Cheap and Easy Ways To Protect Mental Health
Self care is still mostly focused on the external. From exercise and healthy food choices to groom our appearance to skincare and beauty regimes, external self-care practice certainly has its place. But if we leave the internal unchecked, we’d argue that we’re not really caring for ourselves at all, but rather neglecting our true selves to fit into standards that may not necessarily even be ours.
Our mental health can play a significant role in how we feel and view ourselves. It affects our sense of identity, our sense of purpose, and our ability to take care of ourselves and others.
In this day and age, living with a mental illness is more common than one might think. Across the states, almost one in five adults currently live with a mental illness. And in 2020, this totaled up to 52.9 million.
Prioritizing our mental health and finding ways to help improve it can beneficial, yes, but also life-changing. The other great thing is that minor changes in daily routine can help make a noticeable overall difference.
Benefits Of Prioritizing Your Mental Health
Knowing how to prioritize our mental health is the first step to helping improve it. However, it can be challenging to keep up the motivation and continue implementing some of these strategies into our lives. One way to keep motivated is by knowing the benefits reaped by prioritizing mental health.
Helps Us Sleep Better - A good night’s sleep sounds like a dream for many. Many factors can contribute to an individual not sleeping well. One of those factors is mental health. Some struggle with falling asleep because of repetitive thoughts or any worries bothering them. Others find that they sleep more, whether staying in bed or sleeping longer than usual. Prioritizing your mental health can help to improve your chances of falling asleep at night and getting the recommended 7-9 hours.
Feel More Productive – Productivity levels are greatly influenced by how we feel mentally. On days when we struggle, we often lack the motivation to get any work done. This results in us having low productivity levels. However, when we focus on our mental health and bring it to a good place, we will likely feel more productive and motivated to accomplish any tasks we might have set ourselves.
Below are just a few simple ways to prioritize mental health, even on a busy day that feels out of your control.
Spend Time Outside
Fortunately, prioritizing mental health does not have to be financially costly. Spending more time outdoors can help immensely, reducing feelings of anxiety, stress, and fatigue. Being exposed to natural daylight can also help to boost moods and promote happiness.
Additionally, spending time outside and in natural light can also help with getting a better night’s sleep. Take the time to go for a walk, run, bike ride, or even spend a little time sitting in the sun and gardening. Even 15-20 minutes a day can make a massive difference over time.
Seek Professional Support
As much as we love it, the great outdoors can’t fix everything. Reaching out and asking for help is another effective and wonderful way to find the support needed. Speaking to a loved one, such as a friend or family member, is an excellent way to start and can also help you find the right kind of professional support.
As far as reaching out, one place to start is to ask for medical advice from your doctor, as they can often reference you to a therapist as well, or help support your journey with a therapist. Another way is to speak to a therapist or a psychiatrist. Online psychiatrists, like Talkiatry, are generally more affordable than in-person care and make it even easier to talk through any issues impacting your mental health from within the comfort of your home, allowing you to access the professional support needed to help improve mental health.
Write In A Journal
One common myth dispelled is that we do not need to be a writer to have a regular journal practice. Simply put, journaling is just regular use of a notebook where we can write down all of your thoughts and anything we are feeling. Set aside some time, whether 5 or 10 minutes a day, and that’s all you need.
One option is to write a gratitude journal where the focus is all about the positive aspects of life. Focusing on the positive aspects enables us to see what good things are in our lives. And then when we are struggling, we can go back to our gratitude journal as a reminder about all of the positive things we are grateful for.
Writing things out can be a cathartic experience as we can release everything troubling us. An alternative to a gratitude journal is a grievance journal. In other words, just write it down and leave it there. And then afterwards, we can focus on the more positive aspects of our lives. But whatever we end up writing, our journal should remain just for us as this prevents an audience affecting our thoughts, emotions, or words.
