The Top Mental Health Self-Care Tips For A Better Life

Author: Saumya Khanduja on Mar 28,2022

There are plenty of stress relief activities surrounding our lives currently, which might not work out if you do not take care of yourself. Meditation will not help you out if you do not get adequate sleep. In fact, if you are meditating, you could doze off since you are not fulfilling your body’s need to sleep. 

 

Similarly, if you are hitting the gym a few times, it might not relieve as much stress as if you were exercising regularly. It is important to fuel your body, not just with food and nutrition but also with self-care! Our basics are what we should be focusing on first and make our lives stress-free. 

 

This article will talk about some mental health self-care tips and their significance in our lives. It will also talk about the things you can implement in your lives to take care of yourself. 

 

Self-care is not just about finding ways to lay back and relax. It is more about taking care of your body, mind, and soul on all levels. It is about taking care of yourself on a mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual level. It is important to find the right balance and restore it if you’ve lost it. You have to find some form of relief from all kinds of triggers and stressors in your life. 

 

What is Self-care?

 

 

Self-care is a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional process that purposefully engages in various strategies to promote a healthy, well-functioning, and enhanced lifestyle and well-being. The term essentially describes a conscious act of a person to promote their own mental, emotional as well as physical well-being. There are different forms of self-care one can indulge in. It can be as simple as ensuring 8 hours of sleep every night or getting out for a few minutes to get some fresh air. 

 

Self-care is essential to build resilience toward different stressors in your life that you cannot eliminate entirely. When you have taken steps to care for your mind, body, and soul, you are equipped to live your life at your best! 

 

However, most people view self-care as a luxury instead of making it a priority. As a result, they are left feeling tired and overwhelmed. They feel they are ill-equipped to handle all of the inevitable challenges life throws at them. It is extremely important to assess how you care for yourself and your well-being in different domains. This helps ensure you are actually caring better for your mind, body, and spirit. 

 

Self-Care - Significance 

An effective self-care routine displays multiple important health benefits. Some of the benefits include:

 

1. Reducing mental health disorders like anxiety and depression 

2. Reducing stress

3. Improving resilience 

4. Improving happiness

5. Enhancing energy 

6. Reducing mental and physical burnout

7. Improving interpersonal relationships

 

As per the World Health Organization, self-care is significant to improve health, prevent diseases, and help you cope better with any illness. Different forms of self-care are linked to different kinds of health and wellness programs, including a longer, more fulfilling life. Exercise can help you find a sense of purpose in life. Sleep is, in fact, connected to an enhanced and healthy lifespan. 

 

Mental Health Self-Care Tips 

 

 

Developing a self-care plan 

 

Our mental health self-care tips will start with developing a fully dedicated and effective self-care plan, which is tailored according to your life and needs. It should not be dictated to you, nor should it be blindly copied or followed. You should be crafting it on your own, customizing it as per your needs and self-care plans. 

 

A fully-customized self-care plan is going to help you take preventive measures to ensure that you are not getting overstressed or overwhelmed. All of this helps you not feel burnt out in the end. 

 

Assess the right areas of your life that need some more self-care and personal attention. Reassess your life quite often; this helps develop the right plans. As your situation changes, your self-care plans are going to change too. As you build your self-care plan, you should be taking the following steps. These steps can definitely prove to be helpful:

 

1. Assessing your needs 

Make a small list of things in your life and the different activities that you are engaging in daily in your life. This list must include different parts of your life, along with all kinds of activities that you are engaging in every day. This includes your work, school/college, personal relationships, family, other commitments, and hobbies. 

 

2. Assess your triggers and stressors 

One of the best mental health self-care tips is that you need to start considering all your stress points. Think about various aspects of your life and consider ways in which you can address all the stressors in the right manner. 

 

3. Devise the right strategies 

Think about all the activities you can indulge in that make you feel better in various areas of your life. Spend some time thinking about the people in your life, your friends, family, and other loved ones. If doing something or spending time with a certain someone is causing you stress and trouble, stop doing that. Develop some boundaries in your life. This is a great way to build a healthy connection with others around you. 

 

4. Plan ahead 

Plan ahead for all kinds of challenges in life. When you discover you are neglecting some parts of your life, you should devise the right plans for changing and negating those challenges. 

 

5. One step at a time 

Baby steps! Take small steps. You do not have to get it done all at once. Identify all the small steps you are taking to better care for yourself. 

 

6. Start focusing on your needs

Even when you do not feel like you have to, you should really squeeze self-care into your routine. Making self-care a priority is an essential step to taking care of yourself. Taking care of different aspects of yourself helps you operate in a more effective and efficient way. 

 

Mental Health Self-Care Tips

The way you think about yourself and the things that fill your life and your mind, the better you can influence your emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being. 

 

Mental self-care can include doing various things that will keep your mind working sharp daily. Therefore, indulging in puzzles or learning something new that will fascinate you is the way to go about it too. You could also find a book to read daily or watch an inspirational movie or documentary to fuel your mind. 

 

Mental health self-care tips also include various things to help you stay healthy overall. This will also include self-compassion and acceptance, which will help you maintain a better introspective dialogue for yourself. Here are a few obvious questions that one should consider when thinking about mental health self-care tips. These definitely should be a part of your mental self-care:

 

- Are you proactive in doing things that help you stay healthy mentally? 

- Are you taking out enough time in your life to do activities that are going to stimulate you mentally?

 

Ask yourself these questions daily. Stay away from stressors. Take care of yourself. Follow the WomenWire blog for more such tips!