It’s estimated that around one in five United States adults experiences a mental illness or a mental health condition. Beyond that, any number of adults may experience periods of depression or anxiety throughout their lives. That’s why it’s so essential to get insight into what makes for a healthy mind.
Remember that a healthy mind might look different for someone else than it does for you. Even family members, spouses, and friends experience mental health in different ways. So while these general wellness tips may help you build new skills, your overall journey is going to be unique to your needs. Nevertheless, whether you’re looking for a good-fit counseling service or you’re considering increasing your physical exercise, it’s helpful when you’re willing to try new things on your path to personal growth. Here’s what you need to know to maintain a healthy mind.
1. Try new physical exercise options.
Physical health can also stimulate mental wellness. Part of this wellness boost stems from how physical activity can spur changes within the brain, even in older adults. For example, physical exercise can promote neural growth and help reduce inflammation. When you start to develop these patterns and activity repetition, it can promote greater mental wellness and an overall sense of calm. Physical exercise also releases endorphins which are feel-good compounds in our brains. Different exercises serve as effective distractions to help you break out of negative thought patterns or vicious thinking cycles. Some people think of their exercise routines as emotional interventions that help them maintain mental wellness.
If any exercises cause you pain, find alternatives, try modifications, or take things at a slower pace, so you’re able to find your footing. A healthy body is also one that’s free from exercise-related injuries. Also, keep in mind that your physical health journey might not resemble someone else’s. Especially for older adults who are less mobile and individuals with physical and hereditary limitations, physical wellness is complex. Physical fitness, health, and wellness are sensitive topics so it’s beneficial to get professional medical advice before you start any exercise programs or courses. That’s part of why it’s so crucial that you set goals that focus on your holistic, healthy body and support a healthy mind.
2. Attend a therapy retreat.
For some individuals, complicated mental wellness journeys require additional care and personalized attention. Whether you’re considering a marriage retreat to work with counseling services to strengthen your bond or you’re considering a private retreat with onsite rehabilitation sciences professionals, a targeted therapy retreat can be a boon for your mental and emotional wellness.
Depending on your needs, be it a marriage retreat, couples retreat, or an intensive therapy program, a retreat can enable you to travel, take a step back from everyday life, and start developing the coping skills that empower greater brain health and emotional wellness. Often, these retreats are a collaborative effort that requires participant willingness. Whether you’re a young adult, an older adult, or somewhere in between, the right retreat can provide you with an abundance of compassion and care.
It’s also a myth that marriage counseling retreats, couples retreats, or other therapy programs don’t work. Most retreats retain therapists, counseling specialists, physical therapy professionals, and masters of varied forms of meditation to help you develop holistic wellness skills that can work to increase your brain health and emotional well-being. From working with a therapist to rekindle passion and intimacy to discussing difficult moments that require truth and forgiveness, a retreat builds these skills and enables you to take them into the natural world.
3. Get a good night’s sleep.
Falling (and staying) asleep can often feel like traversing a labyrinth. With all of our devices, screens, and connections, it can feel difficult to detach, unwind, and get meaningful rest. Even if you’re hitting the CDC recommendations for your age, you may still be getting a poor night’s sleep if you’re waking up too frequently, tossing throughout the night, or you’re restless. Before you start worrying about the intimacy of a sleep study, remember that there are often less-intensive options.
From Santa Fe to Los Angeles to the University of British Columbia, there are professionals that travel the world to study how sleep correlates to brain health and mental wellness. A lack of sleep can also trigger symptoms of depression. And while it may be a myth that everyone requires the same amount of sleep to function—an older adult may need more, a young adult might need less—we all require sleep to help us regulate our emotions, process situations, and engage with others effectively. Whether you choose to work with a sleep therapist or you make a promise to yourself to limit device use before bed, there are ways you can improve your sleep health and, in turn, your mind’s health.
4. Try to stop doomscrolling.
Whether it’s the latest COVID news or it’s a breaking story about the United States opioid epidemic, the 24-hour news cycle can overwhelm anyone, given enough time. When you’re constantly reading about whether or not to wear masks to dinner tonight or if it’s safe to travel, it can start to feel like a bit much. However, many of us turn simple device usage into something a bit more insidious: doomscrolling.
Doomscrolling refers to the practice of seeking out bad news online. The difficult part is that most people don’t have to try very hard to find bad news. If you find that you’re compulsively scrolling through negative ePub documents, social media pages, or ecollection sites to read about clinical trials, the opioid epidemic, and the latest COVID data, there are still ways to switch off when needed.
For starters, you should declare a screen-free space in your home. You can also do this if you travel often. Then, you should detox your device by turning off certain notifications and removing unnecessary apps. You can try to embrace habits too; Whether you enjoy listening to podcasts or reading free PMC article data on psychotherapy, there are plenty of ways to restructure your time so it’s not all about your devices.