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It's no surprise that the country's climate and the state of the world right now is wreaking havoc on our mental and physical well being. It's more important now than ever to do everything we can to protect our mental health.
The more time we spend cultivating positive daily habits and routines, the better off we will be in the long run.
Here are some suggestions for beating the blues and protecting your mental health.
Spend less time on social media
While social media can be an excellent platform for socializing and inspiration, too much of anything is never a good thing.
When you find yourself getting sucked into the endless loop of mindless scrolling, comparison traps, or social media fatigue, it's best to put screen time limits on your apps to become more conscious of your time spent there.
You can easily limit your screen time on an iPhone by going to settings > screen time > app limits.
This way, your phone will remind you when you have reached your limit, and you can be more mindful of how much time you are spending scrolling.
Turn off the news
Let's face it the mainstream media is a corporation designed to instill fear and unrest in the minds of the general public. While it may feel necessary to be informed, the media's information is heavily biased and skewed.
Not to mention it is full of depressing and life-sucking reports. My suggestion would be to stay away from it as much as possible.
Exercise
Research shows that when you move your body, your muscles release chemicals known as myokines into your bloodstream that improve your mood, reduce anxiety and depression, and alleviate stress.
This is true for any physical movement you do: dancing, weight-lifting, walking, swimming, etc. as long as you’re using your muscles, they release molecules that boost your mental health.
The chemicals released from your muscles during exercise positively alter the brain by adding new neurons in the hippocampus and increasing the neurological connections between parts of the brain that help reduce fear and anxiety.
Studies show that after six weeks of activity, we see functional and structural changes in the brain, similar to what is visible in treatments for depression.
Regardless of the type, regular exercise helps build a healthier, more resilient brain that will minimize stress and anxiety.
Benefits of journaling
Spending 5-10 minutes in the morning journaling before you start your day is a fantastic way to get your thoughts, concerns, dreams, and goals out of your head and onto paper.
It's an incredibly cathartic way to reduce stress and anxiety and visualize your goals and objectives into reality.
As you write your goals and review them daily, they'll become forged into your subconscious mind.
You can also use this time to write 5-10 things you are grateful for everyday. This will prime your mind to focus on the positive rather than the negative.
Meditation
There is nothing quite like meditation to reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. The more consistently you practice meditation, the healthier your brain becomes.
Mindfulness meditation is so effective at alleviating mental health conditions like depression and anxiety that some clinicians are trying it as a course of treatment before turning to medication.
One study published in The Lancet in 2015 showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a treatment that combines mindfulness meditation with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy, was just as effective at preventing recurrence of depression as antidepressants—even for those with a larger risk of relapsing.
Research has yet to pinpoint the magic time requirement to see these brain changes and improve mental health outcomes but ideally you would strive to meditate everyday for 10-15 minutes.
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Read a personal development book
Reading is one of the best ways to strengthen your brain.
A personal development book has the added benefit of providing you tools for self-improvement.
Reading enhances the mind, the same way lifting weights strengthens the muscles; it stimulates the brain and keeps it sharp. Essentially, it puts the brain to work.
Studies show reading improves brain connectivity while increasing focus and concentration. It is the ultimate exercise for the mind. Read for a minimum of 10-15 minutes daily to strengthen your brain.
Set a goal and work towards it
As human beings we are happiest and most fulfilled when we are working towards something. The brain releases dopamine when we set a goal and achieve it.
It gives you a sense of accomplishment and triggers the reward system in your brain. When dopamine is released, you feel happy.
Thus goal setting is a key component in giving you an on-going sense of happiness and well-being.
Moving towards goals provides meaning and fulfillment in our lives.
Mark Murphy, the founder and CEO of LeadershipIQ.com and author of the book Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, has spent years researching how the brain works and how we are wired as it pertains to goal setting.
His book combines the latest research in psychology and brain science on goal-setting, as well as the law of attraction to help fine-tune the process.
While there may be a lot of uncertainty at the moment, the best thing you can do is take control over your own physical and mental health and spend less time focusing on the things that are out of your control.
