7 Proven Ways to Look After Your Mental Health

Looking after your mental health is key to a long and happy life. So what are the scientifically proven steps to take care of your mind?

More and more people are waking up to the fact that our minds, just like our bodies, need to be taken care of. 

This growing mental health awareness is certainly a step forward.

Unfortunately, improving our mental health is not as clear cut as training our bodies, and each person faces different challenges in daily life. 

With 1 in 4 adults being affected by a mental disorder at some point in their lives, it is also abundantly clear that the challenges of life can be overwhelming. 

Even something as “normal” as stress at work or school can snowball into a huge obstacle to your mental health – especially if you don’t know how to deal with that stress.

The list below explores the key ways you can look after your mental health, and how this self-care will make an enormously positive change to your life and everyday possibilities.

Unsure how you are feeling? Take this short self-assessment.

When it comes to mantras, Healthy body = healthy mind is pretty powerful.

Of course this is an oversimplification: regular exercise does not guarantee a healthy mind, just like going to town on a box of Krispy Kremes won’t kill you. 

However, the core message is supported by countless studies and benefits linking regular exercise to preventing or treating depresssion:

In 2006, Michael Otto (Professor of Psychology at Boston University) and his colleagues explored the impact of exercise on mental health by reviewing 11 studies. The conclusion was that exercise could be a powerful tool to treat clinical depression (Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2006).

Regular physical exertion also releases a cocktail of good chemicals that scientifically benefits your brain and your mood. 

On top of all of this, other advantages of physical exercise include:

• Reduces obesity and risk of heart disease
• Increases confidence and independence
• Promotes healthy habits
• Promotes better quality sleep

All of these rewards to your physical health are awesome on their own, but it’s also a core way to look after your mental health. 

Undoubtedly, regular exercise is a win-win.

How can you start exercising regularly?

☆ Use apps like “One You Couch to 5k” or “Adidas Training” to start working out without a gym membership.

☆ You may also like:
– 9 Ways Regular Exercise Can Change Your Life
– 6 Best Home Workout Apps for Every Goal
– 14 Tips to Form Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

We all need at least some sleep to function… at least if we want to avoid zombie mode.

However, things start to get a little more unclear when it comes to how many hours we need, or quality of that sleep. 

How much does it really matter if you get 4-5 hours, as opposed to 8 hours?

Well, quite a lot actually. 

In a nutshell, non-REM (“quiet”) sleep relaxes our muscles and boosts our immune system. However it’s the dreamy REM state that plays such a big part in improving our mental health. 

Disruption of this REM state “which affects levels of neurotransmitters and stress hormones, among other things, wreaks havoc in the brain, impairing thinking and emotional regulation” (Mind). 

Not getting enough REM sleep causes your mental health to deteriorate, and even amplifies psychiatric disorders. 

So when you sacrifice sleep to do more or get further in life, you are actually doing the opposite. 

Your mind needs to rest if you want to look after your mental health.

Of course, getting enough sleep is easier said than done sometimes.

The nature of a busy or turbulent mental state is the opposite to what we need to fall asleep. 

A classic example of how quickly our mind can escalate issues is the “anxious cycle scenario”. It tends to go something like this:

You can’t sleep. Then, you start worrying about not sleeping. You start getting frustrated about worrying about not sleeping. Round and round.

All of which is completely counter-productive to drifting off. 

Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can learn to quiet your mental chatter, and find the calm that has you snoozing within minutes.

Do:

+ Regulate your body clock, by sleeping and waking at consistent times
+ Reduce your “blue screen” time before bed, and turn on “night mode” on your devices
+ Optimise your environment for sleep (e.g. ear plugs if it’s noisy)
+ Wind-down your mind before bed, with:
+ Mindfulness meditation
+ Reading
+ Practising gratitude

Don’t:

– Consume caffeine too late
– Drink too much alcohol
– Eat too late
– Keep looking at the clock, or calculating how many hours sleep you are getting

You can also read my blog post on the analytical approach I took to solving my own sleep issues.

Another resource is Sleepio, a free online CBT tool that offers great advice and a simple structure that I found very helpful.

Alcohol and other substances are often considered ways to help or destress from our daily struggles. A long week justifies a night out at a bar on a Friday or Saturday right?

Alcohol is even part of the fabric of certain cultures and societies – drinking is normal, not doing so is strange. 

Whilst a drink out during the week is far from a risk on its own, few people realise the risks or impact on their mental health. 

However, multiple pieces of evidence offer a different perspective, and shows how dangerous it can be to think of alcohol as a harmless vice or coping mechanism.

For example, as many as 65% of suicides have been linked to excessive drinking (70% in men).

I’m sure we’d also all agree that we are not quite the same person when we are drunk. 

Under the influence, it’s easy to fracture your closest relationships and make terrible decisions with long-term consequences which can affect our mind long after the hangover subsides.

Hangovers affect us in a similar way to lack of sleep, limiting what we can comfortably do and throwing our emotions completely off balance. 

Sure, the highs can be even higher – for instance, I never knew finding some leftover pizza in the fridge for breakfast could make me so happy.

But the lows are also lower, and can even lead to alcoholism in worst-case scenarios. 

Breaking any bad habits that have a negative effect on your mental health can be the turning point to feeling like yourself again. 

How can you reduce your alcohol intake?

☆ “Check your drinking” self-assessment

☆ You may also like:
– 14 Tips to Form Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
– The link between Alcohol and Depression (Royal College of Psychiatrists)

Our ancient ancestors eventually discovered that it was impossible to survive alone. 

The most effective way to hunt or gather the best grub was to work in a team. As a result this is imprinted in our conditioning, compelling us to seek the company of others. 

Indeed for many people, the past months of isolation have placed into focus just how important seeing friends and family is to feeling happy and fulfilled. 

The benefits of socialising include:

• Enriching and positive experiences shared with others
• Receiving and offering emotional support 
• Connecting and building strong relationships 
• The opportunity to learn from another’s perspective, like when travelling
• Advantages to brain health and risk of dementia in elderly

Choose your friends wisely

Surround yourself with people who won’t judge or criticise, and who can add positive value to your life. True friends that you can rely on are rare, but worth their weight in gold.

If you feel down, talk to someone

Whatever is impacting your mood, there is no use isolating yourself. I guarantee that your family and friends will want to help, and may well have some advice that does just that. Support isn’t possible if you don’t open up.

Remember you are not alone

Countless charities, communities and helplines have been formed with the sole aim of helping you to look after your mental health. Even speaking with a GP over the phone could help you to understand how you are feeling and receive some valuable advice.

Get a pet (responsibly)

Of course, this depends on the individual – as long as this is a sustainable option and you’ll be able to take good care of your new friend, then it’s a great idea for boosting your mental health.

Safety-first

First and foremost, take the relevant precautions when socialising with anyone (e.g. social distance and sanitise) to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. 

Social media can seriously harm your mental health

One of the biggest tools enabling us to connect with others all over the world does however come with some huge dangers to our mental health.

The way these apps are designed to exploit our human engineering and chemical responses means we can end up spending far more time scrolling on our phone than we’d want. Also the content we see on social media can also serve to harm our mental health – deep down we know that others’ lives are unlikely to be perfect, but it’s so easy for a picture to prompt feelings of sadness or envy.

This is why it’s so important to monitor your mood when using social media, and ensure it doesn’t consume all your idle time.

How to stay connected and maintain relationships remotely

☆ Embrace technology and video calls
– Zoom and Google Hangouts are two particularly reliable platforms

☆ Make it a remote game night
– You can play quizzes, chess or online console games to keep you all entertained

☆ Create an entertainment (film, TV, or book) review club
– Agree to all watch a film or TV show separately (even at the same time), so you can all catch up to discuss your favourite parts.

☆ Challenge each other
– Buddy up to achieve a shared goal, and build a strong bond together – start a new workout regime, or agree to break a bad habit.

We can go through life almost completely on autopilot. 

This can make us feel like a passenger in our own bodies, with our mood easily influenced by the thoughts that randomly enter our mind and our emotional responses to life events. 

Mindfulness is learning to be more conscious of the present moment. Although it sounds simple, this practise can hugely help you to look after your mental health, allowing you to enter the driving seat and directly impact your own happiness.

Practising mindfulness is key for being able to take a step back and gain clarity, calm and focus in your daily life.

Mindfulness improves your mental health by helping you:

• Live in the present:
  • Become more focused on your present state and life, rather than worrying about the past or future which you can’t control.
• Relax your body and mind
  • Learn how to slow down your mental chatter, reducing stress and promoting sleep.
• Be happier
  • Find positivity and gratitude in what you have, rather than focusing on what you don’t.
• Value yourself
  • Stop self-judgement and accept yourself.
• Improve your physical health
  • Mindfulness can lower your blood pressure, reduce chronic pain and reduce the risk of heart disease

How can you start to become more mindful?

☆ Meditation

Meditation is undoubtedly one of the most effective tools for training your mind to come out of this autopilot state. Just meditating for 5-10 minutes a few times a week can make a difference – check out our article for the best meditation apps available right now. If you haven’t meditated much before, here are 14 helpful tips to getting started.

☆ You can also:

– Keep a gratitude journal. The app “Gratitude” is a very popular choice.
– Try actively engaging your senses whilst going about your day, like concentrating on your taste buds while eating or on the sensations in your feet and legs while walking. 

When it comes to children, nobody would deny that education and learning is key for promoting healthy brain activity and wellbeing.

So why do we seem to forget how important learning is as adults?

Research shows that challenging yourself to acquire new skills can promote meaning and purpose in your life, and boost your self-esteem. 

This also explains why we can feel dejected, or in a ‘rut’, when we are doing the same thing daily, without any new stimulation.

However, by choosing to take on tasks that are productive and difficult, and coming out the other side better off, we remind ourselves of our own value and capability. 

Investing in yourself reminds you that you can do whatever you set your mind to – this process is hugely important for your mental wellbeing.

Ideas to keep stimulating your mind:

☆ Read a book
– If there is a skill you want to develop, the most effective way to do so is to learn from someone who has spent their life gaining knowledge on it.

☆ Challenge yourself at work
– Taking on some different responsibilities or focusing on self-learning is a win-win for both you and your employer

☆ Get creative
– Think about hobbies you’ve always wanted to try. Ever wanted to learn to dance salsa, or bake? Maybe you’ve always liked the idea of playing the guitar. Well what are you waiting for – Youtube has all the guides you’ll need.

☆ Learn a language
– Exploring cultures from the outside or as a tourist is one thing – but when you know the language the experience is infinitely more powerful. Languages also allow you to meet many different people, and really harness the health benefits of travel.

Deciphering our mind and understanding the reasons behind how we feel is not easy. 

There can be a whole host of factors affecting your mood, or one elusive piece you can’t put your finger on. It may be something you have never considered, or something your mind is actively avoiding dealing with.

Understanding your mind and that important piece can make all the difference when trying to look after your mental health. 

If you are feeling down, ask yourself if the cause may be related to:

• Stress from work or daily responsibilities
• If you are acting with your core values in mind (i.e focusing on what is important to you)
• A current or previous relationship
• Your own self-worth
• A painful past event
• Financial stability
• A mental health disorder 

Each of these challenges, and more besides, can be worked through in different ways. 

For example, one of the founders of Mindful Wonderer only realised she had social anxiety after she related to a youtube video. This allowed her to understand the challenge and work on it. She has also written a social anxiety guide to help others.

By focusing some time to examine your thoughts and feelings, or by speaking to someone else, you are making the first steps to improving your mental health.

How to get started:

– Unsure how you feel? Take a mood self-assessment
– Talk to your GP or doctor about how you feel
– Find out more about mental health disorders
– Open up to your friends and family
– Try using a mental health app
– Speak to a professional therapist

The most effective way you can understand the root of your feelings and work through your difficulties is to speak to a professional.

A professional is trained in which questions to ask and what your answers indicate. 

This can save you trying to use your limited knowledge, or trial and error, to uncover the hidden jigsaw piece which can help you look after your mental health.

This can involve something as quick as a trip to the GP, or a more in-depth CBT session which delves into your thought patterns and preconceptions.

Although therapy can be costly, many health insurance providers cover this kind of care. 

If you don’t have cover or the cost is not sustainable, I would strongly suggest checking out the forum-type health communities like Big White Wall. 

Big White Wall is a clinically managed community, which provides you an opportunity to speak to others who have had similar experiences. There are also trained practitioners available 24/7 for extra support.

It is worth remembering that your mind is your most valuable asset – it directly influences the quality of your life and your happiness.

There really is no better investment than finding ways to look after your mental health.

The recent period of isolation has reminded us all that travelling the world is a privilege, and one that has been sorely missed.

In addition, many of us have also found it hard to replace the health benefits of travel.

Lying on a beach, soaking in the sun without the notifications of your work email going crazy is good for your mental health? Shocker, I know.

Without travel, we’ve missed the opportunity to escape the monotony of daily responsibilities, or broaden our minds by meeting different people from all over.

There is one silver lining you can take from these turbulent times however… 

When normality returns, I bet you won’t take travelling for granted again. 

How you can start planning your next trip:

– Visit our Plan your trip section
– Best relaxing beach destinations for every budget
– Read our Ultimate Guide to London

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Kyri Rousou

Kyri is a multi-lingual marketer who uses his connection with wellbeing and travel to help others make the most of their experiences. Day-to-day, Kyri works as a Growth Marketing Manager (and Mental Health Responder) at Raconteur.

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