Wellbeing
Simple steps to feel better mentally
CAITLYN HUTH helps us understand that we can all boost our mental health, little by little each day.
Let’s dive into ways to benefit your mental health on a micro level. The idea with this strategy is to allow small but frequent moments to build habits that compound and improve the base level of health.
When it comes to supporting mental health, we can use methods to either boost our mood, regulate against stress or encourage better focus on tasks.
Setting up little reminders can help break the monotony of our days or allow a moment to ourselves.
Boosting mood: Finding things that bring ‘feel-good’ moments is a helpful tactic to disrupt some negative feelings. This could be playing a comedy skit on your way home, a quick phone call to a close friend, spending 10 minutes on a new hobby or watching the sunset. Maybe it’s something that you do at your desk or at a particular location. Whether it involves activity or not, the idea is that it uniquely brings you joy in the moment.
Regulating stress: For moments of stress in response to acute triggers or persisting pressures, our body and mind need space to regulate for the ability to assess and solve problems well. Finding ways that help ground ourselves better equips these mental skills. Breathwork, walking, singing, stretching, writing or repeating mantras/quotes are some ways to address the building pressure and bring opportunity for regulation. Each person will find different methods that help them, and even this can evolve at different stages of our life.
Enhancing focus: When our mental health feels challenged, our ability to concentrate can feel very strained. Our mind and body work well when we meet our biological needs and allow for recovery. This is where strategic breaks or switching stimulus can actually help dial in focus. Using a timer to prompt deep, quality work with regular breaks can be more productive than trying to push through. Another method is to create a ‘readiness routine’ or use triggers to build the brain’s recognition and association to encourage focus. This could be getting momentum by completing simple tasks first, or setting an environment that minimises distractions.
There are many other strategies and variations that may suit you, but the micro doses drip fed throughout the day can bring benefits where changing full routines or lifestyles seems impossible.
Caitlyn Huth is an exercise physiologist at Full Circle Wellness. Call 5456 1599 or visit fullcirclewellness.com.au
