“When can I walk after bunion surgery?” your friend asks you. If only I had problems as they do, you think to yourself. You’ve been struggling with your mental health for some time now. While you made an appointment to see a psychologist, you’re wanting something to help until your appointment next week.
Fret not, we’re offering 6 easy habits to improve your mental health. While it’s best to consult with a mental health professional if you’re struggling, there are always habits that you can incorporate to help you feel more positive in the meantime.
Spend Time Outside
Spending time in nature has a drastic positive impact on your mental health. Research has shown that it helps to reduce stress and anxiety, which can instantly make you feel more at ease. This is a habit that you can easily incorporate into your daily life by giving yourself at least 15 minutes each morning to immerse yourself in nature. Even if you don’t have trees surrounding you, you could try and schedule a time to visit a park at least a few times a week.
Quality Sleep Each Night
Getting quality sleep each night is paramount for maintaining good mental health. Quality sleep promotes an increase in positive emotions, focus, and cognitive function. If you find yourself lacking in sleep each night, it’s time to make it a habit to try and get at least 8 hours of quality rest each night.
Limiting Screen Time
Excessive screen time has shown time and time again how it has a negative impact on our mental health. While scrolling every so often isn’t problematic, if you find yourself spending more than 2 hours a day mindlessly scrolling, it might be time to cut back on your screen time. Too much of anything is a bad thing, and this especially rings true with being on your phone. A healthy habit to start is monitoring and limiting how much time you spend on your phone.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation has a plethora of positive benefits. If you’re looking to improve your mental well-being, this is a practice you should take up. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to decrease stress, anxiety, and depression. This powerful practice allows you to observe your thoughts and sensations in a nonjudgmental and compassionate way, instead of allowing them to consume you.
Morning Journaling
Writing out how you feel and what your thoughts are can help to calm you down and bring more awareness into your life. Journaling is a great way to externally process what’s going on inside of you. In turn, it helps you to have a clearer understanding of your thoughts and feelings. The self-awareness journaling brings helps you better be able to cope and handle uncomfortable emotions.
Getting Creative
Another great habit to help with mental health is to tap into your inner artist. By allowing yourself to express yourself creatively through art, you’re performing a mental detox. There’s a reason that art therapy is a thing. Much like journaling, getting creative helps you to identify and unmask feelings that you might not have even known were there.