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5 Simple Steps to Enhance Your Mental Health
If you're looking to improve your life, enhancing your mental health is a great place to start.
20:54 08 June 2021
While counseling and therapy can be extremely helpful in improving your mental health, there are also many methods you can implement yourself if you want to boost your mood, mindset, and overall mental health. Check out five of the top methods of enhancing your mental health below!
- Talk about your feelings.
When you repress your feelings and keep them inside, they can build up until you reach a breaking point. One way to enhance your mental health is to avoid keeping your feelings inside. Share them with a family member or friend that you trust. You can even call a hotline such as the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to anyone, release your feelings another way by writing them out in a journal or engaging in physical activity. You may be surprised to see how much better you feel when you don’t hold your feelings inside!
- Take care of your physical health.
While this article has a focus on mental health, keeping your body healthy has a wonderfully positive effect on your mind as well. If you make the effort to eat healthily, stay hydrated, get plenty of sleep, and exercise regularly, you’ll find that your mental health improves right along with your physical health.
- Take a break from technology.
In some ways, today’s advanced technology is absolutely amazing. Any information you need is readily available, and there are now countless ways to stay in contact with friends and family. But the reality is that technology comes with its downsides as well--and social media in particular can have a very negative effect on your mental health. Therefore, if you’re looking to boost your mood and enhance your mental health, try taking a break from all the technology. Turn to a favorite book instead, or go outside and connect with nature. Allow yourself to disconnect from the internet and technology, and reconnect with yourself. You’re likely to find that you feel much more refreshed and in control!
- Prioritize self-care.
Self-care is always important, but it’s become even more important recently with the added mental stress of the pandemic. Be sure to schedule in time for yourself each day to engage in activities that bring you peace and happiness. Self-care doesn’t have to be bubble baths and face masks; it can be any activity that contributes to caring for yourself physically or mentally. This looks different for everyone! For some, self-care might be unwinding with a glass of wine on the weekend. For others, it might be martial arts or spending time with pets. It’s really up to you!
- Take time to breathe.
Breathing is something that we don’t often put much thought into. We do it naturally, after all so is it really necessary to focus on it? Well, it may not be absolutely necessary, but taking deep breaths and focusing on your breathing can have a hugely beneficial effect on your mental health. Forms of physical activity that incorporate deep breathing, such as yoga and tai chi, can help you attain calmness and clarity. Meditation is another simple way to focus on your breathing. But even if you aren’t interested in any of these activities, just taking a few focused, deep breaths can reinvigorate you and clear your mind.
The Bottom Line
Enhancing and improving your mental health may seem like a tall order, but there are actually several simple steps you can take to do so. Start by talking about your feelings rather than repressing them. Making the effort to maintain good physical health, taking breaks from technology as needed, prioritizing self-care, and focusing on your breathing can have a wonderful effect on your mental health as well. Even choosing just one of these strategies is likely to have positive effects on your overall well-being!