Simple Tips to Improve Mental Health

There are many different ways to improve mental health and a lot of them are a lot easier than you might think. It is important to take care of your mental health to improve your overall life quality. Taking time out of your day to stay grounded and live in the moment can significantly improve your mood and overall mental health. Here are some tips to keep you feeling good!

Exercise

Research suggests that exercise is not only beneficial to our body, but to our mind as well! Did you know that exercising can reduce stress, prevent depression, and increase your mood overall? When we exercise, it increases our heart rate, allowing more blood flow to the brain. Thus, more oxygen reaches our brain in a process called neurogenesis. This process secretes neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, also known as endorphins. 

A deficiency in these endorphins is what causes mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. So, the more you exercise, the more you can improve your mood, sleep, reduce stress, anxiety, and depression!

Exercising Goals: We challenge you to start exercising goals of 15 minutes three times a week, and gradually work your way to every day! Keep track of how you feel afterwards and take note in positive changes!

Journaling

There have been several studies that correlate journaling with mental health improvement. For example, journaling has appeared to be effective in helping people manage depressive episodes. It is not uncommon for psychiatrists to recommend their patients to try out journaling, along with their other treatment. 

A study done in 2006 showed that journaling may be as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). It has even shown to reduce symptoms in high-risk adolescents. In another study, people with Major Depressive Disorder reported significantly lower depression scores after just 3 days of expressive writing!

Journaling is overall a great way to manage stress, reduce depression, explore your emotions, and release tension! It is a good way to get in touch with your mind and you may discover a lot about yourself through the process. 

Journaling Goals: Challenge yourself to do some expressive writing for 20 minutes, three times a week and gradually work your way up to more! The fun part is that you can write about anything you want and can just let your mind wander! 

Meditate

Meditation is a great way to ground yourself and reduce overall stress and anxiety. It is one of the best methods of improving mental health and it is so easy to do!

Meditation is paying attention to your breathing and noticing each breath as it goes in and out. You should also catch your mind if it wanders to other things. It is about forgetting everything else and only focusing on your breathing. This allows you to focus on attention and mindfulness. 

This may take some time to get used to as it can be hard to sit still and only focus on your breathing. But patience is key, and the more you practice meditation, the more you will notice how it positively affects you! Here are some benefits to meditating: 

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations.
• Building skills to manage your stress.
• Increasing self-awareness.
• Focusing on the present.
• Reducing negative emotions.
• Increasing imagination and creativity.
• Increasing patience and tolerance.

Mediation Goals: Start by trying to meditate a few minutes a few times a week. A good way to remember to do it is by doing it as soon as soon as you wake up. You can meditate for as long as you feel comfortable doing it. Push yourself to do it a bit longer each time! You can also do it throughout the day. Whenever you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, try meditating and notice how it helps relax you!

Reduce Screen Time

Reducing screen time and grounding yourself into your daily life can significantly improve your mental health by allowing you to be more present in your real life. Check out our last blog on how to reduce screen time and the benefits that it can bring!

If you want to improve your mental health follow these tips and reduce screen time by joining our 21 Day Digital Wellness Challenge!