Strategies to build, improve or maintain your Mental Health

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Move your body

Getting our bodies moving not only improves our physical health, it also makes a difference to our mental health by reducing anxiety and depression, and lifting negative mood. Even small levels of physical activity can have big rewards.

Moving your body is a scientifically proven mood booster releasing endorphins and supporting neural growth. Moving your body has been found to alleviate symptoms such as low self-esteem and social withdrawal. Whether it is going for a run, taking a walk or dancing around your kitchen, get physical.?

Invest in your relationships

Our relationships affect both our physical and mental well-being. Good friends help you celebrate, provide support during challenging times, increase your sense of belonging and boost your happiness.

Several studies support this including a study of two-hundred and twenty-two students in the USA which found that the happiest students had stronger social relationships than those who were less happy. Take time to spend with a friend or family member either in person or virtually and enjoy all the benefits that the time together brings.

Limit your news intake

We live in a world of 24-hour news. Anything and everything that is happening in the world is reported within minutes, sometimes with only limited factual, or contradictory, information. This can leave us is feeling overwhelmed and anxious. It may even make us feel stressed, particularly when we have no control over the things that are happening around us. A survey conducted in the USA asked questions about the impact of the news during the pandemic, 68% of respondents reported feeling anxious, 65% reported feeling overwhelmed and 67% of respondents reported feeling burnt out.

Challenge yourself to only having a 10 minutes dose of news each day.

Laugh

My grandfather used to say, “there is nothing that a good laugh can’t fix.”

We have all experienced that feeling where our sides hurt and we feel breathless and yet lighter somehow. Laughter is indeed strong medicine, strengthening the immune system and counteracting feelings of anxiety and sadness. When we laugh, cortisol levels decrease and so stress is reduced. A study in Norway found that people who laugh outlived those who don’t laugh as much.

Take time to laugh and if you can find time to laugh with others the ripple will be extraordinary. If you can’t find something to laugh at simply try laughing anyway, laughter yoga, prolonged voluntary laughter, provides similar physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter.

Smell the joy

Unlike our other senses, our sense of smell is linked to the emotional centre of our brains linking us with past experiences. Several studies support this, revealing that certain fragrances create positive personal emotions, lower stress and improve overall mental outlook. Think back to smells that create a positive emotion for you. Tune into your sense of smell, whether it’s on a walk, through burning a scented candle, spending time outside or even baking (which will also have a tangible by-product that anyone you live with may thank you for) and see what positive emotions you can trigger.

Smile

Smiling is nature’s antidepressant because it can trigger the release of dopamine and serotonin, which both help to boost your mood. Studies show that positive emotions help us cope with stressful situations with a 2012 study at the University of Kansas supporting that smiling influences our physical state. When undertaking stressful activities participants who were instructed to smile had lower heart rate levels after recovering from the stressful activities when compared to participants who held neutral facial expressions. Smiling is also contagious and it’s one of the habits of an optimist.

Carefully choose the clothes you wear

Do the clothes we wear affect our mental health? Research has found that they do. What we wear isn't just about aesthetics, it also has an impact on our mental health. A 2012 study found that wearing specific articles of clothing influenced the wearer's psychology and performance. Referred to as "enclothed cognition”, we embody the meanings we associate with our clothes. Further studies have shown that a lack of stimulation has been proven to negatively affect your mental health and so when working from home staying in our pyjamas all day can force us into a perpetual state of inactivity. Comfortable clothing on the other hand, like activewear, has been shown to positively impact our ability to focus and process information. Uncomfortable clothing increases the likelihood of us getting distracted. While research into the area of colour therapy is still in its early stages, there is early evidence to show that wearing colours that make us feel happy can also affect our mood.

Be conscious and choose your clothes carefully, particularly if you are working remotely, choose something comfortable in a favourite colour and see how it makes you feel.

Select a soundtrack

Movie producers the world over understand the value of a powerful soundtrack, enhancing our fear or anticipation in thrillers, triggering our deepest feelings or leaving us feeling euphoria. We have all had the experience of feeling our toe tapping unconsciously when a piece of music comes on or having our hips begin to move without warning. Music can change the way we think, feel and act. While you are listening there are changes in your autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling blood pressure and heartbeat, along with changes in your limbic system, which is responsible for feelings and emotions. A study from Mind-lab International found that listening to classical or ambient music can help reduce anxiety by up to 65%. A review of 23 studies found that music helped to reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety in heart disease patients. Research from the University of Missouri revealed that you can raise your mood by listening to happy and upbeat music. A 2011 study found that listening to music releases dopamine, the feel good chemical, in your brain.

Good mental health is closely correlated with optimism so, when your day needs a bit of help to get going or isn’t feeling so good the benefits of playing some uplifting music are very real and you will soon find yourself feeling brighter. Consciously choose your soundtrack and feel the change.

Express gratitude

Studies show that people who express gratitude regularly have a more positive outlook and are shown to be happier overall, leading to lower rates of stress and depression. Expressing gratitude also helps us deal with adversities and increases our resilience. Gratitude changes the neural structures in our brain. Releasing dopamine and serotonin helps us to manage our emotions, anxiety, and stress responses. It also makes us feel good, and with regular practice can strengthen our neural pathways creating a permanent grateful and positive outlook.

Regularly take 5 minutes to reflect on what has been the best part of your day or week.

Use a nature prescription

There is a growing body of research that reveals the significant effect nature has on our physical and mental health. Spending time in nature not only makes you feel better emotionally by reducing anger, fear, and stress, it has also been shown to reduce blood pressure, heart rate and the production of stress hormones as well as strengthening the immune system.

How much time do we need to spend in nature to reap the benefits? A study of 20,000 people, conducted at the University of Exeter in the UK, found that people who spent two hours a week in natural environments, be it in one go or on several occasions were more likely to report good physical and mental health and well-being. The study showed there were no benefits for people who didn’t meet the 2 hour threshold.

Use some of your 2 hour nature therapy prescription, and to maximise the benefits leave your phone on your desk.

Sing away the stress

We know that listening to music is good for our mental health. There’s also plenty of research to show that singing is good for both our physical and mental wellbeing, with studies finding that singing reduces stress levels and improves our mood. Singing also increases production of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that helps us fight infections, enhances our memory, and increases oxygen levels in our blood. AND you don’t have to be good at singing, to reap the benefits.

Turn on your favourite uplifting soundtrack, take a deep breath and SING.

Hydrate

While we all know the benefits of staying hydrated on our physical health, research reveals that there are also significant benefits for our mental health. Drinking water makes us happier, it decreases the risk of depression and anxiety, reduces panic attacks, improves our ability to concentrate and minimises mood swings.

Consciously focus on your water intake and keep your glass topped up.

Choose your fuel

Our bodies need fuel to perform well; what we eat has a significant impact on our physical and mental health. In our busyness it is easy to forget to focus on the quality of our fuel. Many fruits and vegetables contain complex carbohydrates, antioxidants and vitamins, all of which are good for brain health. Whole grains contain an amino acid which prompts the production of serotonin, helping us to remain calm, improve our mood, and regulate our sleep. Oily fish contain DHA which supports memory, boosts our mood and reduces anxiety, along with omega 3 which helps circulate serotonin and dopamine around the body.

In addition to knowing what fuel supports our mental health, it’s important to be mindful of the fuel that has a negative impact on our mental health, such as sugar, alcohol and saturated fat.

Make conscious choices for your fuel.

Feel better when you’re dancing

So there you are minding your own business and a soundtrack comes on and suddenly without warning you are dancing! Dancing has many benefits for our physical health, increasing heart health, muscle strength, balance and coordination. Dancing is also proven to have benefits for our mental health, reducing depression and anxiety. Studies have shown that people who dance on a regular basis report better cognition and a more positive mood, with the positive effects lasting for a long time. Different styles of dance can also provide additional benefits, ballroom dancing requires a degree of improvisation improving our decision-making skills, interpretive modern dance improves creativity. Whatever your style and whatever your level of skill, the benefits of dancing are very real.

Pop an uplifting soundtrack on and host a dance party and if you can't agree on the soundtrack, host a silent dance party. This is where each person listens to their own choice of music through headphones and dances to their own beat! This has the additional benefit of boosting our sense of connectedness through dancing together - it is also funny!

Sleep your way to feeling good

Sleep and mental health are very closely connected. Having enough, but not too much, regular good quality sleep helps the brain, among other things, to process the events of the day sifting through and storing what’s important and clearing out what isn’t. It was initially thought that sleeping problems were caused by poor mental health, research is increasingly showing that there is as much evidence to show that the reverse is also true, poor sleep can cause poor mental health. Aiming to achieve between 7 and 9 hours sleep with the aim of going to bed earlier and rising earlier will allow the body to benefit from all of the healing activities it performs during sleep.

Develop a good sleep routine as is helpful in creating the foundation for our mental health, which includes maintaining the same pattern no matter what the day. ?

Be kind

Often when we are feeling down the last thing that we feel like doing is helping others. There is plenty of evidence that tells us that helping others without being asked to, is beneficial for our mental health and wellbeing. A 2019 study found that people who engaged in acts of kindness for seven consecutive days saw an increase in their levels of happiness, an increase that was directly linked to the number of acts of kindness. Being kind increases serotonin and dopamine which makes us feel good, as well as increasing oxytocin which can help us feel connected to each other. Being kind can also help reduce levels of cortisol, with a study finding that people who practiced kindness regularly had 23% lower cortisol levels.

Undertake an act of kindness, without any expectation of return; call someone, send a gift, pay for the coffee of the person behind you in the queue. Tell someone they look nice.

Stretch

We quite often think of stretching as something that we do to prepare for, or cool down from, physical exercise. Studies have shown that stretching also helps us physically at any time and more specifically stretching helps support our mental health. Being busy can elevate our levels of stress which can cause our muscles to become tense and tighten. Stretching increases blood flow which changes our energy and helps us to feel more alert. Regular stretching reduces our muscle tension and has been shown to increase serotonin levels reducing stress and anxiety.

Take time between meetings to stand and stretch your body.

?Be mindful

Life is so busy, we can find ourselves moving so fast, with our brain so full that we are performing on autopilot without noticing what’s actually going on. Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment so that we become more aware of our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations which in turn reduces the chance of us becoming overwhelmed and re-acting from a place of stress. Research shows that practising mindfulness increases well-being and reduces stress and anxiety. It also minimises the chance of emotional reaction, and improves our ability to regulate behaviour. Studies of brain activity show that after practising mindfulness, the grey matter in our brain's amygdala, which releases stress hormones, becomes smaller and the hippocampus, which is associated with memory, becomes thicker.

Mindfulness can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths. I like to think of mindfulness like punctuation for my brain. Just like we would check a document or an email and adjust the punctuation, we can do the same with our brain. A comma might be 3 or 4 deep breaths. A full stop might be stepping away from the desk while focusing on our breathing. A new paragraph might be stepping outside for a few minutes and breathing in fresh air and listening to the sounds around us. With all of the punctuation it’s about bringing our focus to the present moment and creating the space to clear our thoughts.

Notice when you may be feeling overwhelmed and punctuate your day, as many times as you need to.

Say NO

When was the last time you said, “No” to something? As you look down the schedule of your commitments each day ask yourself how many of them you have blindly accepted. Busy is a state we too often fall into and suddenly we have no time for ourselves. Busyness provides us with a sense of achievement which is helpful, it is also a shortcut to physical, emotional and mental health challenges when our busyness goes too far. We can experience the physical symptoms of being too busy; being tired, muscle aches and headaches. Busyness can also lead us to feeling anxious and stressed. We will frequently find that when we are in stress, because we are so busy, we can develop feelings of anger or resentment to those around us. We also know that as there is a finite amount of time in our day we end up with no, or less, time to do the things we enjoy.

Take a look at your schedule and say, “No”, to at least one item and instead do something that you enjoy that is not work related.

?Get out in nature

Being outside in nature reduces anxiety, anger, fear and stress while improving mood and self-esteem. Studies show that spending time outside lowers blood pressure and reduces stress-related hormones. While outside, spending some time in the sun will see an increase of serotonin in your brain which will also boost your mood and help you feel calm and focused.

Take 20 minutes to sit outside and enjoy a cuppa, without any distractions - leave your phone on your desk - and soak in the physical feel good while igniting those feel good chemicals in your brain.

Find beauty

When we are happy we experience less stress, depression and anxiety. The paper “Untangling What Makes Cities Livable: Happiness in Five Cities,” found that living somewhere aesthetically beautiful has the greatest effect on our happiness. The cumulative positive effects of seeing beauty each day are very powerful. These findings were supported by studies undertaken at the London School of Economics where it was found that the highest levels of happiness were all related to beauty. We don’t all live somewhere that would be considered beautiful, that said, beauty is all around us if we look for it.

Take time to look out for something that you find beautiful, recognising that beauty is a very personal thing, and take a photograph of it, then you can look back on it and relive the beauty.

Watch a movie

Research has found a positive link between watching films and our brain function, social connections, productivity and creativity. A movie with a good story engages our curiosity and imagination and we get to safely release our emotions, through laughing or crying. Movies bring us together and can be inspiring. They offer us a chance to escape and most importantly, while watching a movie, our brain gets a rest from whatever it has been thinking about, allowing it to completely disengage.

Take the time to watch a movie and give your brain time some much needed time off.

Give thanks

Expressing gratitude to others has benefits for both the giver and the receiver, bringing a feeling of satisfaction and encouragement. There has been significant research revealing the positive impacts of expressing gratitude which include, building and sustaining long term relationships, dealing with adversities and increasing resilience, with gratitude showing a positive correlation with vitality and energy. Studies into intimate relationships have shown that partners who regularly express their gratitude to each other had longer-lasting happy relationships. Gratitude changes the neural structures in our brain. Releasing dopamine and serotonin helps us to manage our emotions, anxiety, and stress responses. It also makes us feel good, and with regular practice can strengthen our neural pathways creating a permanent grateful and positive outlook, altering the way we view ourselves and the things around us and making us feel happier and more content.

Think back across the day/week that has passed and remember all of all the people who have contributed to your week. Then send an email to each one, not just thanking them, instead being very specific with your gratitude, letting them know exactly why you are grateful to them.

Have a chat

Our friends play a valuable role in our mental health, no matter how old we are or what we are going through. Friends help us to celebrate our successes and support us when things are challenging. There is significant research into the role of positive, supportive relationships in our lives in preventing cognitive decline. Professor Martin Seligman’s work on Positive Psychology has identified relationships as the single most important of the 5 pillars of happiness.

Take time to chat with a friend.

Change your language

How do the words you use affect your mental health? There are many studies that have discovered that the words and phrases we use create the foundation for our mental health. Every negative thing we say impacts how we view the world and how we feel, it also impacts those around us and how they feel.

“This is ridiculous!”

“What a mess!”

“But….!”

“No….!”

The more consistently negative our language the more we see heart rate accelerate and blood pressure rise. There are also changes in our brain, which releases chemicals to support us in what it perceives to be an imminent fight or flight. Changing the words we use to positive words reduces anxiety and stress. It will also minimise the chance of us ruminating or brooding over things that happen.

Notice your language and where it may not serve you well change it. Start small, the difference will be huge.

Feed your mental health with new experiences

There is something really comforting about doing familiar things, however if we only ever stay within our comfort zone our lives can pass us by in a blur as our brain isn’t stretched or challenged. When we do something new our brain really pays close attention as it tries to master whatever we are doing and time actually seems to slow as we process the new experience. When we try out new things our neurons fire creating new synaptic connections which build on each other, increasing neural activity, we get a sense of accomplishment and our confidence grows. New experiences trigger dopamine, the feel good chemical, which also improves memory, and focus. Learning to do something you haven’t done before or doing something as simple as listening to new/different music or walking a new route can sharpen our brain and get our neurons firing.

Try a new experience.

Day dream

Daydreaming is a bad thing because it means you are not focussed or paying attention, right? Wrong! Studies have shown that by tuning out the world around you, you allow your mind to relax and your thoughts to flow freely. This state is called the alpha wave state where our minds are calm and not thinking of anything. According to Harvard University’s Medical School daydreaming can help alleviate stress and anxiety.

Take time to daydream. Begin by looking away from your desk, breathe in deeply and exhale slowly two or 3 times, then call to mind something that makes you happy and allow your daydream to carry you away.

Enjoy your food

How quickly do you eat your evening meal? Perhaps your taste buds have found they can take a break, not required to report for duty as you inhale your meal in record time. Perhaps you don’t always notice what’s on your plate, distracted by your mobile device. Research has shown that there is a significant positive relationship between mindful eating and our mental health. Eating mindfully can help us to slow down and take a break from our busyness which brings a sense of calm and eases stress, anxiety and the symptoms of depression. It also reduces our potential to overeat. The opposite of mindful eating, is associated with increased levels of anxiety, overeating, and weight gain.

Put your mobile device away and really enjoy your evening meal. Notice the aroma and the colour. Between bites put your cutlery down and get your taste buds working as you really enjoy every mouthful. Then, stop eating when you are nearly full.

Increase the joy

Consciously doing things that bring us joy is great for our mental health. Feeling joy helps to boost our immune system, reduces stress and anxiety and has been shown to be a contributor to a long life. When we are doing things that bring us joy our brain releases dopamine and serotonin which trigger positive changes in our circulation and nervous system. So emotionally and physically we are reaping the benefits, figuratively or literally jumping for joy. Each of us is unique and what brings us joy is different. Being intentional about creating joyful moments is a great way to support our mental health.

Take time to do something that brings you joy.