5 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health
Sometimes we just don’t want to get out of bed. We feel sluggish, tired, and heavy. Maybe it was the pizza we ate last night. Maybe it’s a stressful time at work. Whatever your reasons, we are here to help you get through it! We have put together a few ways to help you give yourself some much-needed mental health self care.
1. Eat a Diet Rich in Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables have so many health benefits from decreasing inflammation to healing our gut to cancer prevention. Most people know that eating more fruits and vegetables is good for your health, but many struggle to get the amount and variety that your body needs on a daily basis. Want to take your nutrition to the next level? Try our Whole30 online course that will teach you about the benefits of eating more whole foods like fruits and vegetables. Or, start with the ‘easy button’ to get 20 different fruits and vegetables into your daily routine in just a few seconds with Juice Plus+ capsules or gummies.
2. Meditate
Meditation, being by yourself for a while or sitting in a peaceful environment, can do wonders for your stress level. Parents who constantly hear the words, “Mom” or “Dad,” definitely need some quiet time. Business owners can also relate to the need for having peace and quiet so they can make plans and set goals. Whether you’re using official meditation breathing and relaxation techniques or whether you’re just sitting in a peaceful area without others, finding ways to have quiet time to yourself helps to clear your mind of distractions and helps you to de-stress. Need somewhere to start your meditation? Come spend some time in our salt room and just relax for 30 minutes in a dark, soothing environment while breathing in cleansing salt air.
3. Get Enough Quality Sleep
This one is a biggy. When our body sleeps, and we mean really sleeps, our body has time to heal and repair problems that have been occurring inside – even things that we didn’t know were happening. It means something when we say, “I’m tired.” It means we need to slow down and let our body heal from what is draining our energy. What better way to do that than to sleep! The word quality is also important. Just because we slept doesn’t necessarily mean we had quality sleep. If you are waking up several times while sleeping, you aren’t getting the caliber of sleep that your healing body requires. Maybe your sinuses are acting up because of allergies or you’re in pain which causes you to toss and turn. Whatever the reason you aren’t sleeping well, we might be able to help. Make an appointment with our office to discuss how we can help you sleep better.
4. Take a Step Away from Electronics
In today’s world, this is hard. Have you been guilty of working on a computer and then picking up your phone to scroll through social media? Maybe you even put the television on while playing on your phone? We get it. Electronics can be fun! But they can also be stressful. Comparing ourselves to our friends and acquaintances on social media can be harmful to our mental health. What about politics? Seeing those political ads and instantly worrying about the world our children are being raised in can cause us to worry. So as much fun as electronics bring, they also bring stress into our lives. Schedule time in your day to be completely unattached to electronics. Go for a walk and leave the device at home. Take a drive, get lost, and figure out how to get home without the GPS. And to help with the previous topic, make sure not to use electronics 30-60 minutes before bed to help you get better, restful sleep, too!
5. Journal or Write Things Down
Have you ever been so upset with someone that you start typing them an email or text message and before you know it, the email or text message is pretty long, but in the end you decide not to send it? That’s a form of journaling. When we get upset and start writing, we put words to our feelings and acknowledge our emotions. We learn about what we get angry about, why we got angry, and we may even find a solution to fixing what we were upset about. Journaling or writing things down is a healthy way for us to cope with our stressors. In the end, we help our mental health by getting our feelings out in written words and not leaving those emotions bottled up inside. The next time you find yourself stressed about something, pull out a journal start a new document on your computer and get those stressful thoughts out. You’ll feel better afterward, for sure!