Mental health is the biggest asset you can have in your life. Think about it. What good will a big house, your boat and your beautiful kids bring if you can’t recognize and enjoy them? Nothing good, right? And that’s exactly the point. Every form of enjoyment you can imagine emanates from having a healthy mind. Most importantly your brain has your lungs functioning, heart pounding and your whole body working.
Maintaining a healthy mind doesn’t take hard work or strenuous activities to achieve. The good news is that what you need to do to retain your mental wellbeing forever are simple everyday things. However like everything in life it calls for self-discipline and consistency. In this article I discuss six things you should do to take care of your mental health.
Eat right
What you eat affects every aspect of your wellbeing. Eating unhealthy will have you become overweight and also negatively impact on your mental wellbeing. It’s important for your mental health that you eat a balanced diet consisting of nutrients that enable your body to function as it should. These comprise of proteins, nuts, fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes and fats.
At the same time you should avoid foods that add no value to the body. These foods contain empty calories and all they do is become converted to excess fat and sugar that the body doesn’t need which eventually causes inflammation in the brain. These are found in foods like pizza, sausages, bacon, fat cuts of meat, soda and baked foods among others.
Volunteer and Give to Charity
Research has shown that volunteering increases brain activity and happy hormones.
In short, volunteering and giving to the poor have a positive boost on your mental health. This comes as a result of you feeling good for helping someone else. The appreciation from the recipient will enhance your self-esteem which is good news to your brain.
Volunteering also gives you a purpose as you help those that need you more than you need them. This will also help shift your focus from any stress in your life and improve your mental wellbeing.
Charity work also gives you company from the people you are serving and working with. This helps beat loneliness which is bad for your mental wellbeing. Why don’t you ditch your costly goddess braids hairstyles and save that money for charity work? It will pay back by improving your mental health.
Get enough sleep
Sleep is underrated yet a lack of sleep will send your brain into confusion. As a result your brain will not communicate efficiently which leads to mental pauses that negatively affect memory.
Inadequate sleep also messes with the level of stress hormones therefore affecting the brain’s ability to regulate emotions.
Enough sleep also increases your ability to solve problems and boosts your memory. Adequate sleep also protects against depression which if left untreated shrinks your brain.
Socialize
We all want to love and be loved. Feeling loved and treasured is good for your mental health. According to statistics, people who have close friends and family have more confidence and look after their lives better than lonely people. It is therefore important to purposely create time to be with family and friend.
The love exchanged through banter and fun moments boosts the production of feel good hormones which is healthy for your brain. Research also shows that going out to socialize makes you think clearly and improves your memory.
Exercise
Exercise gives a huge boost to your overall health and mental health is not left out either.
Exercising releases feel good hormones that alleviate stress. Stress is bad for the brain as it overworks the brain and releases excess cortisol which in turn deteriorates your memory and ability to learn new things.
Stress also decreases the size of the brain as well as the ability of the brain to develop new cells leading to age-related mental deterioration. As such exercise plays a great role in ensuring your mental health is in good shape. Studies have also shown that exercise relieves mental ailments like anxiety and depression. Just ensure that you exercise regularly to enjoy all the perks of exercise.
Get a hobby
You have to love this tip. You can maintain your mental wellbeing by doing things that you love most. You automatically get pumped up imagining that playing the piano, swimming, cycling, writing, dancing and horse riding also help to keep you sane. What’s more you can invite your friends over and hang out as you have fun.
Other hobbies include gardening, playing chess, fishing, hunting, writing, bowling and running among others.
It’s also good to note that some hobbies like shopping and playing video games can become addictive and should be done in moderation.
The Bottom Line
As we have discussed above, mental wellbeing is very important for you. It’s up to you to do what you need to so as to maintain a sound mind. The tips I have given you will guide you in your endeavor to remain mentally alert.
What tip do you use that I might have left out? Additionally, what tip from the ones I have shared are you going to try right away? Getting a hobby maybe? That sound like much fun so come on go on get a hobby or add some others if you already had one.