You don’t always need to make drastic changes to your lifestyle to care for your mental health, as little habits can add up over time.
Label triggers
Simply labeling a strong emotion, say, recognizing you’re feeling anxious instead of angry, can dial down your brain’s fight-or-flight response quickly. It shifts brain activity from the emotional amygdala to the rational prefrontal cortex and stops stress in its tracks.
Prioritize sleep
Much of your brain’s detoxification process happens while you’re asleep. This includes clearing out cellular debris and regulating neurotransmitters that control your mood.
When you cut your brain off from adequate deep sleep, you’re inviting mood disorders to take root. By creating a relaxing bedtime ritual that screens are not a part of, you can make sure your mind will receive the sleep quality it needs.
Practice grounding
When you start to feel overwhelmed by racing thoughts, grounding techniques like the 5-4-3-2-1 sensory exercise can help you come back to the present moment. Physically forcing yourself to observe your environment tells your body that you’re safe by having you identify specific things you can see, feel, and hear.
Limit doomscrolling
Reading endless negative news cycles and scrolling through perfectly filtered social media feeds fills your brain with cortisol and adrenaline, causing your nervous system to remain on high alert. Using strict daily time limits for your apps each day allows your brain space to breathe.
Set boundaries
A firm but polite “no” to additional responsibilities that sap your strength allows you to avoid burning out and reserve the mental space required to unwind. Setting limitations on what you will and will not accept helps decrease feelings of being overwhelmed on a daily basis and leaves you with enough energy for yourself.
Move daily
Even something as simple as a twenty-minute brisk walk or bike ride floods your brain with energizing endorphins that can instantly improve your mood. Moving your body also helps to burn off the stress hormones coursing through you, like adrenaline.
Step outside
Just 20 minutes outside, surrounded by greenery or natural sunlight, can help decrease blood pressure and other psychological markers of stress. Going outside resets your vitamin D and gives you a fresh perspective away from the sterile indoors.
Build connections
Take two minutes to smile and sincerely engage with a co-worker, your neighbor or a good friend. These tiny hits of dopamine will ward off any subconscious feelings of loneliness you didn’t know you had. Plus, it forces you to remember you’re not adrift alone; you’re a part of something bigger.
Single-task focus
Multitasking stretches your mind thin. It makes you tired mentally, zaps your concentration and stresses you out without you realizing it. Focusing completely on one thing at a time helps you feel calm and collected.
Audit self-talk
By monitoring your self-talk, you can identify negative, over-critical thoughts quickly and replace them with a healthy, realistic view. When you change your inner voice from judge to coach, you prevent yourself from making your day worse.
Declutter spaces
Since physical clutter around you is a reflection of the clutter in your mind, cleaning up your workspace will open up more mental space. When your surroundings are clutter-free, you don’t have anything in your line of sight reminding you of the things you still have to do.
Enjoy hobbies
Doing something creative just for fun, not to sell or be good at, lets your mind take risks. Think of hobbies like drawing or working puzzles as low-pressure playtime for your brain. They require your full attention and give you a much-needed break from everything else on your mind.
Drink water
Even slight dehydration can affect your ability to think clearly, focus and feel energized, similar to how your body experiences anxiety and tiredness. Having a bottle of water at your side can help ensure your body is in working order, providing a good base for your emotional well-being.
Eat well
Your gut flora produces most of your body’s serotonin, so eating whole foods, lean protein, and healthy fats will ensure your brain chemistry is functioning properly. You’ll also avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes from heavily processed foods, which will keep your mood and energy perfectly balanced all day.
Seek help
One-on-one time with a licensed therapist or counselor will give you personalized, unbiased tools to work through ingrained habits and develop sustainable coping skills. A therapist is a safe teammate you can lean on to work through old hurts and current stressors.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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