9 Must-Know Habits to Improve Mental Health

Maintaining your mental health is essential because it adds to the condition of the heart, which is highly influenced by stress levels. Furthermore, good mental health reduces anxiety, improves mood, deepens relationships, induces clear thinking and boosts self-esteem.

So, if you are looking to develop habits to improve your mental health, here are some that you can follow! These are easy to adopt and are less time consuming.

Mental health directly impacts the way you think, feel or comprehend things. For example, when your mental state is good, you don't spiral out, and things remain in control. So, here are some ways you can keep yourself positive:

1. Get Complete Sleep

Completing your sleep is not just a requirement but a necessity to maintain better mental health. For example, in a 2021 study, researchers found that people sleeping for about six hours a day or less than that are 2.5 times more likely to develop mental distress than people who slept for more than 6 hours.

• Benefits of Completing Sleep: 
  • This habit will help to develop creative skills and clear your head for fresh ideas.
  • When you complete your sleep, there is less chance of attracting mental health problems like depression, anxiety, etc.
• Tips on Completing Sleep: 
  • To improve the quality and duration of your sleep, avoid caffeine post 3 pm. Furthermore, try to maintain a time in which you sleep and wake up in the morning. Also, prepare yourself before going to sleep, like decluttering the space, listening to soothing music, etc. Lastly, ensure the room temperature is comfortable to avoid any breaks in between sleep.

2. Practise Mindfulness

Another positive habit you can adopt when searching for how to improve your mental health is practising mindfulness. This means gaining the ability to regulate and control what we focus on. As a result, you will be able to take responsibility for your thinking, thus keeping yourself happy and healthy.

• Benefits of Practising Mindfulness:
  • It will help you stop worrying and put your focus on the positive things in life.
  • You will no longer procrastinate and get all your work done on time.
  • You will stop criticising and blaming yourself for every mistake and keep working to achieve your goal.
• Tips on Practising Mindfulness:
  • To develop the habit of mindfulness, try and pay attention to every little thing by taking things slow. Next, live in the moment by accepting everything around you. Most importantly, accept yourself and be your best friend. Furthermore, to banish negativity, close your eyes and take deep breaths for a few minutes.

3. Avoid Excessive Usage of Social Media

When you constantly get information about others' lives, comparing your situation with others after a while is common. This, in turn, develops negative feelings like depression and anxiety, which lowers your self-esteem. So, it is a good habit to avoid social media, and it is also one of the crucial suggestions for improving mental health.

• Benefits of Avoiding Excessive Usage of Social Media:
  • It helps avoid FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which is directly related to sleep difficulties and insomnia.
  • It prevents mental disorders like depression, anxiety and psychological distress.
• Tips on Avoiding Excessive Usage of Social Media:
  • If you are finding it challenging to keep yourself away from social media, you can try putting your phone in the drawer while sleeping. Also, list your favourite things to do so you can try them instead of scrolling your phone. Another tip is to turn off the notification or keep the phone silent to avoid distraction.

4. Work on Your Relationships

Humans are social creatures, so they must maintain relationships with the people around them. This is because people's relationships can positively influence their mental health. For example, when you have friends, loneliness becomes rare. Also, you get emotional support to get through the day, etc. So, make sure to find ways to work on your relationship.

• Benefits of Working on Relationships: 
  • Nine-year research suggests that positive social ties can increase longevity among individuals.
  • Relationships also provide a sense of purpose and well-being to individuals. For example, people in relationships develop a sense of understanding with someone else.
  • A committed relationship has been shown to produce less cortisol, a stress hormone. Thus, people remain happy and away from mental distress.
• Tips on Working Relationships: 
  • You can maintain your relationship by keeping in touch via quick text or a meme. Also, you can plan dates or short meet-ups every once in a while. Go for a morning walk or dinner together to catch up on things. Call on free days, even if it's once a week.

5. Practise Gratitude and Think Positive

If you are looking for ways on how to maintain good mental health, practise gratitude and think positively. Moreover, you can do this simply by remembering little things like the ability to work, food to eat, family to support, etc.

• Benefits of Practising Gratitude:
  • Practicing gratitude has the potential to boost your memory. Trying to remember things daily forces you to work more consciously.
  • Another benefit of practising gratitude is it lets you identify and manage your feelings.
  • It helps reduce chronic stress among people by addressing their feelings, thoughts and behaviour.
• Tips on Practising Gratitude:
  • Look for good things around you and appreciate them. Absorb and pay attention to those good things.

6. Eat Healthy

Our food choices affect our brain because of its connection to the gastrointestinal system or 'the gut.' It is home to trillions of microbes, also responsible for synthesising neurotransmitters in the brain. This further regulates an individual's desire to sleep, mood, appetite and other things. So, to maintain your overall well-being and reduce anxiety, make sure you eat a healthy and balanced diet.

• Benefits of Eating Healthy:
  • Limiting the intake of caffeine, sugary food, and alcohol reduces the level of stress and anxiety.
  • Studies have shown that if you follow a Mediterranean diet or a diet rich in legumes, fruits and vegetables you can potentially reduce the developing symptoms of depression in older age.
• Tips on Eating Healthy:
  • The nutrients you should intake to maintain a healthy mental state includes Omega-3 fatty acids, Magnesium, Folate, Iron, Vitamin B, Zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin B. Apart from this, fill up your plate with various fruits and vegetables. Also, include whole grain items in your diet but ensure it has anti-inflammatory effects.

7. Exercise Daily

Exercising is another effective tip on how to improve mental health. Performing a workout, whether jogging, walking, etc., keep mental disorders like depression at bay. This is owed to the fact that while working out, your brain releases dopamine (a happy hormone). This, in turn, boosts your mood and reduces stress. More benefits of daily workouts are as follows:

• Benefits of Exercising Daily
  • One of the biggest benefits of exercising daily is that it boosts self-confidence and self-esteem. This is because you know you are working hard for your physique, mind and spirit.
  • Exercise increases the body's temperature, which has a calming effect and helps soothes the mind. As a result, you can sleep better at night.
• Tips on Exercising Daily: 
  • If you find it hard to make exercising a daily habit, you can ask a friend to be your workout partner. This way, you both will motivate each other on lazy days. However, break your workout regime to avoid pressuring yourself like 10 minutes every morning, noon and night. Also, you can sign up for classes to stick to your decision.

8. Take Out Time for Rest

Though the meaning of rest varies for each individual, it generally states providing your body and mind time to restore and unwind. This, in turn, will improve your mental state by giving you a sense of relaxation. However, if you are restless and find it very difficult to relax, try activities like meditation, yoga, or other similar options.

• Benefits of Resting:
  • The biggest benefit of resting is increased concentration and improved memory. This is because resting induces freshness. As a result, your brain can retain more.
  • Another benefit of resting is it improves productivity. This is because when feeling fatigued, the brain functions less. However, after resting, it reboots to work in full force.
• Tips on Resting:
  • You can make resting a habit by adopting a few techniques in life. It includes taking five deep breaths throughout the day, cultivating healthy habits like stretching, and practising sleep hygiene. This means following a pre-bed routine and keeping yourself off electronics for 30 to 60 minutes before sleeping.

9. Expose Yourself to Sunshine

Exposure to sunlight has been seen to release a particular type of brain chemical called serotonin. This happy hormone boosts mood and keeps a person calm and focused. So, to improve mental health, expose yourself to sunshine. In fact, by sun exposure, you will also reduce the chances of depression which is a common result of low levels of serotonin in the body.

• Benefits of Sun Exposure:
  • The serotonins you soak up from exposure to sunlight improve the quality of sleep, which further betters your mood.
  • A high level of serotonin also reduces the chances of attracting Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
• Tips on Sun Exposure:
  • Some effective ways to ensure you get enough sunlight throughout the day are taking a quick walk in the sun, sitting in the backyard or standing outside on the balcony. In contrast, if you can't give time to these activities, open the window of your room, schedule your work meeting outside, try eating near a park, etc.

Remember, the above habits can help you improve your mental being but not cure it. So, if the conditions are prevalent or worsen, visit a professional immediately. Also, you don't need to have a chronic disorder like depression, anxiety, etc., to consult a therapist. You can also reach out to the mental health professional in case of:

• Feeling anxious or sad more than often.
• Going through a stressful or traumatic incident.
• Having no source of motivation in life.
• Falling prey to alcohol or substance abuse, etc.

Mental health plays a fundamental role in your overall well-being. When left unaddressed, mental health challenges can affect your mood, relationships, work performance, and even physical health. If mental health is ignored, it can lead to:

• Increased stress and anxiety
• Chronic fatigue or sleep disturbances
• Declining physical health, as stress and mental strain, can impact immunity
• Impaired concentration and memory
• Severe conditions such as depression or anxiety disorders

Mental health issues often start subtly, making it easy to overlook early signs. That’s why regular mental health check-ins with a professional can make a big difference in managing potential risks early.

Many health insurance policies today offer coverage for therapy sessions, counselling, and even psychiatric care. Utilising these benefits can reduce the stigma of seeking help and make it easier to prioritise mental well-being.