Our Tips For Keeping Your Head Right
Let me start by saying that I am not a medical/mental health professional. What I'm going to share in this article will be the things that have personally helped me keep my mental health in reasonable shape.
If you have concerns about your mental wellbeing, Please reach out to a professional or call one of the below helplines:
Everyone will experience periods of feeling low from time to time. Obviously the severity and frequency of these will vary from person to person.
Having gone through several of these periods myself, I wanted to share some things I do that help me manage my own mental health.
1. Understanding Everything is Temporary
Our minds are strange. When I'm going through a period of feeling low, my mind convinces me that it will be endless and when I'm feeling great, it convinces me that it'll last forever.
I focus on understanding that it's all temporary. When I'm in the trenches, I constantly remind myself that it WILL get better. It's nowhere near as easy as it sounds, because your fighting against your catastrophising mind, but it's something that needs to be done.
On the flip side, and potentially even more important is that when I'm feeling good, I make sure I'm aware that it won't last forever. I understand that may come across like I'm stopping myself from being happy, but that isn't the case at all. During periods of good mental health, I always keep in mind that this state is also temporary. I still enjoy myself as much as I would, I don't let it get me down, but I keep it in the back of my mind. This is incredible powerful because when, not if, WHEN, my mental health declines - I am somewhat prepared. If I've been gambling about enjoying myself without acknowledging the finite nature of these feelings, the inevitable downturn in my mental health is far more destructive.
2. Get Outside
What do you say to someone who is super agitated and aggressive?
"Take a walk"
Committing to getting outside for at least 30 minutes per day has been a game changer for my mental health. I tend to do this first thing in the morning with my dog, but it can obviously be done any time. It's all too easy to avoid this during the winter months, particularly here in the UK. Having that extra 30 minutes in bed seems a hell of a lot more appealing than walking around the block in -6°C. I notice that even after a couple of days of not getting enough fresh air, my mind starts to misbehave.
3. Eat Right
Eating junk is a shortcut to feeling like junk for me. Our moods and feelings are dictated by an incomprehensibly complex array of hormones, electrical signals and all sorts of other chemicals dancing around in our brains.
I want my brain to have the best fuel it can so it behaves as it should. I tend to try and make sure 90% of my diet comes from whole foods like meat, eggs, fruit, vegetables and rice. Of course I'll have the odd pizza, donut or cookie but I try not to make this a habit. Times in my life where I have eaten poorly correlate strongly with the times I have been feeling mentally low.
To make things harder, during periods when my mental health is suffering, I tend to crave cheap hits of dopamine. A bar of chocolate or a big greasy pizza seem incredibly appealing in those moments and it is very hard to keep eating well. I know if I give in to these cravings, I will extend this period of feeling low, so I try my best not to succumb.
It's a bit of a 'chicken or egg' scenario with poor diet and poor mental health. I don't think about that part of it too much and instead just focus on eating as well as I can snd have noticed substantial improvements in mental health since doing so.
4. Move!
Whether it's going for a run, to the gym or doing a little circuit in the garden, I try and break a sweat every day. I've always noticed in myself that exercise makes me feel better, and recently more data are coming out showing that can be very beneficial for ones mental state.
I have found running to be a great way to get some endorphins flowing. It can almost double as a meditation of sorts - giving me an hour in my own head to process whatever is going on in my life at that point.
Even after just a couple of days without exercising, I can feel my mental health start to decline.
5. Talk
If I'm going through a period of poor mental health I make sure to talk it through with someone close to me. More often than not they will be able to offer some useful advice they I haven't thought of.
Even if there is no advice being given and they are just listening to how I'm feeling, it always feels like a weight has been lifted.
There are, of course, many more things I do that have an impact on my mental health, but the ones I have just listed I feel are some of the most important. I hope this has given you something to think about!
