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Taking care of your mental health is essential, especially now during stressful times. There are many ways you can support your mental health. For starters, try these positive habits to start improving your mental health.
Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. These tips come from my own thoughts, research and experiences. Do not take this as medical advice, and see a health care professional if you require medical advice.
This post will teach you all about positive habits to support your mental health, so you can feel your best.
1. Keep Active
Humans are designed to move, and stretch our bodies. No matter what your fitness ability, you can incorporate some more movement in your daily life.
You’ll be amazed at how much better you can feel by keeping active. It can reduce tension, and increase dopamine and serotonin. (Your happy brain chemicals)
2. Drink enough water
How proper hydration can help you feel mentally better. Dehydration can have many negative effects on your brain and body.
Being dehydrated can throw off your body’s dopamine and serotonin balance. Which throws your body’s functions out of whack and can increase/affect depression and anxiety.
HYDRATE!
3. Proper Nutrition
Good habits for mental health include taking care of yourself physically and making sure you eat a well balanced, healthy diet, take vitamins, etc.
When your body physically feels healthy, your mind can thrive too.
4. Journaling
Journaling has many benefits for mental health. Some of the benefits of journaling for mental health are :
-Boosting your mood
-Enhance your sense of well-being
-Help processing emotions and thoughts
-Help clear your mind and let go of negative thoughts and emotions
-Helpful for people who don’t want to or have anyone they trust to open up to.
Try some of these journal prompts to focus on your mental health.
5. Setting goals
Working on specific goals can help you focus your energy and make it easier to measure your success.
Eg. Start with simple goals, like thinking of 3 things you are grateful for each morning or evening. Or, make it a goal to take a walk in the evening.
6. Focus on your talents
Most people spend far too much time focusing on what they aren’t good at rather than their talents. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking your not good enough at something.
Try reframing your thoughts and focus on a talent you have, it doesn’t have to be something spectacular either.
Focus on what you’re good at and develop those skills.
7. Hobbies
Having hobbies is a great way to support your mental health. Check out the science behind the benefits of hobbies for mental health here.
You can turn anything into a hobby, but if you’re stuck for ideas check out this list of 17 Best Hobbies for Introverts. (You don’t have to be an introvert to enjoy them!)
8. Practise mindfulness /meditation
Some mindfulness practises you can use to help with your mental health are:
-guided mental imagery
-guided meditations
-breathing exercises
-other practises for relaxation of the body and mind
9. Get adequate sleep
Getting adequate sleep allows your body to repair and your brain to process information and recharge.
Poor sleep has been linked to physical issues like weakened immune system and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
10. Self-Acceptance
Self-acceptance is accepting both the positive and negative attributes of yourself.
Embracing every part of yourself is essential for your mental health.
Forgive yourself for your mistakes and accept the things you don’t like about yourself.
11. Let go of perfectionism
Having high-standards can be a positive and beneficial trait. However, when perfectionism takes over it can lead to anxiety and depression, because nothing is ever good enough or lives up to the standards you set.
If you struggle with perfectionism check out this helpful article on how to overcome perfectionism.
Remember! Nobody is perfect!
11. Practise self-care
If you’re not taking time to care for yourself, you can’t expect to feel your best. Take a little time to focus on you, and do some self-care.
Here are some self-care ideas, if you need some inspiration to start!
12. Gratitude
In positive psychology research, gratitude is associated with greater happiness, feeling more positive emotions, better relationships, and improved mental health.
Simply start writing down or thinking about three things you are grateful for each day, it can literally be anything.
When we step back and show gratitude for the little things in life, it helps us focus on what is important in life, and how much we really do have to be grateful for.
13. Use positive affirmations
Positive affirmations are a great habit to fit into your routine, that will improve your mental health. Positive affirmations are statements that you can use to uplift and motivate yourself.
Self-talk and what you think about plays a MAJOR role in your mental health.
If you want to learn more about positive affirmations or need some examples check out these articles:
Amazing Benefits of Daily Positive Affirmations
60 Powerful Positive Affirmations to Start Your Self-Love Journey
Affirmations For Confidence and Self-Esteem
14. Create routines
Create healthy morning and evening routines. Creating routines can help ease anxiety.
15. Media Detox
Taking a break from social media, the news, etc. can do wonders for your mental health. We have become bombarded with constant negative news and stressful events.
Taking a social media detox reduces your constant stress, anxiety and depression by allowing you to take a step back from everything and be more present in the moment.
Take some time to relax and be present and focus on what’s going on in your immediate world, there’s nothing wrong with blocking out the rest of the world for a while.
16. Manage your emotions
Managing your emotions and developing healthy coping mechanisms is an essential habit for your mental health.
We are humans, there is no escaping from feeling emotions. Learn how to process the emotions, feel them and then cope with them in a healthy way.
17. Focus on one thing at a time
Multitasking leads to stress and overwhelm. I know when I focus on too many things at a time, I end up half-assing the task, when I know if i just focused I could have put in more to the project.
Focus on ONE thing/task at a time and be present in the moment, you’d be surprised how much of a difference this can make!
18. Spend time in nature
Take a break from the stress and busyness of the world and spend some time just enjoying the natural beauty around you.
Take a walk on a trail or simply sit in a park, breathe in the fresh air and focus on the natural world.
19. Manage your expectations
Expectations can lead to disappointment and discouragement. Remember that you can’t really control anything outside of yourself.
If something doesn’t work out as you expected, learn to accept that you can’t control the external and focus on managing your inner world. You are always in control of your own thoughts, feelings and actions.
20. Plan and organize your life
This is similar/related to creating routines for yourself. When you have a plan, your anxiety will be diminished.
Similarly, having your life more organized can reduce your anxiety as well.
-plan for the day ahead
-organize your clothes, lunch, etc ready the night prior to reduce stress the next day
-use a daily planner and/or to-do-lists, to organize yourself
21. Learn new skills
Learning new things is a great way to boost your mental health by increasing your self-confidence.
Final Thoughts
I hope these suggestions on positive habits to improve your mental health inspired you to try some of these ideas and start feeling better.
If you have any other suggestions on positive habits for mental health leave a comment and share your ideas!
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