May - Mental Health Awareness Month How Can I Improve My Mental Health?
You can find lots of great information online, on this site, and many others. Read all you can about mental illness-what it is and how it works at Mental Health America National website. If you’ve been diagnosed with something, you can also look up information on that specific condition. (Otherwise, start by taking one of our mental health screens!) Guided Mental Health journal
It also helps to find stories about people who have lived with mental illness. You can read blog posts or memoirs, watch videos, or visit forums like Reddit or other online communities. Hearing about other people’s experiences will help you feel less alone, identify exactly what’s going on, and get good ideas about what might work for you.
Learn all you can about yourself
Your mental health is intertwined with your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It’s a part of who you are, and it’s hard to work on your mental health without learning more about yourself. You might feel like you already know yourself pretty well, but we all have things we’re unaware of or are too uncomfortable to admit. Here are some ways to get to know yourself better:- Track your moods. Every day, or even multiple times a day, just write down how you’re feeling. If you can identify what made you feel that way, write that down too. After a while, you’ll be able to identify patterns. Maybe depression hits you harder on cloudy days… or maybe you get super anxious when you interact with new people. The more you can predict your moods, the less they can take you by surprise - and the better you can cope with them. Be sure to track positive moods as well as negative ones!
- Pay attention to your thinking. Your thoughts influence your feelings, which influence your behaviors. Be on the lookout for negative self-talk and irrational beliefs.
- Identify your coping skills. We all have different ways of coping with our emotions. Do you stress eat? Do you drink when you’re upset? Do you go for a run, play video games, listen to music, or call a friend? These are all coping skills, and they all have pros and cons. Try not to label your coping skills as “good” or “bad”. Instead, think about how well they work - short-term, and long-term.
- Get feedback from people you trust. When you’re at your lowest point, you’ll probably need support and encouragement more than anything. But once you’re in a place where you can handle it, you’ll also want to get some more constructive feedback. Try to find people who will deliver it in a sensitive way ... but be prepared to hear some things that might be uncomfortable.
Happy International Mediterranean Diet Month
May is International Mediterranean Diet Month (aka Med Month) - a great time of year to start eating the Med Way. Learn more at the Med instead of Meds website. Med Instead of Meds.
The Med way is simple, delicious, and satisfying. It reflects a way of eating that is traditional in the countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea and includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil and limits highly processed foods and added sugar. The Mediterranean diet has been extensively studied and is associated with promoting health and decreasing the risk of many chronic diseases including some forms of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Science of eating Med
As such, the healthy Mediterranean-style eating pattern is recommended around the world, including in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Join the Med Month celebration today by exploring Med instead of meds resources.
