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Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and happen subconsciously.
Do you always feel overwhelmed and stressed out? As you go about your busy life, the stress from duties and responsibilities can easily take a toll on your mental health. Just like how your mood and feelings fluctuate throughout the day, your mental wellness can change during situations of stress and hardship.
A healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body, but sometimes we forget just how important it is to form habits that ensure we are happy, confident, and secure.
We all know that we should eat well and get plenty of exercise, but what can we do to make sure we are emotionally strong, resilient, and content, as well as physically healthy?
Habits to Enhance Mental Health
Our mental health can impact everything about our life, including the ways we view and move through the world and ability to handle things life throws at us.
That’s why building habits for better mental health can make a big difference in our day-to-day life. The following six habits we can incorporate easily into our daily routine:
1) Reduce Social Media Exposure
Constantly reading about other people's lives can lead to self-comparison and the development of poor self-worth, which heightens anxiety and depressive symptoms.
When browsing through Instagram, Facebook, or any other social media site, we fall into a loop of comparison and self-doubt. Try the following to spend less time on social media:
a. Make a list of alternatives to your normal scrolling hobbies, and keep your phone in a drawer or outside your bedroom while you sleep.
b. Disable notifications or remove social media applications from your phone.
c. Set an 'engagement time'. Use social media applications only during this period, and avoid using them at other times.
2) Journaling
Have you ever tried journaling? Jotting your thoughts and feelings down onto paper can help you clear your mind and understand your emotions better.
Like meditation, writing is a habit that encourages mindfulness. During stressful times, writing down any negative thoughts or emotions you have can not only help you find the root cause for why you feel a certain way but also help you find a solution.
Being able to physically see your thoughts and feelings on paper can be enough to make you realize that things aren't as bad as they seem.
3) Attend to Our Body
While physical and mental health are two different states, they are also ones that go hand in hand. That means if physical health is neglected, there's a good chance mental health might not be in the best shape either.
Fortunately, good physical health can help keep your mental health in check too. Habits like getting enough sleep each night, exercising regularly, and incorporating healthy food into your diet can not only help you steer away from illnesses but can also improve mood, confidence, energy, and more.
4) Attunement with Nature
What is your relationship with nature? How much do you notice and appreciate your natural surroundings?
Did you know that being in nature generates a multitude of positive emotions such as calmness, joy, creativity, and facilitates concentration? According to research, people who are more connected with nature are usually happier in life and more likely to report feeling their lives are worthwhile.
Not only that, when you have a robust natural connectedness, you're also more likely to have pro-environmental habits such as recycling items or buying seasonal food. A healthy environment leads to a healthy lifestyle and mental wellness.
5) Practicing Gratitude
There are many things we take for granted in our lives, like food, shelter, and even waking up each morning.
While it might sound obvious that these are all very important, it can definitely be easy to forget to appreciate the things we have. Sometimes you may only express gratitude when you finally get your dream job or that perfect test score.
Yet, you'll be ungrateful and gloomy when times are tough or when thinking about the things you don't have. However, the reality is that there's always something to be grateful for.
Studies show that people who practice gratitude are happier and less prone to depression. Making a habit out of counting your blessings can have a great impact on your attitude, self-esteem, outlook on life, and mental wellness.
6) Choosing Positivity
Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Along with many other benefits, positivity is a habit that is proven to affect your outlook on life for the better.
When practiced over time, it can help shift your mood and thought process during tough times to one that's more hopeful, optimistic, and accepting by giving thoughts a chance to go down a different, more positive route.
A flexible mindset like that can prevent negative feelings from snowballing. It can also give you a chance to reflect on what's happened and allow you to think about what you might be able to learn from the situation instead of dreading over why it happened.
Seeing the challenges and bumps on the road are something more than what they are at face value, which is great to have in life. It’s also something that can help keep your mental wellness in check.
Takeaway
Do you practice any of these habits? It can be easy to forget just how important it is to look after our mental health, but if you take steps to embed healthy habits now, they will pay off in the future.
Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.
