Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash
The mind is just like another body part, You can exercise it to improve it. I know it sounds simple but the mind is not so simple to understand.
Coming back to the question:
How do I increase mental health???
I would like to answer your question in two parts
First Part:
You are a normal person (there is no way to define normal though) and just want to improve brain health.
As I mentioned brain is just like another body part, you can apply almost the same process that you apply for your other body parts.
But how???
The way your body needs food and nutrients, there are brain-healthy nutrients which improve brain power and memory but the brain is also a thinking organ, it needs “Food for thought” for that I would recommend reading some books or articles, listening to Podcasts or watching documentaries or some nice movies (choice is yours), reduce your social media consumption, since social media is like Junk food for brain (personal opinion).
The way your body needs exercise and training, you can train your brain too, give it some challenging tasks, try solving some simple puzzles like crosswords or Sudoku, break your daily routine, take a different path to your office/school every day, try writing (or doing some of your chores) with the left hand if you are a right-handed person or vice-versa, try some art form like Music, sketching or anything, it helps to increase your creativity, Try some sports which require hand-eye coordination, sports like Table-tennis. Try making friends who are older than you and try to avoid friends/people with negativity.
The way your body needs Fasting, you can fast your brain too, You can Meditate every day, you can have a Digital Detox week, where you stop accessing any social media on your phone.
A healthy brain is just like a healthy body, stays young i.e. it can prevent old-age diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and a healthy brain is quick to recover from mental injuries like Trauma and Mental Stress. A healthy brain gives you a healthy life.
Now Coming to Second Part:
You are a person who is going through stress or some mental pain and looking for some ways to recover from that mental stress and improve your mental health.
I would not want to understand the reason whether you lost a loved one and I will not say that, I can understand your pain, I will never be able to understand your pain and I can understand it’s not easy but you are already on the path of recovery. How??? wanting the recovery from your current situation is the starting point of the journey to recovery.
Coming back to the answer:
Recovering from mental stress is not easy but it is possible. It completely depends on how badly you want to change your situation, how motivated you are. In case of mental stress, your inner motivation is required for recovery and you can always seek help.
There are mental health consultants, who will help you in your path to recovery and I know mental health is still a Taboo in society but trust me there is nothing wrong in taking advice or having a session with mental health practitioners.
Join a support group, A support group is a group of people who went through similar mental stress what you are going through, try to find such support group in your location and join them, listen to other’s journey of recovery, be a part of their journey make them part of your journey. It’s called “support Group” for a reason.
Talk!!!
Mental pain is a terrible one, it grows inside you and it’s not easy to erase, it’s not easy to forget but it is always helpful if you have some person to talk to. It could be your Family Member, Best friend, A friend from your support group or even your mental health guide. Pour your heart in front of them, it will help you in your recovery but proceed with caution and remember “When A rabbit cries for help, a fox is the first one to reach but not to help”, choose your person wisely, A person who is smart enough give you the right advice, a person who will not make fun of you and a person who will not use your vulnerability against you.
If you are unable to find such a person then I would recommend you maintain a diary where you can put your emotions in this way you are taking away their power to affect you and it clears your mind.
Your mind requires closures, get a closure, write a letter to the person which can contain everything that you wanted to say, everything that you wanted to clear out, write that letter, read it once and tear it and throw it away.
Try to keep your mind busy to avoid negative thoughts because:
If you want a wound to heal, you should stop touching it.
and negative people too because:
Negative people have a problem for every solution.
Try some healthy habits, talk to some old friends, listen to your favorite music, trust me,
music has some great healing powers.
Try some hobby that you loved but could not continue due to busy schedule, take a break from your work, stay at home or go out for a walk in a park, play with a pet(if you do not have a pet, play with friend’s pet or play with a friendly stray dog).
I am an advocate of Mental Health, I can talk about it forever but I will stop here, I hope, you have got your answer.
Note: If anyone reading this answer needs any kind of help or want to talk to someone, please feel free to connect with me at khaleakshay@gmail.com. I will surely reply and we will have a conversation about anything that you might want to share.
I have taken the contents of this article from one of my answer on Quora to the question: How do I increase mental health?
Original Link: https://qr.ae/pNvjka
