Top Tips For Positive Mental Health

Staying mentally healthy isn't just about treating illness - far from it!
There are lots of things we can do to help prevent ourselves getting ill, and plenty more we can try if we (or those around us) do encounter problems.

So, to get you started, we have put together these Top Tips for Positive Mental Health. Tell your family, friends and colleagues. Everyone should know this stuff!


Write It Down
Putting whatever is troubling us into words can help us to think more clearly and cut problems down to size. Some organisations run e-mail helplines, great for those of us who find talking difficult. Keeping a record of thoughts and feelings is useful in helping to understand how mental wellbeing changes over time. It's also useful, given the sort of time Doctor's usually have to see us, to write down what's wrong beforehand, as it can help make sure we give the right information.

Keep Active
Physical activity is a proven way to keep mentally well. Exercise makes us feel better through the release of uplifting chemicals into our bodies. Even just half an hour brisk walk every day can make a difference. Joining a Gym or taking a sport are great ways to meet new people, see new places and things.

Eat Well
A balance diet is essential to maintaining good health. A growing body of research shows direct links between what we eat and how we feel.

Sleep Well
Apart from making you feel tired, overwrought and run down, not getting enough sleep makes us more prone to mental health problems. Aim for eight hours sleep every night.

Drink Sensibly
Even though it might make us feel good in the long term, alcohol is a depressant drug. A small amount of alcohol before bed stops us getting enough deep sleep to feel properly refreshed - and the world never looks good through a hangover. Avoiding too much alcohol is crucial for both our mental and physical health, but particularly when we're feeling low or anxious.

Keep in Touch With Friends and Loved Ones
Close relationships have a huge impact on how we feel on a daily basis. A phone call or a couple of emails or a few texts can help us feel connected to those we love. Or why not meet up for a quick tea or coffee? For people who are depressed or feeling low, regular social contact can make all the difference - but don't wait for them to get in contact with you. Even just lifting the phone can be incredibly hard for someone in a low mood. However, the support that person will feel following contact may well be worth the effect.

Get Knowledge
If you or someone you know has just been given a diagnosis of a mental illness, finding about the illness from books, Internet, and support groups increases our knowledge, puts us more in control and helps reduce our anxiety. Knowing that others have faced the same problems and recovered can be a great relief. Learning how others have coped can help us to do the same. Gathering information helps us to explore the different treatments and therapies that are available and decide how we want to move forward.

Get Professional Help
Everyone can feel low, anxious or unable to cope from time to time - a normal responses to life's challenges. However, if these feelings go on for more than a couple of weeks, we should seek professional help. See your G.P and be clear about how you feel. It can be hard to express ourselves properly in the short time Doctors have to see us - write down what you want to say before you go in. You can ask what's available in addition to, or instead of traditional drug treatments. Asking for help is a sign of strength and can be the first step to solving a problem.

Beyond Drug Therapies
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): is concerned with how people think and react in certain situations and is seen as the most effective 'psychological intervention'. It is not a 'talking therapy' like counselling. CBT is a set of exercises that are proven to be effective for mild to moderate Depression.
Talking Therapies: is councelling and can be useful in helping people to work through their problems.
Light Therapy: is proven to be effective against 'winter blues' and 'seasonal affective disorder'.

Change the Scene
When were anxious or depressed, it's easy to end up 'stewing' in the same place for long periods. Try moving to a different room for a while or, even better, go for a walk or meet a friend. A change of scene can help improve mood, clear our head and make it easier to see the negative or troublesome thoughts for what they are.

Time for a Cuppa
Tea, coffee, cola and other soft drinks and some tonics contain caffeine - a powerful stimulant drug related to amphetamine and cocaine. Even decaffeinated teas and coffees are not caffeine-free. Too much caffeine can cause agitation, make it difficult to get enough sleep and can contribute to panic disorder. If you are feeling anxious, 'keyed-up', or can't sleep properly, try reducing your caffeine intake or cutting it out altogether.

Hold that Thought
Certain patterns of thinking are linked to mental health problems. Whether unhelpful thoughts are the cause of feeling bad, or vice versa, doesn't really matter. What's important is the fact that if we change our thinking, our mood changes with it. This effect can help protect us from mental illness and, when used in the right way, can be used to treat some illnesses such as mild to moderate depression.

Go Green
Spending time outdoors in green spaces is calming and helps lift mood. Research has also suggested that people in hospital wards with country views get better more quickly and need less pain-killing drugs.
Get out and walk or cycle, or do a spot of gardening. No garden of your own? Local conservation projects and community gardens are always looking for new volunteers. Or, you could join a cycling or running club (look in yellow pages or ask at your local CAB).
You could get more green-time if you change your daily routine - take a detour through the park on the way to work. The point about the benefits of the great outdoors is that to get the full effect you actually have to be out in it, not just looking out at it. Go on, get out and feel the wind on your face for a while, winter or summer!

Let There Be Light
Exposure to the full, broad-spectrum light found outdoors during the daytime helps us sleep better and wards off 'winter blues' and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Even just getting short periods of strong daylight every day can make all the difference. Sitting in front of the right kind of electric light is just as effective. Ask at large pharmacies or medical suppliers about light therapy boxes. A proper light therapy box is needed, because the brightness required is far greater than that of normal indoor lighting and is a slightly different colour.

Listen Up!
Nobody enjoys watching someone they are close to going through a difficult time.
But what can you do about it? Often the best help a friend can give is simply to encourage them to talk and then listen in a supportive way. Try not to interrupt too much and don't feel that you have to give advice or try to solve their problems for them. Do give gentle encouragement for them to seek appropriate help. Listening to other people's problems can make us feel better about our own lives.

Improve Your Coping Skills
If we rely too heavily on one or two methods to cope in difficult times, we can find ourselves in trouble if we suddenly can't use them (e.g. an injury might stop us from exercising). Some common coping strategies like drinking, smoking, drugs or harming ourselves may bring moments of relief, but are not consistent or healthy ways to cope in the long term.
Learn to relax, control breathing, combat negative thoughts, change your diet, meditate, exercise, do yoga, think through problems, talk and share worries, etc.
The more different ways of coping, the better.

Set Realistic Goals
Rome wasn't built in a day. Even the most ambitious and complex tasks can be broken down into smaller manageable chunks. Setting realistic, achievable goals is a good way of keeping spirits up and keeping moving forward. Write down what they are and when you hope to have them completed. Don't feel bad if you have to change your plans along the way as long as you are clear on the reasons why. Remember to congratulate yourself every time a goal is reached!

Keep an Eye Out for Personal Stress
Some pressure is unavoidable and some can be motivating, but if you find you are not sleeping, becoming ill-tempered, having difficulty concentrating, worrying a lot of the time, eating a lot more or a lot less, or feeling 'on edge' all the time then you should take a step back and consider how much pressure you are under. See what you can do to remove or reduce sources of pressure in your life. Meanwhile, deal with the effects of stress by relaxing more and using other, positive coping methods.

Three Good Things
Keep some paper and a pen by your bed and every night for a week write down three good things that have happened in your day. By the end of the week you may be surprised at how much more positive you feel. Some psychologists say that it's human nature to focus on the negative aspects of our lives. What this technique helps to do is re-educate us to pay attention to the good and positive things in our lives.

Get Involved
Don't stand on the sidelines. Find a way to get involved and make a contribution, however small, at home, at work or in the community. People are often happiest when helping others.

The Long Way
Modern life gives us many short cuts to pleasure (convenience food, microwaves, computer games, etc) that save us time and give us short-term gratification. But what are we saving all this time for? Try doing things the long way round. Cooking a meal from scratch can be creative and therapeutic with a rewarding end result. The sense of achievement and satisfaction gained will make you feel good about yourself.

Find a Hobby
Learning a new skill or doing something active or creative, will boost your self-confidence and could take your mind off your worries. Hobbies can also be a great way of meeting new people.

Ask for Help
Anyone can feel low or get depressed so if you need help, don't be afraid to ask. Seeking help early is the best course of action to help prevent a problem getting worse. Asking for help is a sign of strength and responsibility not weakness.

Open Your Ears to Music
Music has the power to relax, stimulate and elevate mood. By relaxing us, it can promote deeper, more restful sleep. Hearing uplifting music when we wake up in the morning can keep us in good spirits throughout the day. Hearing certain songs can also have a profound effect on our emotions by reminding us of special events or people. Music can also be very sociable. Going out dancing with friends or relaxing with a favourite CD can improve our mood and help us feel connected. These effects of music are not just interesting quirks. Every day music therapists work to use music to help improve people's quality of life and wellbeing. So, go on and dig out that favourite old tape, CD or relax to some classics on the radio.

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