Three Pillars for Great Mental Health
I am often asked “What can I do to improve my mental health?” While there are many things you can do to find relief from stress and anxiety, I believe there are three crucial elements. When we ignore these three, nothing else we do will really make a difference. The foundation for good Mental Health is: Enough sleep, Movement or physical activity of some kind, and a healthy and balanced Diet. Let’s break these down a little further and I’ll explain why these are so important.
Sleep and Rest:
In order for our brains and bodies to thrive we need to get enough rest. For most people this means 7-10 hours of sleep a night. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep and age can also determine the amount of sleep we need. For developing brains, we need more sleep. Our brain is trying to do more during the day and integrate more during the night, which is a little different than when our brains are fully developed. Not getting enough sleep can starve our brain of crucial time it needs to process, organize, and make sense of information. On the other hand, getting too much sleep derives our brain of necessary stimulation for an active and hungry brain.
It’s important to get quality sleep, so we have time to reset and synthesize information. People with Anxiety are more likely to have insomnia, but people can have insomnia for many reasons. It is helpful to have a nighttime routine each night before bed. This sends alerts to your brain letting it know you are getting ready for bed. This will train your brain and body to begin its process for slowing down and preparing for rest.
If you have trouble sleeping, don’t take hot showers or baths before bed. In order to fall asleep and enter REM sleep, our bodies need to be several degrees cooler than they are during our waking state. If someone takes a hot shower/bath, they are increasing their body temperature, causing it to take longer to decrease to where it needs to be. Likewise, if your bedroom is too hot or your comforter too warm at night, you won’t get as quality sleep. Keeping your bedroom cooler and/or taking a cool shower at night will help you fall asleep faster.
Also, try to limit your time in bed for sleep and intimate activities. If we spend too much time awake in bed or watching TV, we are training our brains and bodies that our bed is a place to be alert and focused or distracted by other things. If you watch TV in bed, you will start to associate bedtime with action or drama depending on what you might be watching before you fall asleep. As much as possible, we want to reserve our time in bed for sleep. That way it is the only thing associated with getting into bed, and your body will respond naturally.
Movement or Exercise:
In order to maintain healthy bodies, we need to move them. This is true for our minds and our emotional health, as well. Moving helps us feel better. Moving and physical activity helps us work through anxiety, or prevent it in the first place. It’s a way to have relief from stress by being playful or having fun, like playing frisbee with friends or swimming at your favorite lake.
Unprocessed emotions get stuck in our bodies. When we are stationary and inactive, our emotions linger. They literally stay stuck within us, causing us to feel more sluggish and depleted. In order to move through emotions, we need to move our bodies. This is especially important for people who have experienced trauma. The body responded to trauma by shutting down parts and storing them deeply within the body. To heal from trauma it is essential to move the body in order to release what has gotten ‘stuck’ in our muscles, and even down to our genetic information. This is the idea behind Transgenerational Trauma, which is something I can touch on in another post.
When we experienced that Fear Response during stress or Trauma, and the information became stuck, it created a disconnect from our body. We were experiencing uncomfortable sensations as a result of what was happening, and so we attempt to cut ourselves off from the experience. As you moved away from the situation, you created a pattern of disconnecting from your body. This can keep us living in an inauthentic state, shut off from our full and true selves. Therapeutic Movement allows us to reconnect to our bodies in a safe, and thoughtful way.
There are many ways to do this. Finding a Slow Flow or Trauma-informed yoga practice. There are many yoga studios who are thoughtful about touch and can work with people who have experienced trauma to release this stored pain. You can also find an online teacher or class and follow along if this is more comfortable for you. Even if you haven’t experienced significant trauma, yoga is a great tool to manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
Other forms of movement include biking, running, hiking, doing Qi Gong or Tai Chi, kickboxing, swimming, lifting weights, playing sports like baseball, dodge ball, or tennis. Hip-hop or belly dancing can also be fun and empowering ways to incorporate movement in. Find your calling to one of these, or explore a variety of them for a balanced physical life.
Healthy and Balanced Diet:
We’ve all heard the saying “Your body is a temple,” and yet we don’t really consider how true this is. More and more we are finding a strong connection between the mind and the stomach. What we put in our bodies will impact how efficiently our brain will operate. If we are consuming mostly junk food and processed foods, we are not giving our bodies quality nutrients to function at its highest ability.
The more we eat highly-processed foods, the more inflammation we have in our bodies as well. The more inflammation, the less good we feel. The more inflammation we have, the more stress we have; more physical pain is experienced, which also takes a toll on us mentally. When we eat mostly junk and processed foods, and have more inflammation, our bodies are more achy, making physical activity harder too. We won’t have as much energy when we eat poor quality foods, which means we also tend to consume more caffeine. This can also lead to feeling more stressed or anxious. So, a poor diet will impact other components required for good mental health.
On the other hand, eating a diet full of fresh foods, like leafy greens and vegetables, organic meats in moderation, fruit, and whole grains, will help your body work more effectively. Different bodies require different diets and it’s important to work with a Registered Dietician to find an appropriate diet for your specific body’s needs and goals. Most Americans are deficient in crucial nutrients due to our poor diet and lifestyles. This is one reason there is such a Mental Health crisis in our country. Working on improving your diet will make a big difference to your mental health and your stress levels.
It is also true that, on average, 70% of Americans are dehydrated at any given moment. Our brains use up 20% of our daily water intake! So 1/5 of the water we consume daily goes directly to this one, crucial, element in our body. You can also therefore imagine what happens to our brain when we are dehydrated…it’s the most impacted. 60% of our body is water. Our body needs water regularly. This is why so many people have trouble focusing and concentrating. We are not taking care of the basic needs our body has. So many people are literally starving their bodies of proper nutrition and hydration, meaning they will never function at their best, until they make some intentional changes. If this is the case, Mental health will always suffer.
Many people also use food and/or alcohol to cope with life’s stressors. Alcohol itself is a depressant and will only increase depression for people who are already suffering. If food is a trigger for you, it is important to talk to a dietitian or work through this in therapy to promote a positive relationship with food. It is a daily part of life and we don’t want it to be a challenging one, as that makes each day harder than it needs to be.
I hope this post has been helpful to you and allowed you to reflect on these areas in your own life. How are you doing managing these three elements? Where can you make some adjustments or be more intentional about having balance? Remember not to judge yourself as you explore these areas in your life. You are trying your best!
To learn more about improving your mental health by working with me, click here.
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
