It’s time to talk about mental health - world mental health day 10th October
World Mental Health Day is coming up on 10 October, and this year’s theme is 'mental health for all', so let’s help make it a topic everyone feels they can talk about, and no one feels afraid to.
2020 has been a tough year for mental health. A study by Mind has shown that more than half of adults (60%) and over two thirds of young people (68%) said their mental health got worse during lockdown.
With that in mind, we have summarised 5 things to prioritise when thinking about your mental health:
- Keep in touch with friends and family - pick up the phone instead of sending a text pop something on the resident app to arrange a group zoom call, or better still, put a date and time in the diary to actually meet up with your loved ones (socially distanced of course)! Don’t be afraid to address the subject head on if you think someone might be struggling, a problem shared is a problem halved after all.
- Eat well - make sure you eat a range of nutrients, not just quick hit foods & drinks which usually contains sugar and caffeine.
- Do something you're good at – doing something you're good at usually means you’ll enjoy yourself, and enjoying yourself helps beat stress
- Keep active - get your heart rate up and a sweat on, doing a group activity gives you the opportunity to meet other people, or you might prefer a workout in the gym with your headphones on. Whatever suits you, exercising releases chemicals in your brain which makes you feel good.
- Talk about your feelings – opening up about your feelings can help alleviate any weight off your shoulders, even just being listened too, and although it may seem hard or awkward at first, make it something that you do regularly. Also, when we’re open about our feelings it makes other people feel more comfortable opening up about their feelings too.
Of course, you can’t be expected to do all of the above every day, and don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t! Trying to incorporate them into a part of your daily routine will make each one easier to do rather than feel a task. Create healthy habits.
Let’s combat this taboo subject together and make this an open topic for everyone. If you would like professional help or you know someone who might you can find some useful links below. Some of our BOBs are mental health first aider's, so do reach out, they are available to chat should you need.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/your-mental-health/getting-help
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/helplines/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/