8 Practical Strategies for Mental Wellness

**TRIGGER WARNING** 

Eight Australians die every day by suicide. That’s more than double the road toll.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians between the ages of 15 and 44.

Over 65,000 Australians make a suicide attempt each year.

75% of those who take their own life are male. Every day, six men across Australia take their own lives – but an additional 82 call an ambulance due to suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.

Each year, youth mental illness costs Australia A$6.29billion in lost productivity. That’s A$780,000 per hour.

These stats are scary, and I could go on. But I don’t need to.

Now, more than ever, we need to address Australia’s mental health problem.

Statistically speaking most of us have been through a period of mental illness through our lives, or certainly will before we die.

Mental illness has undeniably affected the lives of my family and me. Through leaning in and working to understand the underlying biological, social, and psychological aspects, I now know that mental health is a lifelong practice.

While suicide is the ultimate tragic outcome that radiates through communities, mental wellness is relevant to everyone and by employing certain tools, we can help to arm ourselves and each other against the effects of mental illness.

This following article isn’t designed to be preachy; it’s designed to be practical.

Mental Health is something you want to know how to try and monitor and maintain. Awareness and knowledge of strategies for coping gives you the power to do this.

The comprehensive approach and tips shared below have been gleaned from the experiences of family, friends, authors, mental health advocates, and academics.

There are 8 core areas. When used together they constitute a broad strategy (though certainly not exhaustive) for staying on top of mental health.

If you find any of this useful or know someone who might, I strongly encourage you to share it with them.

+ + +

Summary - Comprehensive approach to managing Mental Health

1.    Exercise 3-5 times per week

2.    Prioritise high quality sleep

3.    Maintain openness and social connectivity

4.    Diet - eat clean and avoid alcohol/drugs during difficult periods

5.    Practice meditation

6.    Practice gratitude

7.    Access psychological services when needed

8.    Manage Social Media use

+ + +

1. Exercise 3-5 times per week

This is the most important (for me at least) but unfortunately also the hardest to maintain.

The core principle to keep in mind is: Keep the barriers between you and exercise as low as possible. In other words, this means making it as easy (convenient, non-time-consuming, enjoyable etc.) as possible for you to exercise on a given day. Top tips for this:

1) Find something you remotely enjoy doing AND can fit into your studying/working/living schedule easily

- It could be team sport, running, swimming, lifting weights or doing body weight exercise (I recommend Freeletics if you're in this camp) – whatever it is, keep trying until you find something you can stick with consistently overtime

- 20 minutes (at the right intensity) is enough to reap the mental and physical benefits - find a way to get it done before, during or after your day has finished

2) Take the mental planning aspect out of it

- When you don't know what you're doing in your exercise session, it's amazingly easy to skip the session because you've added an additional task (barrier) to the initial task (exercise)

- Remedy: Plan what you're doing in advance or get someone or an app to do it for you (I use Freeletics for this and it's been the single biggest intervention in helping me exercise consistently)

3) Compare the days you exercise to the days you don't exercise

What are the common themes when you miss a day?

- Didn't sleep well the night before and felt tired?

- Woke late and didn't have time?

- Ate too much at lunch and felt lethargic in the afternoon?

- You can see where this is going; if there's another consistent habit getting in the way of your exercise, change it! E.g. Eat a lighter lunch, wake up 20 minutes earlier etc.

If you want more on this topic, read this book: (Atomic Habits by James Clear) - it's the definitive work on getting this and other habits right - thanks to a close friend who knows who they are for the recommendation

4) Realise that if Charles could do it at 95, so can you (Worlds Fittest 95 Year Old)

- The point is: sometimes we tell ourselves stories about why we can't exercise on a given day because of “blah, blah, blah” - keep Charles in mind next time you decide to skip.

- Remember you'll live longer not only in an age sense but also a health sense by exercising consistently overtime, meaning you'll be able to live a much more active lifestyle for longer. Read this for why: Lifespan by David Sinclair

2. Prioritise high quality sleep

- Quality sleep is the second most important (some say first) area for regulating your emotional state and the second hardest to maintain.

- The latest and greatest health advice recommends (for the greatest amount of people) 7-8 hours. This equates to needing 5 cycles of sleep, each being 90 minutes in duration (i.e. 7.5 hours). For more on this, read this book: Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker or this Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind - Nick Littlehales

Action: 10 things you can try this week that will change your relationship with sleep

1)    Consistent wake and bedtime (ideally same bedtime, same wake but within 30 mins - 1 hour is okay). If there's one piece of advice you take from this section, it should be this. As creatures of habit, we have a hard time adjusting to changes in sleep patterns.

2)    Exercise no later than 2-3 hours before you go to bed.

3)    Avoid caffeine in the afternoon.

4)    Avoid alcohol before bed. Having a nightcap or alcoholic beverage before sleep may help you relax, but heavy use robs you of REM sleep, keeping you in the lighter stages of sleep.

5)    Avoid large, heavy meals and beverages close to your bedtime. A light snack is okay, but a large meal can cause indigestion, which interferes with sleep. Drinking too many fluids at night can cause frequent awakenings to urinate.

6)    Don't take late afternoon naps as they can make it harder to fall asleep at night.

7)    Dark bedroom, cool bedroom, gadget free bedroom. Get rid of anything in your bedroom that might distract you from sleep, such as noises, bright lights, an uncomfortable bed, or warm temperatures. You sleep better if the temperature in the room is kept on the cool side. Your brain will associate your bedroom with any activity you do in that bedroom so make it only a room used for sleep (and other certain nefarious activities).

8)    Build a bedtime routine that works for you. Have you ever lay in bed with an overstimulated mind? Same here. This could be anything that helps you relax and gets things off your mind, but one example might be this for a hypothetical bedtime of 11pm: 9:30pm - take a hot bath (the drop in body temperature after getting out of the bath can make you feel sleepy) and get ready for bed. 10pm - no screen time until sleep, dim the lights in your room, take ten deep belly breaths to lower your breathing rate and then read until you fall asleep.

9)    Use fresh linen 2x per week instead of 1x per week. Think of that feeling you get when you jump into a hotel bed and the linen is fresh. It's psychologically enticing when you know you've got fresh linen.

10) Have the right sunlight exposure. Daylight is key to regulating daily sleep patterns. Try to get outside in natural sunlight for at least thirty minutes each day.

3. Maintain openness and social connectivity

- The research has shown we feel better when we spend time with people we love and people who feel a sense of community stay happier for longer.

- We have a natural tendency to say less because we feel like we’re burdening others with whatever it is we have to share. What’s more of a burden though, is the burden and guilt to the friend who finds out after the fact that someone they care deeply about wasn’t okay and wasn’t able to share that at the time. It’s incumbent on all of us to share when we need to and to not in any way rely on things ‘just coming up’ in conversation. It’s only by sharing that the burden can be relieved from he who carries it and not carried by the friend who wasn’t able to help relieve it.

- Action: See your close friends weekly, broader friends intermittently and family as much as you can. Tell them when things aren't going as well as they could be so you're not going through it alone. 

- Action: As a friend, check-in with your friends every now and then. The most effective way to do this is to take the plunge and instead of asking “How are things?” or “How are you?” ask “How has your Mental Health been recently?” or “What’s been on your mind recently?” or “How is your Headspace at the moment?”. Better and more specific questions lead to better answers and better conversation. Of course, these won’t be the first questions you ask, and the context isn’t always ideal, but add it to the list of things you can speak about. You’ll be incredibly surprised at the conversation that ensues and meaningfulness that one question can bring.

Action: Ask a close friend or family member to be your accountability partner. Once a month or more frequently if needed, have a formal reminder on both of your calendars to check-in with the other person. This takes the pressure off creating the ideal context and forces you to check-in regularly. 

4. Diet – eat clean and avoid alcohol during difficult periods

1)    Action: Simple, eat clean food that provides you with lasting energy throughout the day (I'm not going to define this one but find a diet that works for you), don't eat too close to bedtime.

2)    Alcohol and drugs

- Ever felt anxious the day after a big night out? The entire week after a big night out? Join the club. Alcohol and drugs rob you of happy hormones and will do this. Not to mention a big night out will also ruin your sleep pattern.

- Action: It's perfectly okay to drink alcohol and it can be an important medium to connect with friends on a regular basis but this should be the first thing removed when and if you hit a streak of poor mental health. To go a step further, abstinence could be a helpful medium to indicate to your friends that you’re going through a period of poor Mental Health and a good opportunity to speak about it. (listen to Richard Branson talk about how alcohol affects him here, he often gives up alcohol for months at a time and believes it’s one of the best tools in the tool box to aid him through difficult times Richard Branson - The Tim Ferriss Show)

- Action: We needn’t deny the presence of drugs in our society. Knowledge is power, do your research on what you plan to take and how it may interact with any other drug (prescription or otherwise, alcohol included). Know the side effects. Look after your friends.

5. Practice Meditation

- We now know that mindfulness meditation can physically change our brain. Changes in gray matter linked to better tempering of emotions and cortical thickening making brain tissue healthier are just two observed findings on the effects of mindfulness. As little as 10-20 minutes of mindfulness meditation per day has been found to improve mental wellbeing which in turn serves as a protective barrier against mental illness as well as some of the effects of ageing. The following 3-minute video gives a quick run down of the science behind meditation and is well worth a watch for anyone considering starting: The Scientific Power of Meditation

- Action: Personally, I’ve found Waking up by Sam Harris to be both an effective introduction and consistent way to maintain Meditation. I'm not going to preach further on the benefits of meditation, find out for yourself here: Waking up by Sam Harris - thanks again to another close friend for the recommendation

6. Practice Gratitude

- This is highly effective but under-utilised and under-appreciated as a medium for feeling good about your world.

- The idea is simple: when you focus on what you don't have, you're in a perpetual state of seeking. This lends itself to feeling or thinking that you're incomplete. By focusing instead on what you do have, you're able to think and feel complete. This lends itself to feeling good about yourself.

- What is it? Any practice that draws your attention to things you have or things you're grateful for AND away from things you don't have (whether it's career related, money related, appearance related, character related, ability related - you get the idea).

- Action (How can you do it?): Write down 3 things you’re grateful for at the end of each week or each day. Review photos with fond memories of you with friends and family. Tell one of your friends / family members that you're grateful for their influence in your life. Reflect on something you're proud of or moments where you're proud of how you conducted yourself. Go above and beyond to thank those that offer you help or do something for you.

- The key is: catch yourself when you find yourself thinking about all the things you don't have or even one thing you don't have. Focus instead on what you do have – you may be surprised at how quickly this can change how you feel.

7. Access psychological services when needed

- Many of us have 'things' from our childhood, teen or adult years that consistently re-appear and draw energy from us. It's your and only your responsibility to put the energy into overcoming them (of course with the support of others). It can be immensely helpful to give these 'things' context in a proper setting and to build more self-awareness.

- The costs of counselling services can be a prohibitive barrier to some. In Australia, as of this week (as announced in the Federal Budget) Medicare allows you to claim up to 20 sessions per year on a mental health plan – this can mean you pay nothing in some cases. To access this service, a Mental Health Plan from a General Practitioner is required. You can find a list of bulk billing Doctors here: Bulk Billing GP's WA

- The majority of Universities in Australia offer free counselling services to their students.

- Action: If you don't know who to see, ask your close network of friends/family, you'll be surprised by how many recommendations you get. Otherwise a quick google search will show services in your area. Don’t be dissuaded if the first person you see doesn’t work out, this is normal, and it can take multiple people until you find someone who works for you.

8. Manage social media use

-       Do you wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is check your social media notifications? Do you feel like you’re in a reactionary, cluttered state of mind the entire day after doing so? If so, I challenge you to take a break from social media for the first 30 minutes of your day tomorrow and observe your state of mind – for a lot of people, this is a super power for starting their day in a calm, thoughtful and considered way.

-       Whilst social media is an important medium to connect with our friends and share our lives with others, overuse or improper use can leave us in a perpetual state of comparison – the thief of joy. Do you remember a time when you looked at someone else’s life on social media and felt envious? Did it make you feel like you were lacking in some way? If you do, you’re certainly not alone.

-       Action (What can we do about our social media use?):

It can be helpful to ask yourself the following questions to understand what your core incentives are for using Social Media so you can tailor your use around these while limiting other activities. This is a highly individualised matter and in that respect, you need to ask yourself the following questions.

1) In what ways is my social media use unhealthy? In what ways might my social media use be contributing to my thinking or feeling state? E.g. You might say that it’s scrolling through newsfeeds or photos of people you don’t even know mindlessly or overconsuming sensationalised, negative news that clutters your mind all day long – something we’ve all been guilty of.

2) Next, how can I avoid these activities? E.g. You might delete the Facebook app or only use it on weekends. You might add a newsfeed eradicator to your chrome or a social media use timer to your iPhone. You might unfollow most of your news apps and only consume media through a couple of trusted providers. 

3) What are my top three uses for social media and how can I maintain these WHILST limiting my unhealthy uses at the same time? E.g. 1) Staying connected with close friends, 2) Finding out about events, 3) Staying in touch with friends/family overseas. For someone with these as their top 3 uses, you might decide that you don’t really need Instagram or Snapchat, that they’re superfluous. I.e. the marginal benefit (based on your top use cases) of having these two additional apps is lower than the marginal cost (time, negative emotions stimulated through their use) of using them.

+ + +

The following are links to some further books / resources on the topic of mental health and dealing with trauma, as well as links to some important Mental Health Organisations and information on how you can be an ally to someone with mental health issues (again, not exhaustive).

Resources:

• Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach
• The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut
• Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide by Tim Ferriss
• The Quick-Start Guide to Healing Trauma and Psychological Wounds by Neil Strauss
• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns
• How to heal trauma by Tim Ferriss

Mental Health Organisations:

• https://lookafteryourmentalhealthaustralia.org.au/make-a-promise/
• https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
• https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/
• https://youthfocus.com.au/
• https://www.lifeline.org.au/
• https://www.zero2hero.com.au/
• https://www.headspace.com/
• https://au.reachout.com/
• https://www.counsellingonline.org.au/
• https://wellmob.org.au/

How can you be an ally to those with mental health issues?

• VALIDATE experiences and LISTEN with empathy. However, you can always say “I don’t think I’m the best person to help you with this”. Number one is helping people find proper support, don’t take it all on yourself. YOUR mental health is paramount, and boundaries need to be observed.
• ASK how you can help and be MINDFUL of your words.
• SHARE your story with others.
• LEARN more about mental health in the community, take a mental health/suicide first aid course: https://mhfa.com.au/courses/public/types/suicide.
• COVID-19 is a tough time for everyone, give yourself and others a bit of slack.

If you found any of this useful, share it. If you want to discuss anything in this post, please reach out.

In the words of the great man, Wim Hof, thanks for your time, I wish you a good night, or a good day and a good life. ALL THE LOVE, ALL THE POWER ??

(video for context, skip to end - Wim Hof - Guided Breathing Method)

Disclaimer: I’m not a health expert and don’t claim to be. These are explicitly my own views of what can be helpful and no one else’s. I believe mental wellness should be accessible for all and there are small, practical steps we can all take to maximise our mental wellness. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss anything.

This article was written as part of my contribution to Movember 2020. If this is a cause important to you, you can donate here: DONATE HERE

Your contribution is appreciated more than you know.