Every year on the 10th of October we celebrate the World Mental Health Day with the purpose, as defined by WHO, of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

In an era characterized by fast-paced living, digital-consumed lifestyle and social distance (provoked by technology and currently amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic), it’s inevitable to harm your mental health.

Your mental health, together with your emotional health, is the most important area of your holistic health and you have to take a special care of it.
— Anita D’Ambrosio, Holistic Health Coach

If you lose your mental health, you’re not able to do anything. Think about that!

The reasons that usually lead to mental health problems, apart from childhood trauma or abuse (or eventually any specific mental disorders), it’s due to long-term stressful situation, frustration with your current professional job or unemployment, debts or economic problems, loneliness or social isolation, poor home environment, toxic relationships…
— Anita D’Ambrosio, Holistic Health Coach

The line that separates good from bad mental health is so thin that it’s important to know what you can do to prevent health problems such as insomnia, burnout, depression, anxiety or more critical issues.

That’s the reason why I dedicate an article to this important topic to help you, especially in the difficult moment we’re going through.

Here 13 TIPS TO PROMOTE A GOOD MENTAL HEALTH:

1.  Rest and disconnect: Your brain, as the rest of your body, needs to unplug. We spend all the day receiving lots of stimulus. Do you even realize how much information your brain is constantly processing? Learn to rest, disconnect from electronic devices as well, they don’t help to relax, they create a sort of addiction, overcharging our brain. (If you want to know more about Digital Detox, read this article). Sleep enough for your brain to absorb all the information and store it in the memory for you to access easily. Each person has different sleep needs, so sleep what is more appropriate for your body to feel completely rested.

2. Express your emotions, how you feel: It can be talking to a friend, to someone in your family, or painting, doing pottery, gardening, sing, dance… there are so many ways to express the way your feel! What you need to avoid is to repress your emotions. If you keep repressing your emotions over the course of time, they turn into diseases, some of them mental diseases. Find the activities that best suits you to express your emotions and apply it on a weekly basis!

3. Be part of a community or a group of interests: We’re social beings, we cannot live in isolation.Modernizatio n mostly led to a separation among people, even if in some cases we get closer through technology, but actually people never felt so lonely like now. We’re living in an era of rapid consumerism, not only of objects, but also of relationships, and this causes problems at a mental level. We’re made to have a physical connection and contact. For this reason, it’s very important to join a group of interest or your local community and get involved in their activities.

4. Always learn something new: Lifelong learning is important to keep our brain healthy. Our brain is like a muscle, you have to train it constantly to work properly and being able to execute activities efficiently. This doesn’t mean you have to fill your agenda with several courses every month, but you should learn via books, video courses, podcasts, etc. at your own pace during your whole life to promote mental agility, good memory, mental openness, analytic capacity, problem solving skills, empathy and concentration.

5. Nourish yourself with good foods: Choose living and natural foods, and avoid artificial and ultra-processed foods. When you buy foods previously cooked or processed many times you’re giving your cells zero nutrients. Your cells work efficiently when they receive natural food, which means what they were design to absorb, digest and transform into energy. When you eat living, natural foods, your brain is more efficient, you don’t have that foggy feeling. You feel with more energy, quicker, more productive, with good mood, more patient, because you’re giving your body the proper fuel. As simple as that!

6. Move your body: Sweat! It won’t only help you release toxins, have an adequate weight or prevent cardiovascular diseases, but it also has a positive impact on an emotional and mental level. Physical exercise results in a chemical process that releases hormones that lift your mood, improve your self-esteem, and fight depression or anxiety. Every day, move at least 30 minutes including stretching and some exercise to correct your posture. You can start small, then progressively add more minutes, more speed, more exercise.

7. Live in the present moment: Stop living in automatic pilot mode! A healthier way of live your life is undoubtedly by being present in everything you do. You were given the gift of senses to experience your presence in this world. When we take distance from life and the present moment, we feel everything but not happiness. Get used to be present in everything you do: from eating to socializing, from doing sport to breathing… It’s a gift to be alive, give it the proper value. Experience every moment, everything you do. Meditation, focusing on breathing, grounding techniques help be more present.

8. Ask for a specialist’s help: There’s a general conviction that asking for help is a sign of weakness, or you’re mad. Believe me, you’re not weak! Asking for help is a sign of Strength! It means that you recognize that in a specific moment of your life you’re not feeling well and you want to feel good, to retake control of your life in a different way. You are more aware of what you want after having learnt the lesson and want to know how you can grow, expand and develop. Professional help gives us a completely different perspective and can teach us powerful “tools” of personal development to apply in our daily routine.

9. Allow yourself to smile and laugh more: Something that I’ve learned by experience is the therapeutic effect of laughing, especially in sad or difficult days. When we’re sad or we’re passing through a tricky period, we tend to push ourselves further into that negative emotional state. And I realized that you is the only one who can choose if wants to make the negative mood last or reduce it little by little. So, help yourself in sad moments or bad days by watching hilarious videos or stand-up comedy and laugh. There are endless reason to smile and laugh for.

10. Look for reasons to be grateful for: Practicing gratitude everyday is a powerful tool that boost your mental health and push away negative thoughts and criticism. If you just find 3 reasons to be grateful on a daily basis and write them down, you’ll change your mindset after some weeks and start giving importance to what really counts and don’t get upset for what it’s not worth and consumes you mentally, energetically, emotionally and physically.

11. Do more often what you love: It’s fundamental to take time to follow your interests since when you do the activities you love, you’re allowing yourself to improve your mood. If your nurture yourself at deeper level through your hobbies, you’ll feel happier and complete and, as a consequence, you’ll manage daily responsibilities more efficiently. All the activities that relaxes you, encourages you, stimulates your creativity, improve your self-esteem and self-confidence help you align with your nature and achieve a balance in your life. This will help also you mental health because you learn to disconnect and enjoy life.

12. Avoid multitasking: There’s a trend in the last years to consider being multitasking positively, and it’s of the main requirements in recruitment processes. I used to be multitasking in so many situations, but finally I understood that it causes more stress, reduces productivity and efficiency. You can do different “lighter activities” at the same time that don’t require a more elaborate mental process, but when you need to do something more intellectual, you can’t be multitasking because some of the activities you’re doing simultaneously will not be executed in an efficient way. Besides efficiency, this will also improve your productivity.

13. Avoid procrastination: Procrastination is a false friend. It’s a way to self-sabotage. You promise to yourself to do something later and you’ll finally postpone until no defined date. This can cause feelings of frustration and incapacity, amplify low self-esteem,… with the result of making you living in a mental negative state of scarcity. Go deeper and explore the reasons why you’re procrastinating. Are you afraid of something? Do you really want to do that action? Ask yourself.

Invest in your Mental Health. Start to apply these tips as a way of prevention and maintenance of your Health.

Remember, you determine the health of your mind through the way you think and act in alignment with what you feel. 🙂

I hope these tips will help you start working on you!