The big picture for staying mentally healthy is making simple changes to your lifestyle. It requires simple, practical ways that don’t take up loads of time to accomplish.
In actuality, it’s imperative to care for yourself by keeping fit, which has a direct link with caring for your mental health.
The good news is you have plenty of easy options to stay mentally healthy. We’ve compiled a few here:
1. Get enough sleep
Sleep is characterized by feeling refreshed and relaxed while in REM sleep, which is the shallowest phase of the sleeping cycle, during which no external stimuli influence us at all. It facilitates the way by which the human brain process emotional information.
During this period, one becomes free from interference with thought processes that, in turn, offer an increased capacity for cognition.
Again, sleep remains the best tool for stress management. When you get enough sleep for the day, you’re offering complete relaxation to the whole body, including the brain.
The importance of sleep to mental health
Sleep helps one recover from physical and mental exertion; hence, providing a healthy body temperature vital for finding out what’s happening inside you, sometimes called the circadian rhythm.
Daily nap or even early night snoozing reduces your chances of getting into depression. And if you’re already depressed, short or long sleep can clear off your memory, making you sound again.
How many hours can improve mental health?
7 – 9 hours of regular sleep for adults can perk up immune function, mood, and cognition.
2. Stay active daily
Daily physical exercise helps one to stay active. It’s essential because it provides a stable environment that governs an individual’s internal physiological processes.
When you are active, it leads the body to become more efficient through activity and training within its physiologic limits.
By practicing daily physical exercise, you will alleviate depression symptoms such as social withdrawal and low self-esteem.
How or why exercises make you feel better mentally
Exercise releases the serotonin and endorphins chemicals that improve mood, improve cognitive function and thwart the feeling of isolation, thereby making you get into the world and socialize with others.
Best exercises for mental health
The best exercises for improving mental health vary from simple to complex ones, and they include:
Walking – Just a-15 minute slow walk or brisk walking can go a long way to improving your mental health.
Yoga – Any yoga pose helps to improve the body and mind significantly.
Running – Running combines physical fitness with mental well-being, just as running. Just a-10 minute run can improve performance in a cognitive task by giving the brain a brief upgrade.
Resistance training – Squats, alongside dips, deadlifts, hinges, swings, presses, lunges, etc., are some resistance training that can reduce depression and its symptoms significantly.
Martial arts and boxing – Boxing and traditional martial arts require mindfulness, mental strength, and meditation, increasing self-control and reducing impulsivity and stress.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) – 30 to 45 minutes high knees training, mountain climbing, jump squats, or pushups can ward-off depression and improve mental well-being.
3. Healthy eating
The human brain requires a mix of nutrients for healthiness and proper functioning. Nutrients make up your daily needs for mental well-being in today’s world.
But it can only really work if the nutrition you consume is good for your body. Plant-based proteins, among other foods, can help keep you from having an eating disorder.
Studies reveal that there’s a strong relationship between food, mood, and general mental well-being. It improves your ability to focus, overall happiness, and rids mood fluctuations.
Therefore, one should regularly consume nutritionally-dense meals, including various fruits and vegetables, to stay mentally healthy.
Ten foods to eat for better mental health
-Whole grains
-Salmon
-Avocados
-Spinach
-Nuts
-Yogurt
-Olive Oil
-Dark chocolate
-Tomatoes
-Lean-protein like chicken or turkey
4. Adequate stress management
The more we exhaust ourselves with tight schedules, the less time to rest, especially during busy periods.
And inadequate stress management can cause problems with focus, memory, and concentration, so take note.
When you don’t manage stress well, it causes mental health illnesses like anxiety, depression, etc., and deteriorates existing similar conditions.
Ways to manage stress appropriately and stay mentally healthy
– Care for yourself very well
– Take a break by changing the pace or your environment
– Take care of your body
– Relax and unwind by letting the past go
– Connect with others by making new friends
– Avoid drugs and excessive alcohol intake
5. True self-acceptance
Embracing who you are without exceptions, qualifications, and conditions helps you stay mentally healthy because it provides a gateway to compassion for yourself.
Although you may recognize what you aren’t good at, you should always be proud to focus on the ones you can do very well to stay in good mental health.
One can achieve true-self acceptance by changing their mind from negative to positive.
The first step toward changing your mind may be admitting you know something more than you think yourself, or instead believing the truth will always come out even if it’s not necessarily what you want to hear or feel.
6. Help others
It feels happy to help others. The act of caring for other people has positive effects on mental health, which include improving self-esteem, mood, happiness, and reducing emotional stress – research reveals
It should motivate you to put aside your agendas and reach out to others with you no matter where they happen to live.
7. Avoid smoking and alcohol.
Drug addiction, smoking, and alcohol intake have some impacts on mental health. Exhibiting any of these attitudes for an extended period can lead to thiamine deficiency.
Thiamine is quite essential for the proper functioning of the brain. Loss of it can cause several mental problems that range from mild neurological to psychiatric symptoms.
Physiological effects of prolonged alcohol intake, smoking, and drugs
Thiamine deficiency leads to;
-Severe memory problems
-Confusion and eye problems
-Motor (coordination) problems
-Irritability and anxiousness
8. Stay clear of everything that causes depression
Mental health experts prove that if you eliminate the causes of your depression and bipolar disorder, you will likely stay mentally sound.
Therefore, avoid all triggers in everyday life that may cause negative thoughts and emotional swings to allow for more positive self-reflection and focus.
You should possibly remove as many things from your life, including anything that instigates negative feelings at work or school to reduce anxiety levels.
What are ten ways to be mentally healthy?
The ten (10) ways to be mentally healthy aren’t different from the abovementioned tips. You can quickly improve your mental health and emotional health through balanced diets and a good lifestyle.
9. Socialize
Studies reveal that socializing helps you stay mentally healthy by clearing off depressive moods, and wisdom validates it.
No doubt, when you socialize, you become more active, thus improving emotional and mental well-being.
How does socializing improve mental health?
Socializing promotes mental well-being by removing lonely feelings, increasing happiness, sharpening memory and cognitive skills.
10. Do what you enjoy
Consider your feelings, do what gives you joy, and connect with nature to perk up your overall mental condition.
What activity or hobby do you enjoy best? Please find out the things that increase your happiness and do them. Be it artistic works, watching TV shows, cooking, beach holiday.
Be that as it may, doing the things you like makes you overcome unhappy feelings, irritability and improves overall mental well-being.
What are six ways to maintain good mental health?
Among the tips we have above, the six (6) ways to maintain good mental health are proper dieting, enough sleep, hydrating, exercise, stress management, and reducing alcoholic intake.
All the points above also answer the questions: what are five ways to maintain positive mental health, and how do you take care of your mental health?
Final Words
Mental health is the next engine house of the human body, after the heart, and it controls the emotional well-being, cognitive and behavioral aspects of man.
Note that mental health affects man’s physical health, relationships, and daily living in general.
And from the easy tips in this post, one can see that it doesn’t cost a fortune to take care of mental health and get the most from life. So, why not start today?
