To live life to its fullest, you need to have good mental health. But sometimes maintaining it becomes tough. And you become prone to diseases like migraines and depression. To stay away from poor mental health, take care of it. By changing your everyday routine, you can enjoy good mental health. Internet is filled with tips to improve your mental health. But most of these tips are hard to follow and make you feel exhausted at the end. Thus, most people give up on the process in the middle. Here I am going to tell you about 10 simple steps that you can add to your everyday life to improve your mental health.
1. Exercise Daily
Various researches have proved that when we exercise our nervous system and pituitary glands release endorphins. This chemical can relieve pain, reduce stress and provide a happy feeling.
Exercise is not limited to going to the gym and work out there. You can do aerobics, cycling, or running anything that works for you. If it causes physical exertion, it will help you.
Also Read: 8 Surprising Psychological Benefits of Exercise
2. Eating a balanced diet
A balanced diet is a diet that is rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, and fibre. Sometimes with deficiencies like B12 deficiency, we start feeling low. So having a balanced diet can fix these issues. And you can feel good.
Also Read: Importance of Food in our Daily Lives
3. Avoiding Alcoholic Beverages
Excessive drinking over time can cause thiamine deficiency. Thiamine helps our brain functions and its deficiency can have some serious effects. It can affect motor skills, prevent memory problems, and much more. Also, alcohol enhances the mood you are taking it in. If you take alcohol while being sad then after a few drinks you will start feeling depressed. Thus avoiding alcoholic beverages as much as possible is the key to healthy mental health.
4. Self Love
When someone feels low, they criticize everything. They overthink their actions and reactions. And becomes a self-critique. Sometimes they start disliking themselves due to all the overthinking. So indulging in the process of self-love becomes very important. Try not to be a self-critique when the world is there to criticize you. Embrace yourself. Instead of focusing on your flaws, talk about your qualities. Ask your family and friends the things they love about you. And the things that make you special. The answers will help you love yourself and accept yourself.
5. Meditate Daily
The list of benefits of meditation is quite long and most of them are backed by science too. So you can be sure that it works. Meditation helps to improve both the mental and physical health of a person. Its benefits for mental health include improving self-esteem, an increase in focus and concentration, and a reduction in stress and anxiety. Meditation also helps you fight addictions. So if you are looking to get rid of a habit, meditation might be the right key.
6. Proper Sleep
Sleeping helps the body to relax. Amnesia or not taking proper sleep might be hazardous for you. During sleep, the body releases various chemicals that help our brain function properly. But with the deficiency of sleep comes the deficiency of these chemicals. And this deficiency can make you feel fatigued. And you might start feeling depressed or anxious. Thus try to maintain a proper sleep schedule. Sleep for at least 6 hours a day. Also, fix a time to go to bed daily and avoid using social media or any screens after that time. This is one of the best to practice improve your mental health
7. Do things you love
Everybody has a different list of things that they love to do. Prepare a list of things that you love to do. It can be anything like eating ice cream. So whenever you feel low just go through your list. And find a thing that you can do easily and enjoy doing that. It will help you feel happy in tough times. And will help you keep going.
8. Spend time with loved ones
Everyone has families and friends. Some of these family members and friends understand us better. Or we have a better and a deeper bond with them. They adore you and the feeling is mutual from both sides. Whenever you feel low or depressed, just turn towards them. Have a talk with them about the way you are feeling. Feeling being understood will bring calm to your mind. Also, most of them will share their experiences with you. And there is no better teacher in the world than experience. Learn from it. Also, you will feel grateful and light from inside after sharing the information that was suffocating you.
9. Stay with nature
Nature has its healing effects. Try to spend quality time with nature. You can go trekking, picnics, or just plant a new tree. The growing plant will give you the courage. You can also try sunbathing. As the sun’s rays are an excellent source of vitamin D. You can go for a walk in parks or cycle across the sea. As the soothing melody of sea waves, chirping birds will help you calm your mind. It will also let you release endorphin. And it is the real happiness potion.
10. Ask for help
Sometimes, the upper tips don’t help as expected. And you will need medical guidance. Don’t shy away from the fear of being misunderstood. Instead, when you think you might use some help. Ask for it. Tell your doctor about everything you are feeling and how they are affecting you.
There are people like family, friends, and doctors that are always eager to help you. All you have to do is to reach out to them. Also sharing what you are going through provides you with the feeling of calm.
Avoid sitting alone for hours overthinking everything. Try to keep yourself busy with productive activities. And overthinking isn’t one of them, so avoid it. Try to do things you love and spend time with the people that you love.
These people and things will create a positive atmosphere all around you. They won’t let you feel alone. And make sure that you feel listened to. Remember, everything is hard in the beginning, messier in the middle, and easy in the end. Thus things will get easy eventually but for that, give yourself the required time.