deepstash
Beta
Five lifestyle changes to enhance your mood and mental health
Reduce your vices
People with alcohol and drug problems have a greater likelihood than average of having a mental illness and have far poorer health outcomes.
Stopping smoking is an important step, as nicotine-addicted people are constantly at the mercy of a withdrawal-craving cycle, which profoundly affects mood.
298 SAVES
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
5
Key Ideas
Improve your diet and start moving
- Wholefoods such as leafy green vegetables, legumes, whole grains, lean red meat, and seafood, provide nutrients that are important for optimal brain function.
- Many types of fitness activities are potentially beneficial – from swimming to jogging to lifting weights or playing sports. Even just getting the body moving by taking a walk or doing active housework is a positive step.
Reduce your vices
People with alcohol and drug problems have a greater likelihood than average of having a mental illness and have far poorer health outcomes.
Stopping smoking is an important step, as nicotine-addicted people are constantly at the mercy of a withdrawal-craving cycle, which profoundly affects mood.
Prioritize rest and sleep
Sleep hygiene techniques aim to improve sleep quality and help treat insomnia.
They include: adjusting caffeine use, limiting exposure to the bed (regulating your sleep time and having a limited time to sleep), limiting exposure to the blue light from smartphones, and making sure you get up at a similar time in the morning.
Get a dose of nature
Adequate exposure to sunshine helps levels of the mood-maintaining chemical serotonin.
It also boosts vitamin D levels, which also has an effect on mental health, and helps at the appropriate time to regulate our sleep-wake cycle.
Reach out when you need help
Positive lifestyle changes aren’t a replacement for medication or psychological therapy but, rather, as something people can undertake themselves on top of their treatment.
While many lifestyle changes can be positive, some changes (such as avoiding junk foods, alcohol, or giving up smoking) may be challenging if being used as a psychological crutch.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
9
Key Ideas
Get More Sleep
Lack of sleep can result in you feeling lethargic, grumpy and tired. If you often feel this way, you may want to consider whether you’re getting enough sleep.
Try and aim for around 7 hour...
Reduce Stress
Feelings of stress can mean that you struggle to concentrate, experience racing thoughts, difficulty switching off and tiredness.
Strategies to improve your energy levels include taking some time for yourself to relax, reading or going for a walk.
Move More
One study found that sedentary people with persistent, unexplained fatigue decreased their tiredness by around 65% just by regularly participating in low-intensity cycling.
Get up and move your body like brisk walking or cycling to boost your energy levels.
6 more ideas
5
Key Ideas
Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates are found in fiber and starch and are beneficial for brain health as they release glucose slowly into our system, helping stabilize our mood. Simple carbohydr...
Antioxidants
Our cells generate energy through oxidation, but oxidation also reduces the dopamine and serotonin in the brain and creates oxidative stress.
Antioxidants found in brightly colored foods like fruits and vegetables act as a defense against oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain and body. Antioxidants also repair oxidative damage and scavenge free radicals that cause cell damage in the brain.
Omega 3
Omega 3 are polyunsaturated fatty acids that are involved in the process of converting food into energy. They are important for the health of the brain and the communication of its feel-good chemicals dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.
Omega 3 are essential nutrients that are not readily produced by the body, so we must include foods high on it in our diet.
2 more ideas
8
Key Ideas
Successful behavior change
One potential problem when changing behaviors is that we're too often motivated by negatives such as guilt, fear, or regret.
- Research found that long-lasting change in behavior is mo...
Change is a process
... not an event. The transtheoretical model (TTM) presupposes that at any given time, a person is in one of five stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance.
Each stage is a preparation for the next one, so you mustn't hurry through or skip stages.
Precontemplation
At this stage, you have no conscious intention of making a change. People in this stage tend to avoid reading, talking, or thinking about unhealthy behavior. However, their awareness and interest may be sparked by outside influences.
5 more ideas