It’s very important to take care of yourself both physically and mentally in order to get the most from life. It doesn’t have to be huge lifestyle changes that would cost a lot or take up loads of time but just simple tweaks to how you live may do the trick. Here are some easy ways you can explore to boost your overall wellbeing and foster better mental health.
THINK WELL
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
2 November 2019
6 mins read
6 mins read
Eat well
If there’s one thing we all can agree about living here in Malaysia is that the food is amazing. Due to the multicultural heritage of our country, we’re blessed with an amazing variety of food. Of course, this can also be a gateway to eating unhealthily but if done in moderation, we really can enjoy good food with good health.
In fact, there’s evidence that maintaining a healthy diet, one that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and limits highly processed foods, can help reduce symptoms of depression. Studies in the US have also found that adults with a high consumption of fast food like fries and soft drinks were more likely to report symptoms of moderate or severe psychological distress.
Professor Felice Jacka, an associate professor of nutrition at Deakin University in Australia found that simply following a healthier diet could reduce the risk of depression. Along with that, her work has highlighted that although healthier diets may vary from country to country, regardless of where you live, eating closer to a traditional, pre-industrial diet rich in plant foods, fish, unrefined grains and fermented foods, with less meat and processed foods help with maintaining good mental health.
Exercise
Regular physical activity is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety across all age groups. Exercise is essential for slowing age-related cognitive decline and for promoting better overall wellbeing. A perfect example of this would be our venerable 94-year old Prime Minister who still cycles and walks up the stairs.
In fact, studies have shown that incorporating some form of regular physical activity lasting 45 minutes three to five times a week into your routine can help reduce anxiety, depression, and negative mood as well as improving one’s self-esteem and cognitive function. This can be in the form of walking, jogging, running or even some housework.
The stimulation you get from moving your body will produce natural feel good hormones called endorphins and enkephalins. Even the simple act of focusing on exercise can give us a mental break from anxious or negative thoughts. Further, depending on the activity, people may benefit from calming exercises, be energised, and get outside or interact with others, all of which are known to improve mood and general health.
Avoiding alcohol
According to the Mental Health Foundation, alcohol is associated with a range mental health problems and consequences which include depression, anxiety, suicide, risk-taking behaviors, personality disorders and schizophrenia. Regular drinking changes the chemistry of the brain and leads to a depletion of the neurotransmitters it needs to reduce anxiety naturally, and also the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is implicated in depression.
While the reasons for alcohol consumption are complex and some dependent on a myriad of factors, research has shown that despite certain reported benefits, many the abuse or excessive consumption of alcohol can have very negative consequences for one’s physical and mental health as well as behavior.
Journaling
Whenever you can, particularly if you’ve had an especially good or bad day, try to take a few minutes in the evening to jot down several key things about the day in a journal or word document that you can refer back to.
This helps you to identify certain factors that play into your day that might help explain how you feel. This can be a useful way to track patterns between your mental wellbeing and day-to-day life, and make adjustments accordingly.
For example, if you notice that the days you had more energy are often days you exercised in the morning, or that days you felt very anxious were also days you drank a lot of coffee, it gives you factors to experiment with when it comes to trying to improve low moods or energy levels.
Sleep
One of the main ills of modern society is that people nowadays tend to sleep less and less. Most adults are seldom able to sleep the optimal seven to nine hours needed during weekdays and in return try to make up for it during the weekends in what is known as binge-sleeping. This creates a crash and burn lifestyle that disrupts the normal sleep REM cycle leading people to straight exhaustion. Consistency is the key for healthy sleep.
Apart from that, research has shown that sleep loss degrades a person’s perception, attention and the ability to encode memory. So no matter how busy you are, when you’re tired, try to shut those eyes and rest up. Sleep helps to boost one’s immune system and improves your metabolism, which in turn helps maintain a healthy weight, lift up your mood and energy levels as well as reducing the likelihood of suffering from chronic disease.
Mindfulness
There is a wealth of research showing how mindfulness improves our mental and emotional health via the mind-body connection. Mindfulness practices like meditation and yoga are great ways of self-care to help us recover from the stresses of work and life.
Taking ten to twenty minutes out of every day and committing to the process of relaxing your mind can be a really positive routine. Psychiatrists and academic professors have noted correlations between meditation and mindfulness and a reduction in stress, anxiety and depression. One of the best perks of practicing meditation is that anyone can do it, anywhere and best of all, at no cost.
Go green
There’s a growing movement in the UK that’s looking to promote the role gardening can play in patient recovery and rehabilitation. Some organizations have found that simply viewing a green space through a window can help people relax and reduce stress levels. In fact, outdoor exercises or ‘ecotherapy’, such as gardening or walking, has huge benefits for your wellbeing and can even be as effective as antidepressants in treating mild to moderate depression and anxiety.
The colors, sounds and smells of a garden can boost a person’s wellbeing, while nurturing a garden or allotment provides the satisfaction of completing tasks and foster stronger connection with the natural environment. All of this is associated with improved self-esteem and decreased levels of anger. This act of learning a new skill, meeting people and being active ultimately results in a positive impact on a one’s physical and emotional health.
Taking a break from social media
Too much social media can have a negative impact on your physical and emotional health. Research has shown that social media use may detract a person from more face-to-face relationships, reduce investment in meaningful activities, as well as increase sedentary behavior. This in turn could lead to Internet addiction and erode one’s self-esteem through unfavorable social comparison.
Self-comparison can be a strong influence on human behavior, and because people tend to display the most positive aspects of their lives on social media without showing the negative, it is possible for an individual to believe that they have it much worse compared to what they see on others.
So taking a break once in a while from your social media feed will definitely be great for your mental health. It lets you reset your mind, breathe the fresh air and smell the flowers, rather than just endlessly scrolling on your feed.
Ask for help
One of the most important ways to keep yourself mentally healthy is to recognize when you're not feeling good, and to know when to ask for help. There should be no shame in asking for support if you’re feeling blue or stressed. Internalizing such thoughts and emotions can have a negative effect on your mental health.
Be it speaking to your friends or family or even a professional, the most difficult thing to say is often the most important thing to say. While it might be hard kick off the conversation, the relief from just expressing your thoughts and words can be very helpful. More importantly, if you feel that somebody you know is suffering in silence, just ask if he or she is okay? Simple gestures like this goes a long way.
References
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/13/green-therapy-gardening-helping-fight-depression
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/03/health/sleep-health-nap-sleeping-in/index.html
https://www.alaskasleep.com/blog/the-new-trend-of-binge-sleeping
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/mar/18/can-you-eat-yourself-happier-nutritional...
https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/15771/1/cheers_report%5B1%5D.pdf
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/10/09/768665411/changing-your-diet-can-help-tamp...
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https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0222768
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1910/S00046/diet-plays-a-key-role-for-mental-health.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/23/six-ways-to-stay-healthy-when-youre-stressed
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/how-to-mental-health
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2019/09/24/the-evidence-based-daily-habit-that-can-boost...
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https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/04/22/stay-active-less-sleepis-dr-ms-secret-to-life
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/mahathir-94-goes-on-11km-bicycle-ride
https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2019/09/23/onemorehour-the-power-of-sleep.html
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health
https://www.image.ie/life/your-mental-health-the-importance-of-asking-for-help-66724
The above articles are intended for informational purposes only. AIA accepts no responsibility for loss, which may arise from reliance on information contained in the articles.
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