We so often hear about how important it is to take care of certain areas of our physical health, but so very often, our mental health is overlooked.
A quarter of all people will experience some kind of mental illness at some point in their lives and it is essential that you take care of yourself and get the help that you need.
But how do you look after yourself when you are struggling with mental health problems? Well, it’s not that easy. Finding the motivation and having the awareness to take care of yourself can be a major hurdle in the first place.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the best ways that you can look after your mental health when you are struggling.
1. Talk To A Friend
Reach out to those that care about you and talk about what you are going through. Sharing your problems over a cup of coffee can often be just the tonic that you need to help you with your mental health issues.
You may feel apprehensive to talk to anyone as you may worry about how your issues will be received, or whether anyone will even care to listen to you. More often than not, when you reach out to someone who genuinely cares, you’ll find that they actually will listen.
Sometimes having someone listen is enough, whereas you may find that your friend will give you some invaluable advice from their perspective.
2. Talk To A Therapist
Talking through your problems is essential, and if you want to really unravel the problems that lay behind your mental health issues, then you should talk to a trained therapist or counsellor.
While talking therapy is massively beneficial, you will need to prepare yourself for the fact that you will be opening up about some emotionally challenging stuff from your past. It can be hard to relive many of these buried emotions, particularly if they are traumatic memories.
3. Look At Your Diet
Your diet can have a huge impact on your mental health. Getting a well balanced diet is not only essential for your body, but also your mind.
Make sure that you get plenty of essential fatty acids in your diet from fish, avocados, and nuts. Get lots of slow release energy from cereals and oats. Plenty of iron will help you to feel less lethargic. You can get this from leafy green vegetables.
Amino acids can be found in protein, which in turn can be found in meat, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds. This will help your brain to regulate your thoughts and feelings.
Another important food type for mental health is folate. Make sure that you some in your diet from citrus and green vegetables.
4. Take CBD
CBD is a naturally occurring chemical found in the cannabis plant. Extracted and used in oils, gummies, or even vapor can be very good as a stress reliever. Unlikes cannabis itself, there is no THC in CBD meaning there is no high- just a calm relaxed sense.
The cbd oil uk market is growing and you can buy CBD from many high street stores now. It is available in a variety of different strengths and you can even get different flavours.
5. Take St John’s Wort
A herbal remedy that many people swear by is St John’s Wort. This has long been used as a natural antidepressant. This herbal solution can be taken as required and you don’t need to follow a course of it like many other forms of medication.
6. Exercise More
While we may be talking about your mental health it may seem strange that exercising more should factor on this list, however, exercise releases powerful feel-good chemicals that can really help fight feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety.
If you are not used to exercising often then you should start off small and build up. Make sure that you set yourself achievable goals so that you don’t get disheartened if you don’t meet them.
7. Meditation And Mindfulness
Deep breathing techniques as found in meditation can help restore a sense of calm and balance. Controlled deep breathing lets your brain to get a hit of oxygen which will provide it with greater clarity.
Meditation is something that can take practice, but when used often, it can prove to be very beneficial for your overall anxiety levels.
You may want to start off with a simple guided meditation. Sit or lay in a quiet room and allow yourself to be as still as possible. Focus on your breathing and allow all of your other thoughts to slip away.
Louise Mercieca
Nutritional Therapist
Personal Trainer
Award-winning Author
Food writer
Presenter on Early Years TV Food
Keynote speaker
www.thehealthkick.co.uk