Four ways to boost your mental health

Are you looking for ways to boost your mental health?

After a long winter…. and let’s face it this one has seemed longer than most…. we can all feel quite mentally depleted. Take a look below at how you can start helping yourself if you are struggling with your mental health and feeling overwhelmed with the stress of life at the moment.

If you are struggling with your mental health, then it’s important to try and build a routine that can help you deal with it. If you are feeling very low, find someone you can talk to. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to a friend, then find out online how to refer yourself to get help talking to a professional. If you are unsure then ask your doctor how to go about this.

Small steps – four ways to give yourself a mental health boost

Here are some simple tips that seem obvious but when you are feeling low, they can be quite challenging. If you can try and set yourself a simple routine and follow it every day, then you will see improvement.

Think about the letter W and tick off 4 things from your list every day.

• Wake Up – try and set a regular wake-up time every day.
• Wash – get yourself in the shower and dressed for the day. No one feels great when they are still in bed in a dressing gown at the end of the day. We are not trying to make light of how bad you might be feeling. We know that even these simple tasks can seem challenging when you are struggling mentally.
• Walk – it doesn’t have to be much. Starting small is the best advice. Walk 10 minutes from your front door and back again. Build this routine in any way that feels right for you. Some days it will feel like a real struggle, and you may feel you have to force yourself. On other days you may start to feel the breeze or the rain on your face and your steps building a rhythm that can all help you to feel better. Listen to music, a podcast or a book if that helps.
• Write – can you think about writing something every day? Sometimes it helps to do a bit of journaling. It doesn’t have to be much. Again, the focus here is on starting small. Either using a pen and paper, on or a screen. It doesn’t matter which, it’s doing a little at an important time. Sometimes it helps your mind to start understanding how you are feeling. If you can’t think of anything else then list a couple of things you are grateful for, no matter how small they are.

If you can tick off the 4 x W’s every day, then you may feel ready to follow some other tips that will keep the momentum towards feeling better mentally.

The next steps

• If you can eat meals at regular times [1] it helps your body build a rhythm. Limiting or even cutting out sugar is great for gut health which helps with the gut-brain connection.
• Meditation – a guided meditation even if it is only five minutes can start to help reset your brain. [2] Find someone’s voice you like and give it a try.
• Limiting your use of electronic devices. It can be really easy when you are struggling with your mental health to immerse yourself in the unconscious use of your ‘devices’. Starting to be aware of that and limiting your time with the TV or your phone can help you lift yourself to greater positivity about life.
• Try and go to bed at a regular time every night. This will help you to get up at the same time in the morning too. It’s all about building healthier rhythms which help the brain to function better.

Could you be suffering from SAD syndrome?

Take a look at our Your Health section here.