Just as good personal hygiene habits help you take proper care of your body and keep you healthy, good mental hygiene helps you take care of your mind. You need to keep your mind healthy and sharp, not only to feel better about yourself and maintain good relationships throughout your life, but also to effectively deal with stress and any difficulties that life may throw your way.
The most important reason for maintaining your mental hygiene is preventing anxiety, depression, and many other symptoms of mental disorders. In a nutshell, it’s a way that leads to a happy and fulfilled life.
Read on to learn how to apply mental hygiene in your everyday life and improve your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
Your environment
There are plenty of things in your environment that you simply can’t control. Your boss is putting too many tasks on your plate, your manager is constantly hovering, the air conditioning in the office is not working, and the way to work takes too long. These and many other factors in your environment can make you go crazy, especially if they are repeated daily.
However, if you can’t control something, there’s no point in stressing over it, is there? Instead of focusing on negative things that are out of your control, focus on positive thoughts and on everything that you need and want to accomplish throughout the day. Just remember: mind over matter.
Sleep as a factor
Sleep is a crucial factor for good mental hygiene. When you get enough shut-eye, you wake up feeling fresh and ready to take on the world. Your mood, memory, focus, and concentration are improved, you’re more productive, your immune system is stronger, you’re filled with confidence and you’re essentially much happier.
On the other hand, lack of sleep leads to stress, depression, anxiety and many other illnesses that could take a toll on both physical and mental health. It increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and stroke.
Therefore, make sure you always get enough sleep, no matter what. Physical activity, yoga, and meditation can greatly help.
Work–life balance
In today’s fast-paced business world, maintaining a work-life balance can be challenging, but it’s critical to try to achieve it. It will allow you to reduce stress and maintain good relationships both in and out of your workplace. You’ll also significantly improve your efficiency and overall performance at work and avoid burnout.
Be smart about managing your time and learn to prioritize. When you’re at work, minimize distractions, stay focused on the tasks at hand, stick to your schedule and make your workspace work for you. Just be sure to take frequent short breaks to keep the burnout at bay.
As soon as you clock out, focus on your personal life. Don’t take your work home – you’re not married to it. Strike the right balance and cherish your private time, and you’ll restore your harmony and lead a much happier life.
Stress management
Like it or not, stress is a part of life. Therefore, you need to learn to keep your stress levels in check, so that you don’t let stressful situations get the best of you.
Effectively coping with stress gets better with practice so, whenever you feel like you’re going to lose it, do something that relaxes you. Put on your favourite music, read a good book, take a walk, go for a run, talk to your best friend, go see a movie, meditate – do anything that makes you feel better and that will put your body and mind into a relaxed state.
Physical fitness is important
When you’re physically active, you automatically improve your mood and achieve better mental and emotional well-being. During physical activity, your body releases endorphins, or happiness hormones, that trigger positive feelings and reduce stress.
Physical fitness also leads to better sleep, boosts your energy and improves your memory. Most importantly, it’s crucial for your physical health. This doesn’t mean you need to hit the gym, but simply be more active. There are plenty of exercises you can do at home, but you can also take regular walks, go jogging and, instead of driving to work, cycle or walk.
Diet
A healthy, nutritious diet is the key to great physical health, but it’s also extremely important for your mental hygiene. Ensuring your diet includes lots of vitamins, minerals, carbs, essential fats, amino acids, and water will improve your mood and well-being.
The Mediterranean diet that includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and olive oil is known as the healthiest diet in the world. It’s excellent for preventing numerous physical and mental health problems and it’s perfect for your brain health.
Always have fun time plans
It’s important to have fun every day, which doesn’t mean getting into the full-time partying mode. Hitting the dance floor in your favourite club is great, but be sure to explore other fun activities that you can enjoy.
Be creative and make frequent plans to spend quality time with your loved ones, one of which can be experiencing an adrenaline-filled adventure such as skydiving or bungee jumping. Make life-long memories and do anything that makes you happy. Focus on things that will recharge your batteries and boost your mood and energy.
Spend time outdoors
Spending time outdoors leads to incredible health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, reducing stress, depression, anxiety, and inflammation, improving mood, focus, and memory, eliminating fatigue, and boosting your immune system.
Therefore, regularly spend time outdoors and take advantage of the beautiful nature around you. Plan a family picnic or go camping and hiking in more rural landscapes, but be sure to unplug from technology and become one with nature. Make sure you truly enjoy everything it has to offer.
Are you already doing some or perhaps all these things to take your mental hygiene to the next level? It takes practice to do it all effectively and consistently, but it’s far from impossible. Start following all the aforementioned tips today and remember to smile – after all, laughter is the best medicine.
