can help you put the puzzle pieces of your life together and gain a deeper understanding of yourself. Often, when you are struggling emotionally, you are not able to see the big picture of your life therefore it makes no sense to you. So often that’s completely overwhelming so allow someone to help you.
A New Perspective
Often when you are struggling within yourself you get a kind of tunnel vision and feel like the walls are closing in on you. You might feel overwhelmed or even suffocated emotionally. This is quite common and not unusual at all. But you have to shift out of that perspective so you will not only focus on your problems.
It’s important to look at your challenges from two perspectives. One: your life is not only challenges but always mixed in with the challenges there can be blessings, goodness and bright spots in your life. This doesn’t mean ignore what you are experiencing and stick your head in the sand.
No.
Address it head on and get whatever support and guidance you need to navigate the situation. But also recognize that while your current circumstances might be challenging and overwhelming, there is also goodness and joy to be found in your life even in the smallest and simplest ways.
Eat Consistently
Your diet and what you consume are key factors in your mental health. You cannot help your mental health, if you are not eating consistent meals and depriving your body of necessary minerals and nutrients.
Eating meals that are healthy does not mean that they have to be perfect. Every meal does not have to be a salad. But focusing on foods that are not processed, full of a lot of sugar and sodium can be really helpful to your mental health.
Eating heavily processed foods with high amounts of sugar and sodium can wreak havoc on our mental health and you often are not even aware of it. Eat as naturally as possible when possible: fruits, grains, vegetables, etc.
And yes you might also be dealing with cravings when it comes to food. Sometimes food cravings are physical and sometimes they are emotional. As you improve your mental health you will be able to see how you might be using food to suppress your emotions. As you become more self aware, and give yourself time, these cravings can be broken.
Sleep
In order to help your mental health there are certain foundational things you have to do. One of those is to sleep. You must get regular and consistent sleep. There are no ifs-ands-or buts about it.
This is not an area of your life in which you can ever deprive yourself or take a shortcut in any way. You need at least 6-8 hours of sleep. Often you might use the excuse that you don’t have enough time to get that much sleep and other obligations get in the way. Nothing is more important than your health. Your mental health has to be a priority in order for you to have a better experience of life.
So do your best to evaluate your life. See where you are short changing yourself when it comes to sleep. Give this time back to yourself and see what it does for your mental health and mental clarity.
Nature
Sometimes some of the simplest things can help your mental health. Being outdoors is one of them. Nature is a powerful healer. Being out in nature can be profoundly soothing and healing. Enjoying the outdoors, spending time with the trees and the sun. This can connect with you and leave you feeling nourished in ways you hadn’t thought possible.
When you are feeling challenged with your mental health, locking yourself away in a dark room is not good for you. Going to a local park, sitting on a bench and letting the sun shine on your skin can be deeply restorative. Also nature is a place that is full of life. It can remind you of your connection to nature and the cycle of life as well.
Movement
One of the foundational ways to help your mental health is to move your body. Often when your mental health is not so great your physical energy can feel extremely low. Everyone experiences their mental health in different ways so you might not have as much energy as you used to.
The purpose of moving your body is not about exercise. It is about getting your blood and energy circulating again to prevent stagnation. Often part of what you may be experiencing with your mental health is that the energy in your body is not circulating effectively. This can lead to you being caught in certain cycles of thinking or feeling that leave you feeling trapped.
By moving your body you are recirculating the energy in your body in a more impactful way that promotes healing and rejuvenation. And there are many different ways to do this that are gentle. You don’t have to jump up and down or run five miles a day if that is not what feels right for you. When you are healing your relationship with your mind the gentle approach is the best. You don’t have anything to prove. You should find a gentle practice that you enjoy that will connect you with your breath, mind and body. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong are just a few of the ones that are known for their therapeutic benefits.
Meditation
So right now you are probably saying, “But I can’t meditate! Meditation is not for everyone.” Well actually meditation is for everyone and meditation is most certainly for you. Everyone can sit for a few moments and connect with their breath. That is the simplest form of meditation in the world.
Meditation does not have to be long and complicated and involve you sitting for hours. That is for people who have a lot of experience and have an advanced practice. You taking five minutes a day to sit and focus on your breath is meditating. This is something you absolutely need to do on a consistent basis to learn to calm your mind and be present to your emotions and inner experiences.
If you don’t take the time to do this you will continue to feel overwhelmed by your feelings and emotions. Meditation allows you to take a pause and come present with yourself. You can feel calm inside. The calmness is always there; you just aren’t in touch with it due to the overwhelming nature of day-to-day life. From five minutes a day you can continue to build and expand your practice. And it is a practice so you have to practice.
Physical Health
Similar to sleep, another foundation of good mental health is taking care of your physical health. If you are feeling challenged by your mental health you might not be taking the best care of your physical body. You might not be checking on aches and pains, taking medications as prescribed or seeing a doctor regularly for your ongoing medical needs.
You have to check with your primary care physician and let them know what you are experiencing because your mental health can have a direct impact on your physical health. It can cause weight loss or gain. If you have chronic medical conditions your mental health can make those conditions worse or cause you to neglect yourself and not follow recommended medical advice. So make sure you are prioritizing your physical and mental health. Both are equally important.
Change the Scenery
In order to help your mental health that may require a change in your routine and you taking yourself someplace new. A change in your environment can often lead to an important shift in perspective that you need. So try to take a break from your normal environment and explore someplace new.
If there is a place that you have always been curious about – go there. It could be a national park in your area or an arboretum. Take your journal and spend a few hours there. Get away from the day to day in your life and explore something new. These are just two simple ways to embrace the beauty of nature that is all around you and give yourself a shift in perspective.
Make A Connection
If your mental health is not doing the best right now, connection with others can be hard. But you have to push through it and continue to nurture those connections in your life that are important to you. Even if it is just one. You can’t let those go because that will increase your sense of isolation which is not good for your mental health.
So if there is a connection in your life that is truly valuable to you, continue to nurture it. It helps you to see that you are not alone in this very complex world you share with so many others.
Avoid The News
The news is often terrible, scary and anxiety producing. It is horrible for your mental health and should be avoided at all costs. You get sucked into all of the horribleness they show you and they will never tell you anything good that’s happening. So right now you are probably saying, “But..but…but..what if something happens that I really need to know about?”
If something happens in the world that is critical to you and your life you will hear about it from someone in your life. A family member, friend or colleague will reach out to you to share something with you if it impacts the whole world. Watching the news to “stay informed” is not worth the impact it has on your mental health.
So I hope you were able to find out the important ways that you can shift your mental health for the better. Mental health recovery is a journey not a destination. It often takes a lot of dedication for you to turn the page on this part of your life. But it is totally possible with consistency, effort and the proper support. I wish you all the best in your healing journey.
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