ReidHealth

Mental health is vital to overall personal wellness. MentalHealth.gov describes mental health as our emotional psychological and social well-being. Here are some activities that can help to improve your overall psychological well-being.

• Get plenty of sleep. Adults should get as close to 8 hours of sleep per night as they can. Although every individual’s body differs sleep is essential for learning and improving daily productivity.
• Stop to enjoy small aspects of the day. Enjoying the small things may seem cliché but it is important to personal contentment. Try taking a walk on your break at work to appreciate the beauty in nature.
• Use a stress ball or some other stress reliever. The way we handle stress directly affects our health. A common method to deal with stress is a stress ball. Just squeeze the frustrations away!
• Perform a random act of kindness. Helping others volunteering or simply doing one random act of kindness can improve self-esteem. Self-esteem improves mental wellness in a variety of ways including a self-empowering sense of social connectivity. According to Harvard Health volunteerism contributes to lessening loneliness and depression.
• Exercise. Exercise contributes to cardiovascular health. Improved cardiovascular health leads to better emotional stability and reduced anxiety.
• Deep breathing exercises. HealthDirect explains that relaxation involving deep breathing exercises can lower your heart rate blood pressure and breathing rate. This subsequently allows your body and mind to recharge.
• Yoga. Yoga is a fantastic tool for reducing anxiety and depression. According to National Library of Medicine “By reducing perceived stress and anxiety yoga appears to modulate stress response systems.” Although some forms of yoga may be too strenuous for some yoga in general offers great mental and physical wellness benefits.
• Pet a dog. Therapy dogs have become a common method for improving the state of your emotions. Dogs provide emotional support by providing companionship to individuals. Simply petting a dog every day can improve one’s mental health.
• Eat breakfast. A lack of nutrition can lead to fogginess in brain function. Psychology Today notes the importance in a daily diet of foods high in omega-3 fatty acids. These and other foods have been shown to reduce symptoms of schizophrenia depression attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other mental disorders

Although these activities do not serve as a “cure” for mental disorders they are helpful and important for maintaining good mental health. Always remember that some mental issues can be serious – so always seek help from your physician or a professional if necessary. Given that the month of May is national mental health awareness month these nine ideas offer the possibility for more conversation and active engagement towards healthy individual mental health and wellness!