Positive Mental Health – Best Practices

Positive mental health goes beyond a certain state of the mind. It is a lifestyle and can be bred. What does this mean? You contribute to your mental health rather than wait for things to fall in place.

This state of mind is made up of several branches. Some of these are having a positive mindset, self-confidence, and viewing the world from a rational point of view.

Here’s another thing you should know about good mental health. You can maintain it with the right lifestyle. Certain activities help to keep your mind in shape.

Are you in search of better mental health? Let’s show you a few practices to help you achieve your aim.

What is good mental health?

It is important to discuss what positive mental health means before we go ahead. Positive mental health is the characteristic of the mind in which a person can fulfill certain key functions. Such functions include the ability to feel, learn, and manage emotions (positive and negative).

This state of mind also requires one to be able to forge and maintain good relationships with others. That being said, how then can your promote positive mental health? Let’s discuss this together in the next section.

How to promote good mental health

We cannot emphasize the importance of being in great mental shape. The state of your mind affects your daily activities and how you handle human relationships. It also affects your general body health too.

What can you do to improve your mental health? Here are some good mental health tips.

Speak to a therapist

Most people find this weird. How can I spill my secrets and challenges to a stranger? We know it may feel strange at first but here’s a tip that should help.

Therapists also speak to therapists. Did you just laugh? Good that you did but in reality, it helps them to keep their mental health in balance.

Working with a therapist reduces mental illness symptoms and improves the general quality of life. These are just a few benefits. The idea behind speaking to a therapist is getting matters off your chest. It also helps to gain the required push to improve mental health.

What do you do when you visit a therapist? A lot of helpful stuff most of which tend to develop new thought patterns. These will help you to implement a healthy lifestyle.

All of these help you in case you are suffering from mental illness, a toxic relationship, or negative beliefs. Dealing with these issues lead you down a new path to a healthy state of mind.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Want to reduce stress and negative rumination? Try mindfulness practices. There are so many benefits of meditation and mindfulness especially in terms of improving human relationships.

Examples of meditation and mindfulness practices include:

• Being in nature
• Mindful breathing
• Mindfulness-based therapy
• Tea meditation

These are not the only practices available. You can also incorporate mindfulness into daily activities that you take for granted. Here’s an example to help you. When you ate that tasty dessert the last time, did you savor the moment?

You probably didn’t. Try doing this next time by thinking about the taste and how it melts over your tongue. This creates a certain soothing feeling that improves mental health.

Regular Exercise

This is one way to achieve positive mental health that most people overlook or simply neglect. The simple fact here is that you can boost your mental health by carrying out simple physical activities.

Feels strange? Try doing a few pushups right now before you continue reading. If you did, you must feel some lightness all over your body. This action releases certain chemicals that bolster neurological levels.

In plain English, exercise releases hormones that improve mental health. Basically, your depression, anxiety, stress, and negative emotions transform into a sweat. So instead of all these remaining the body, you wick them off with your towel.

Eat Healthily

Did you know that what you eat and drink affects your mental health? This is why you must watch what goes into your belly. Even though the effects may seem minute, they can accumulate over time.

Several diets help to attain good mental health. For example, there is a diet to help manage depression. Check below to see a few examples of beverages, vitamins, and supplements to better your mental health:

• Non-caffeinated tea.
• Herbal supplements like passionflower, lemon balm, GABA, and kava.
• Magnesium, omega-3 (fish oil), vitamins D3 and B.

To get the best results, we advise that you consult a nutritionist. There are also several nutrition manuals online that contain information on healthy eating for mental health.

Be Grateful

Are you shocked this is even on our list? Let’s explain how this contributes to good mental health.

Have you ever received a gift or benefitted from some nice gesture that you didn’t appreciate? How did you feel when you saw the individual involved? Most people feel a heavy burden that makes them act awkward.

What does this mean? Not showing gratitude puts a cap on your happiness. Gratitude allows you to enjoy the freedom that brings along great privileges.

Want to be free of mental constraints? Show some gratitude. Doing this takes practice and it begins with the seemingly little stuff. Tell someone you are grateful for opening the door for you to walk in or picking up your pen.

As you do this, you foster more fulfilling relationships, feel well, sleep well, and improve cognitive thinking.

Laugh Often

Have you heard the phrase “laughter is the best medicine?” This is not just a phrase to sell-out comedy shows, it actually works.

Each time you laugh, your brain releases a chemical known as dopamine. This chemical has a strong relationship with happiness.

Do you now see why the phrase above is valid? Finding a reason to laugh these days isn’t too difficult. Go on social media or YouTube and watch videos of your favorite comedians. You should get a good laugh that will release all the dopamine you need for a day.

Social Interaction

Even if you are an introvert or you have social anxiety, you need some form of social interaction. Social interaction plays a huge role in maintaining positive mental health. How is this possible?

By simply sharing a conversation with other people, you influence your mental health positively. Of course, your chats have to be healthy. We don’t mean chatting on social media, you need some physical interaction as well.

Are you lacking social interaction? Here are a few ways to boost your social interaction levels:

• Join an activist group. Make sure it relates to a cause that you have a passion for.
• Become a part of a religious group.
• Attend social networking events in your field.
• Go to the gym often.
• Sign up for group therapy.

Engaging in any of these activities will help improve your social relationships. Keeping to yourself is not too good for your mental health.

Volunteering

Several studies have proven that volunteering has a positive effect on both physical and mental health. Have you done something nice for someone recently? How did you feel when the individual showed gratitude?

That satisfaction that comes with that humanitarian effort is great for your mental health. Now imagine you are getting this every day or a couple of times a month.

There are tons of volunteering opportunities around you. You haven’t seen any? Try asking around at a school, clinic, or children’s home.

Medical science has proven that volunteering is one of the best ways of maintaining positive mental health. You can also volunteer at an old people’s home or animal shelter.

Understand your personality

One of the reasons why many people get depressed is that they don’t even know who they are. Do you know your personality? What are the things that appeal to you?

If you can discover what keeps you happy, it is easy to stay happy. Like we said earlier, happiness results in good mental health. For some folks, staying home and reading a book brings happiness. Others may prefer clubbing all night and hanging out with friends during the day.

The idea is to find activities that suit your personality and engaging in them. Are you short of ideas in this respect? Take a stroll down memory lane to when you were a child. What were those activities that made you happy then?

Figure these out and you will have an idea of what to do as an adult. It’s not rocket science.

Avoid Self-Criticism

It is not strange to feel inadequate sometimes. These negative thoughts will dampen your mental health. This why we advise that you kill such thoughts as they show up.

Engage in activities that help you build self-confidence. Replace negative ideas with positive thoughts about yourself. If you are not able to do this successfully, speak to someone close or a therapist.

Conclusion

You don’t need to try all of these good mental health tips to achieve positive mental health. Start one day at a time and soon, you’ll see differences with adjustments to your lifestyle. Make good mental health a part of your person today.