Guest article provided by: Healthy Body at Home
Mental health can be a tricky thing to explain and balance appropriately.
Physical health is a lot more straightforward in that regard. If a person is physically unwell or unfit like for example someone who’s obese or someone who has an injury, we can usually tell just by looking at them. This is not the case with mental health problems as they often go unnoticed because it’s invisible to the bare eye. At least in most cases.
Yet, in recent years the stigma surrounding mental health issues have started to subside due to the attention being given to mental health topics in general. And rightfully so.
Just like staying in shape, there are a number of things we can do to improve or stay mentally healthy. Let’s take a look at the 5 quick tips to improve your mental health.
5 Quick tips to improve your mental health
- Change the way you look at things.
Something can only hurt us if we consider it valuable. If we decide that the thing or person in question is important.
We often worry about things that don’t really matter or where we have absolutely no control over. We worry about people who we don’t even like or know.
Some people are stuck in a negative mindset and thus, see everything from this warped pessimistic perspective. There’s a lot of truth to the saying: “You only see what you aim at.” So it’s best to look at the positive things going on in life as well. You can’t control your emotions directly, but your thoughts have a large influence on your emotions.
You can improve your mental health by looking at the positive side of life as well and only worrying about those things that are under your control. If you decide to only worry about the things and people who matter and are important to you.
Cognitive behavior therapy, which is a form of therapy focused on changing the way you think and act can truly be an eye opener and can aid you to change your mindset.
Not only will it make you a more positive and happier person but it will be a lot more useful than complaining and being angry all the time as well. - Physical exercise.
Mental health and physical health go hand in hand. It’s Yin and Yang so to speak.
Your mental health can’t be optimized without exercising and vise versa. Exercising has been proven to release dopamine, which is basically our “happiness” hormone. These increased dopamine levels in return make us feel better and more confident. - A healthy diet.
A healthy diet is grossly (no pun intended) underrated in regards to mental health.
The quote “You are what you eat” not only applies to our physical health, but to our mental health as well.
A clean, healthy diet will decrease body fat, allow you to sleep better at night, increase your energy levels during the day which will all together help you to feel better in return. - Meaningful social network.
Humans are social animals. No matter if you are introverted or extroverted, we all need meaningful social interactions to feel good. We just differ in the amount of social interaction we desire.
A good social network in the form of family and close friends will make us feel appreciated. It also provides a great support network for when times are tough. And make no mistake, we will all go through some tough times at some point in our lives. That’s the harsh reality of living. - Do more things you like.
The last but certainly not least important tip is quite simple. Do more things you like.
There are certain chores in life that are necessary and unavoidable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we like to do those things.
However, make sure to do some things you enjoy like for example exercising, reading, talking to your family and close friends in your free time.
Not only that, make sure you enjoy your work and if you don’t, try to start making plans to switch jobs at some point in the future. Because whether we like it or not, at the end of the day, most of us spend more time at our job than with our family at home.
Guest author bio
Kevin Mangelschots is an occupational therapist, health and self improvement writer at www.healthybodyathome.com, sports enthusiast and gamer to relax!
