Mental Health Awareness Week - Staying Well
Mental Health Awareness Week challenges us all to think about how we can take better care of ourselves and others, and stay well.
Just like our physical health, our mental health can be impacted by factors and circumstances outside of our direct control. We can’t always prevent ourselves from becoming unwell, but what we certainly can do is equip ourselves with healthy habits and mindsets to help give us the best possible chance of weathering life’s inevitable storms.
Here Work Well Being Associate Dr Barbara Mariposa shares her top tips for staying well.
1. Open the box. The more we make it ok to talk about our mental health the less distress we cause ourselves and others.
2. Prioritise your wellbeing. Do what you need to do to stay well. Practice techniques that help you become calmer, clear-headed and balanced, like mindfulness, yoga and tai chi.
3. Take breaks. Wellbeing, performance and productivity go hand in hand. Make sure you Press Pause regularly throughout the day to stretch, move, walk and get outside.
4. USB when you feel the pressure building inside you. Unplug, Slow Down, Breathe. Nip it in the bud - balance your physiology rather than letting things build up.
5. Keep perspective. When you feel overwhelmed step back and remind yourself of what really matters to you in your life.
6. Address things that are bothering you sooner rather than later. Find someone you trust to talk things through with and take steps to change what you can.
7. Take care of your body. Reduce caffeine. Increase water. Avoid sugar and make sure you eat regularly to maintain a steady blood glucose level.
8. Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs. If you are self-medicating in this way seek help to address the underlying problem.
9. Get out in nature often. Go for walks for no reason other than to go for a walk.
10. Seek out support from people who are on your side and keep at a distance, those who, knowingly or unknowingly, undermine you.
11. If you are in distress, find someone to talk to today. Everyone goes through tough times, the more we care for each other the less we all suffer.
12. Make kindness, generosity, appreciation and acceptance the norm around you. You may not be able to change the world but you can influence the world around you.