Top Three Habits to Improve Your Mental Health

Nowadays, people are much more aware of mental health and its importance. The thing about mental illness is that it may not always be visible on the outside – but – it doesn’t refute the fact that someone isn’t hurting on the inside.

Mental illness can manifest in many forms – nonetheless – at its center, mental illness impacts one’s thought process, emotional state, and behavior.

With that said, it is essential to make one’s mental health important. Your mental health determines how well you can respond to stress and make good life choices.

Caring for one’s mental health includes avoiding bad habits, such as waking up late and sleeping late – or – excessive drinking, and replacing those negative habits with more positive ones. If you make your mental health your top priority, it can lead to the following:

• Better mood
• Less anxiety
• Clearer thought process
• Meaningful relationships
• Boost in confidence
• Better self-esteem

You get the point – nurturing your mental health is absolutely mandatory, as your mental health impacts nearly all parts of your life.

Read on to learn more about essential daily habits that can help you improve your mental health.

Avoid Alcohol & Drugs

Many people with mental health issues seek refuge in alcohol to numb their emotional and mental pain. Alcohol is a common way of self-medication, which is also fueled by pop culture, where people try to drown their pain with drinking.

If you have problems with your mental health and have a complicated connection with alcohol or drugs, you need treatment from mental health providers for overcoming your alcohol or drug problem so that you can manage your symptoms in a more healthy way. Individuals sometimes turn to alcohol in an effort to dull the painful feelings associated with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

While this might seem like a temporary fix, this coping mechanism is short-lived, and the long-term use of alcohol and substance abuse is harmful in the long run. In fact, overuse of alcohol can worsen mental health issues, which is why post-drinking hangovers can become difficult to deal with.

So, here is what you will want to do – instead of grabbing a glass of beer or wine or taking one shot after another – walk it out. Talk to somebody – or – get professional help. Just don’t fall into the vicious cycle of gulping down one glass after another, as alcohol interacts harmfully with depression.  

Get Plenty of Sleep

Sleep is closely linked to one’s mental and emotional well-being. When you get enough quality and quantity of sleep according to your needs, you will find that you are helping with your emotion regulation, and you will have better stress tolerance.

A good night’s sleep will help you tolerate daily stressors much better. It is common to find that in people who start to have some depression or anxiety, sometimes, sleep is one of the first things to get disrupted.

So, you should try to optimize your sleep quality (and quantity) – if you have insomnia, you will want to get it treated. You can also incorporate essential before-bedtime habits to practice good sleep hygiene, including getting to bed early and turning off your tech gadgets at least one hour before bedtime.

You will also want to darken the bedroom, so your brain can produce melatonin, which is a chemical in the brain that helps you fall asleep.

You get the point – you will not want to ignore the importance of quality sleep – especially when you experience the initial symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Cut Down Your Time on the Internet

Did you know that depression in teens has become more prevalent due to social media? But the same goes for adults as well – social media and spending a lot of time on the internet can impact one’s mental health in several ways.

It is incredibly important to use social media appropriately. The lives depicted on social media are different from real life. For instance, the images that go on Instagram have filters to create images that aren’t aligned with who people really are – thus – creating and setting false expectations for the masses.

Apart from this, social media also disrupts people’s ability to make personal connections with people in real life. To improve your mental health and protect your mental health, you will want to learn to manage your time healthily.

Constantly scrolling through people’s lives can lead one to compare their own life with theirs and eventually develop low self-esteem, which further impacts one’s mental health by increasing feelings of depression and anxiety.

To cut down your time on the internet, you will want to keep your phone in the drawer – especially when you are getting ready for bed. You will also want to become more active and replace your time on social media with meaningful alternatives.

When you are working, you will want to switch off your social media notifications so that you don’t get distracted. Try to improve your relationships by connecting with people in real life instead of being constantly glued to your phone.