Approaching Mental Health – A Holistic Approach to Mental Health

Your brain is an incredible tool for analyzing and understanding the world, but we should always remember that it is just one part of an extremely sophisticated and complex whole. With so much discussion around mental health and wellbeing, particularly because of the pandemic, it’s never been so important to ensure that you take a holistic approach to both mental and physical health.

We look at how you can take a holistic approach to mental health and improve your mental and physical wellbeing.

Good Nutrition

Ensuring that you get an adequate amount of nutritious food is essential for maintaining not only your physical health but your mental health too. By eating better foods, you can improve your mood, increase your energy levels, and boost your concentration. Try to include a variety of whole foods in your diet, eat at regular intervals and eat mindfully, i.e., concentrate on what you are eating without multi-tasking.

Stay Active

For our minds and bodies to be in balance, we need to keep active. Exercising releases those feel-good endorphins which, in turn, make you feel happier. Physical exercise is also fantastic for helping you to feel calm and develop a sense of wellbeing and can also help to relieve tension and stress. All of this helps to boost your mental energy.

Adding a mindfulness element to your exercise by focusing on your body and how you feel as you exercise also contributes to better mental health. You’ll find that your memory is sharper, you’ll develop better self-esteem, and you’ll experience better sleep which, in turn, will give you more energy and stronger resilience to deal with the stresses of modern-day life.

Get Enough Sleep

This leads us to the issue of sleep. Exercise will help you to feel more physically tired and so you will naturally sleep better and getting enough quality sleep will help your body to recover from its physical exertion.

During sleep, your brain wave activity fluctuates, increasing and decreasing as you move through the different sleep stages that make up the sleep cycle. Each different sleep stage plays an important role in brain health, increasing or decreasing activity in different parts of the brain to facilitate better cognition, learning and memory. Research into sleep patterns has also revealed that brain activity while sleeping has a significant effect on both emotional and mental health. If you want to know more about the benefits of sleep, check out https://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health .

There are many ways to improve the quality of your sleep including:

• Having a set bedtime and maintaining a steady sleep schedule
• Finding ways to wind down before bed using relaxation techniques, or perhaps taking a bath and enjoying a warm drink
• Avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco during the evening
• Dimming the lights and putting away electronic devices at least an hour before going to bed
• Taking regular exercise and getting exposure to natural light during the daytime
• Having a comfortable and supportive mattress, pillows, and comfortable bedding
• Blocking out excess light and sound with blackout blinds and earplugs if necessary.

Put Yourself First

We have so many demands on our time that many of us find it difficult to put ourselves first. However, making yourself and your health and happiness a priority is a powerful tool for overall wellbeing and, in the current climate, it’s not a selfish act; it’s almost a necessity. After all, you can’t be there for others if you haven’t looked after yourself.

There are many ways you can put yourself first.

• Make sleep a priority
• Exercise and stay active
• Practice mindful eating and make sure you eat nourishing food
• Meditate
• Practice gratitude
• Stay connected to loved ones, friends, and family