How To Improve Your Mental Health

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Just as important as your physical health is your mental health. It is said that one out of every four people will have a problem with their mental health at some point in their lives, and these problems can range from the small to the extremely serious. It isn't possible to prevent every type of mental illness that can occur or every situation that might make it happen, but it is possible to keep our minds as healthy as possible and focus on the good things in life so that you feel happier and no longer have to deal with toxic or upsetting issues in life. Here are some ways to do it.

Walk Tall

Your physical health has a direct impact on your mental health, and vice versa. Therefore, making sure you remember to walk straight and tall is a great thing to do. It will make you feel much happier, for one thing, and for another, studies have shown that walking upright with your head looking forward can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety too. It seems that if you are walking with your head bowed and your shoulders hunched, and perhaps even your back bent over, your mind automatically drifts to thinking of negative things. It brings your entire mood much lower and affects your overall health in an adverse way.

Be Less Stressed

The more stressed we are in our everyday lives, the worse we will feel in our mental health. In order to be as healthy and happy as possible, we need to be as de-stressed as possible too. It can be a difficult thing to ask of anyone in this busy world, but it is important that you take the time to relax and to remove as many stressors from your life as possible.

If, for example, money is a worry for you, then you could consider consolidating your debts through quick loans to make repayment easier. If it is your job then simply by starting to look around for what else might be available your mind will feel less stressed, and applying for and starting a new job can open up a whole new world for you. A bad relationship can cause lots of stress, and if this is what is troubling you then, for your sake and your family's, you might consider how much happier you would be if you were to leave the relationship altogether.

By being less stressed, both your physical and mental health will improve.

Take Fewer Photos

This sounds like a strange way to improve your mental health, but it is certainly something to consider. How many photos do you take on your phone each day? Since cameras on smartphones have become so advanced, we are taking more and more photos, and we are telling ourselves that these photos are good memories and that we need them to look back at and smile. Although this is true to a point, the number of photos that we now take is overwhelming. We just don't need so many of them, and by taking this huge amount, we are detracting from being able to enjoy the day ahead of us.

Taking many photos on a family day out or a vacation, or even just on a day to day basis means that we spent too much time behind the lens, trying to line up the perfect shot rather than actually appreciating the day for what it was. We miss out by trying to capture the moments, especially if we also try to then upload those photos to Facebook or Instagram and miss out.

Not only that, but studies have actually shown that spending too much time looking back at old photos can cause mild depression because we are trying to live in the past rather than in the present moment. The best thing you can do is to take far fewer photos and enjoy each one more than you would if you took dozens of meaningless ones.

Exercise

If you want to keep your mental health in check, then your physical health needs to be looked after too. Exercising regularly throughout the week is good for your body, and will help you to lose weight and become fitter. However, exercise also releases a variety of hormones into the body such as serotonin. These hormones make us feel more positive and happy, and can even reduce the amount of cortisol (another hormone that makes us feel stressed) that we have in our bodies.

If you don't like the idea of going to the gym or joining in with a specific class, then you don't have to. There are so many different ways to do exercise that you can pick from any of them that makes sense to you and that you will enjoy and be able to do regularly. You might try swimming, or taking a brisk walk around the block during your lunch hour, for example.

Get Things Done

If you're feeling down, or even if you're simply tired and just need a bit of a break, it can be terribly tempting to put off tasks that need doing. It could be that you know you're not going to enjoy the job, or that you're worried you can't actually do it. Whatever the reason, putting off a job like this only makes things worse. It gives you more time to think about it and worry about the task itself, and the impact of not doing it on the rest of your daily life.

The best thing to do for your mental health is to simply get the job done. It may not be fun, and you may not enjoy it, but at least it will be over. When it is done, you can relax a lot more and enjoy your downtime without constantly worrying about the fact that something has been left undone and still requires your attention. The longer you put off a task that you don't want to do, the worse and more difficult it will become. Do it first, and you'll feel accomplished and positive, and you'll be more productive overall.