Maintaining Me Week 4 >>>

Welcome to Week 4 of Maintaining Me where the focus is on mental well-being.

Hopefully Week 3 went well and you’re continuing with your activity goals.

For Week 4 you’re challenged to focus on your mental health and well-being and to develop a new practice or activity that you do each day to do just that.

In recent years the area of mental health has been hugely de-stigmatized. We’re reminded of it’s importance and it’s something that comes up in general conversations with friends and family. We all understand that taking care of our mental well-being is important.

Being aware is great but unfortunately we’re probably not great on following through on all this and actually taking steps to protect and care for our mental health.

But doing so doesn’t require huge amounts of effort or setting aside lots of time each day. We can do a simple activity every day to help us feel OK and to ensure we’re able to cope with life’s challenges. Again, it’s all about developing healthy habits that prevent problems later on.

General tips for looking after your mental health:

• Look after your physical health and eat a balanced diet. Feeling physically unwell or lacking in energy can negatively effect our mood.
• Make sure to do things you enjoy to make sure life isn’t just one big chore.
• Give yourself permission to take time to relax and recharge and to take a break from things if you need to. It can be preventative and avoid a bigger problem later on.
• Avoid harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Even though they may seem to make you feel better in the short term, they can make you feel worse in the long run. They also put you at increased risk or injury and disease.
• Make sure to spend time with friends and family. Connecting with people is important.
• Limit your use of social media. While social media can be great for staying in touch it can also create unrealistic expectations and feelings of inadequacy about your life and your image. 
• Get quality sleep. A lack of sleep causes tiredness which can result in poor coping abilities, anxiety, and stress. Experts advise 7-9 hours per night. Avoiding screens for an hour before bedtime can also help improve your sleep as the blue light stimulates the brain.
• Learn new skills. It gives us a boost by helping with self-esteem and self-confidence.
• Give to others. Acts of giving and kindness create positive feelings and gives us a sense of reward. It also boosts our self-worth. 
• Practice some mindfulness. Paying attention to the present can improve your mental well-being. This includes paying attention to your thoughts and feelings, your body, and the world around you. 
• If you are going through something or are feeling down, speak to someone you trust and feel comfortable speaking to.
• Don’t be afraid to seek professional help. Sometimes we need that extra bit of help to deal with life’s challenges. Ignore any idea you have that what you’re dealing with isn’t serious enough or seems foolish. There’s no threshold you have to reach before you can seek support.