Improving your mental health can feel challenging, if not impossible. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are six tips to help you improve your mental health.
1. Exercise Regularly
Even if you don’t feel active, exercise can significantly improve mental health. Not only does the activity force you to mentally change gear, but it releases endorphins that boost your mood and break the cycle of anxiety or depression.
2. Create a Safe Space
Another essential part of improving mental health is having a safe space to retreat to.
This is particularly vital for people with anxiety or who easily feel overwhelmed.
Safe spaces take many shapes and may take the form of a group of friends or an actual space.
If your safe space is physical, be sure to fill it with things you find comforting. Favorite colors, music, and weighted blankets can all help improve mental health and decrease stress.
3. Know What Upsets You
A crucial part of improving your mental health is understanding what causes it to spiral.
Triggers that cause mental health difficulties are individual and vary from person to person. They can include:
- Anniversaries of deaths
- Loud noises
- Excessive time alone/isolated
- Family tensions
Once identified, not only can you strategize ways to avoid your triggers, but you can further improve your mental health by finding ways to avoid them.
4. Talk With Someone You Trust
If having a safe space to recuperate in and learning what causes your distress isn’t enough to improve your mental health, talk to someone.
Talking in confidence to a friend or family member. Not only does this help you sort through what is causing your mental health challenges, but it raises awareness around you.
That means that when you need it, you have a network to fall back on and don’t have to be alone as you might feel you are.
5. Make Connections
And if your mental health suffers because of isolation, getting to know new people can make a difference.
Reaching out, whether to strangers or acquaintances, is another way to improve your mental health. It reduces feelings of isolation and increases your sense of belonging, drastically improving your mental health.
6. Sing
Last but not least, another way to improve your mental health is to sing. Incredible as it sounds, singing makes you happier. Singing releases endorphins, and they reduce stress and boost your mood.
Not a confident singer? It doesn’t matter. Endorphins don’t care about tuning or ability. All you need to do is join in with your favorite song next time it’s on the radio.