Mental Health is a term used to describe our psychological well-being as humans. Maintaining good mental health is crucial to having good quality of life as it directly impacts how we both perceive and react to the world around us. Here are some of the best habits to improve your mental health.

Get a Good Baseline

A good baseline includes providing your body with the essentials to ensure that it is running optimally. This includes good sleep, a balanced diet, and staying hydrated. Additionally, I would also recommend taking a multivitamin to ensure you are also consuming the recommended number of vitamins and minerals every day.

Exercise

Exercise can be an incredibly effective way to improve mental health. One study shows that aerobic exercises like jogging or swimming are proven to reduce depression and anxiety.

Speak with a Professional

If you believe your mental health issues may stem from a mental disorder, talking with a psychiatrist is one of the best things you can do. Mental Disorders impact a significant amount of the population. According to one article, nearly 26% of adults have at least one mental disorder. Getting officially diagnosed is an important first step to effectively treating your condition (it’s hard to fix a problem if you don’t know what the problem is).

Medication

Many of those with mental disorders tend to unknowingly self-medicate with substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and various other drugs. Receiving proper medication means that you will be taking a scientifically created substance to improve your mental health directly as opposed to indirectly (such as with self-medication). This means that they are often much more effective at treating mental health disorders/issues.

Meditation

Meditation has been shown time and time again to be a fantastic method of improving mental health across the board. Studies such as this one show that meditation can be very helpful at improving the mental health of those with chronic pain, anxiety, and/or depression.

Therapy

Talking to someone about your mental struggles can be tremendously helpful at unearthing and fixing deep-rooted mental troubles (especially those whose mental health issues may stem from trauma). Individual therapy can allow you to speak freely and openly, allowing your subconscious thoughts and concerns to come to light. This can make it much easier to confront them and begin working towards fixing them.

If you are looking for somewhere to start, The Mills Institute can help. While we don’t offer mental health/psychiatry services, our primary functional care services can help you to establish a good healthy baseline for your mind and body. Contact us today to get started.