TOP TIPS FOR POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH

Talk about your feelings

Sharing your feelings with others and being listened to can help enormously!  The very act of trying to put how we feel into words makes us think more clearly about a situation and can help cut the problem down to size. If there's nobody you feel you can turn to, call or email a helpline. By talking to others, we can get fresh perspectives on what's happening to us - something that's usually in short supply if we're feeling the effects of mental health problems.  If we talk to someone about what's happening, they might have useful suggestions about where to go for help or support.  If not, even just the knowledge that someone else has tried to understand can go a long way towards helping us feel better.

Write it down

Putting whatever is troubling us into words can help us to think more clearly and cut problems down to size.  Lots of people find that keeping a record of thoughts and feelings is useful in helping to understand how their mental wellbeing changes over time.  It's also useful, given the short time doctors usually have to see us, to write down what's wrong beforehand, as it can help make sure we give them the right information.

Keep active

Physical activity is a proven way to keep mentally well. Exercise makes us feel better immediately through the release of uplifting chemicals into our bodies. Even just half an hour's brisk walk every other day can make all the difference. Joining a gym or taking up a sport are also great ways to meet new people and to see new places and things. 

Eat well

A balanced diet is essential to maintaining good mental health. A growing body of research shows direct links between what we eat and how we feel.  (In the next few weeks I will be writing about ways to eat well on a budget in these difficult financial times).

Sleep well

Apart from making you feel tired, over wrought and run down, not getting enough sleep makes us more prone to mental health problems. Mental health problems arise when a problem, life event or situation, disrupts the way we think and feel. This can either be temporary - for example, following bereavement - or be more enduring. 

Mental health problems can include suffering stress, constant worrying, deep-seated or chronic unhappiness, loneliness, lack of self-esteem, an inability or lack of resilience in dealing confidently with adverse life events or circumstances, and an inability to build and maintain healthy relationships. 

'Mental health problem' is often used to describe conditions seen as less serious and as distinct from severe and enduring mental illness. Mental health problems are more common, are usually less severe and of a shorter duration than mental illnesses but may develop into a mental illness.  Aim for eight hours shut-eye every night. Not only will you feel the benefits, but your skin will see them too.

Drink sensibly

Even though it might make us feel good in the short term, alcohol is a depressant drug. Even a small amount of alcohol before bed stops us getting enough deep sleep to feel properly refreshed - and the world never looks good through a hangover. Avoiding too much alcohol is crucial for both our mental and physical health, but particularly when we're feeling low or anxious.

Keep in touch with friends and loved ones

Close relationships have a huge impact on how we feel on a daily basis. A phone call, a couple of emails or a few texts, can help us feel connected to those we love. Or why not meet up for a quick tea or coffee?   For people who are depressed or feeling low, regular social contact can make all the difference - but don't wait for them to get in touch with you.  Even just lifting the phone can be incredibly hard for someone in a low mood. However, the support that person will feel following that phone call, email or text, are well worth the effort.

Get the knowledge, take control 

If you or someone you know has just been given a diagnosis of a mental illness, finding out about the illness from books, the Internet, and support groups increases our knowledge, puts us more in control and helps reduce our knowing that others have faced the same problems and recovered can be a great relief. Learning how others have coped can help us to do the same. Gathering information also allows us to explore the different treatments and therapies that are available and decide how we want to move forward.

Mental Illness refers to a diagnosable illness that significantly interferes with a person's ability to conduct the tasks needed for day-to-day living. This includes mental tasks, their emotional abilities, and those needed to interact with others. It can be a frightening and bewildering time.

Get Professional Help

Everyone can feel low, anxious or unable to cope from time to time. They're all normal responses to life's challenges.  However, if these feelings go on for more than a couple of weeks, we should seek professional support.  See your GP and be clear about how you feel. It can be hard to express ourselves properly in the short time doctors have to see us. Write down what you want to say before you go. Asking for help is a sign of strength and can be the first step to solving a problem.  You can also call me or send an email for a free half hour consultation.  518-862-1974 ext 95; therapist@nycap.rr.com

Look beyond drug therapies

Talking therapies (counseling) can be useful in helping people to work through their problems. 

Light therapy is also proven to be effective against 'winter blues' and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of mood disorder caused by changing hours of daylight across the year. Exposure to strong daylight helps regulate our mood and sleep patterns. Lack of daylight during the winter months can cause the low mood often referred to as 'winter blues'.

Lifestyle changes such as taking more exercise, increasing social contact, improving diet, and spending more time outdoors can also do a lot to improve our mental well being. 

Change the scene

When we're anxious or depressed, it's easy to end up in 'stewing' in the same place for long periods. Try moving to a different room for a while or, even better, go out for a walk or meet a friend. A change of scene can help improve our mood, clear our heads and make it easier to see negative or troublesome thoughts for what they are.

Time for another cuppa?

Maybe not! Tea, coffee, cola, other soft drinks and even some vitamin and flavored waters contain caffeine - a powerful stimulant drug related to amphetamine and cocaine. Even 'decaffeinated' teas and coffees are not caffeine-free. Too much caffeine can cause agitation, make it difficult to get enough sleep and can contribute to anxiety and panic. If you're feeling anxious, 'keyed-up', or can't sleep properly, try reducing your caffeine intake or cutting it out altogether for a while.

Hold that thought

Certain patterns of thinking are linked to mental health problems. Whether unhelpful thoughts are the cause of feeling bad, or vice versa, doesn't really matter.  What's important is the fact that if we change our thinking, our mood changes with it. 

Go outdoors

Spending time outdoors is calming and helps lift mood. Research has also suggested that people in hospital wards with outdoor views get better more quickly and need less pain-killing drugs. Even in the snow, you can still go for a walk. You can even get more outdoor time if you change your daily routine - take a detour through the park on the way to work, for example. The point about the benefits of the great outdoors is that to get the full effect you actually have to be out in it, not just looking out at it. Go on - get out and feel the wind on your face for a while!

Let there be light

Exposure to the full, broad-spectrum light found outdoors during the daytime helps us sleep better and wards off 'winter blues' and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) (explained earlier in this article).  Even just getting short periods of strong daylight every day can make all the difference, but this is a tall order for anyone working indoors during our dark Albany winters. Luckily, sitting in front of the right kind of electric light is just as effective. Ask at large pharmacies or medical suppliers about light therapy boxes. A proper light therapy box is needed, because the brightness required is far greater than that of normal indoor lighting and is a slightly different color.  Look for at least 10,000 lumens.

Listen up!

Nobody enjoys watching someone they're close to going through a difficult time. But what can you do about it? Often, the very best help a friend can give is simply to encourage them to talk and then listen in a supportive way. Try not to interrupt too much and don't feel that you have to give advice or try to solve their problems for them. Do give gentle encouragement for them to seek appropriate help. Listening to other people's problems can make us feel better about our own lives too.

Improve your coping skills

If we rely too heavily on one or two methods of coping in difficult times, we can find ourselves in trouble if we suddenly can't use them (e.g. an injury might stop us from taking exercise). Some common coping strategies - like drinking, abusing drugs or harming ourselves - may bring moments of relief, but are not consistent or healthy ways to cope in the long-term. Learn to relax, control breathing, combat negative thoughts, change your diet, meditate, exercise, do yoga, and think through problems, talk and share worries - the list is endless. The more different ways of coping we're able to turn to, the better.

Set realistic goals

Rome wasn't built in a day. Even the most ambitious and complex tasks can be broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.  Setting realistic, achievable goals is a good way of keeping spirits up and keeping moving forward. Write down what they are and when you hope to have them completed.

Don't feel bad if you have to change your plans along the way as long as you're clear on the reasons why. Remember to congratulate yourself every time a goal is reached!

Keep an eye on personal stress

Some pressure is unavoidable - and some can be motivating - but Stress  is harmful to both mental and physical health (stress is when pressures exceed our ability to cope). If you find you're not sleeping, becoming ill-tempered, having difficulty concentrating, worrying a lot, eating a lot more or a lot less, or feeling 'on edge' all the time then you should take a step back and consider how much pressure you are under. See what you can do to remove or reduce sources of pressure in your life. Meanwhile, deal with the effects of stress by relaxing more and using other, positive coping methods.

Three good things...

Keep some paper and a pen by your bedside and every night for a week write down three good things that happened to you that day. By the end of the week you may be surprised at how much more positive you feel. Some psychologists say that it's human nature to focus on the negative aspects of our lives.

What this technique helps to do is re-educate us to pay attention to the good and positive things in our lives.

Get involved

Don't stand on the sidelines! Find a way to get involved and make a contribution, however little, at home, at work or in the community. People are often happiest when helping others.

The long way

Modern life gives us many short cuts to pleasure (convenience food, microwaves, computer games etc) that save us time and give us short-term gratification.  But what are we saving all this time for? Try doing things the long way round. Cooking a meal from scratch can be creative and therapeutic with a rewarding end result.  The sense of achievement and satisfaction gained from this task will make you feel good about yourself.

Find a hobby

Learning a new skill, or doing something active or creative, will boost your self-confidence and could take your mind off your worries. Hobbies can also be a great way of meeting new people.

Do good

Do something to help someone else. Random acts of kindness help others but also make us feel good and the effects stay with us. We are often happiest when doing something for others.

Ask for help

Anyone can feel low or get depressed so, if you need help, don't be afraid to ask. Seeking help early is the best course of action to help prevent a problem getting worse. Asking for help is a sign of strength and responsibility, not weakness.

Open your ears to music

Music has the power to relax, stimulate and elevate mood. By relaxing us, it can promote deeper, more restful sleep. Hearing uplifting music when we wake up in the morning can keep us in good spirits throughout the day.  Hearing certain songs can also have a profound effect on our emotions by reminding us of special events or people. 

Music can also be very sociable. Going out with dancing with friends or relaxing with a favorite CD can improve our mood and help us feel connected.   These effects of music and aren't just interesting quirks..   

So, go and dig out that favorite old tape, relax to some classics on the radio or get out your air guitar and practice those scissor kicks!