What maintains your mental health?

[nightymoose]

Just that, what parts of your life do you feel keeps your mental health on an even keel?

I know a lot of people say exercise and I do work out several times a week but I don't personally feel like I get a mood boost from it although I do like being fit. I find my mental health is more affected by having a healthy diet, lots of fresh fruit and veg with little or no processed foods. Getting plenty of sleep and generally being organised and keeping on top of the housework so good routines I suppose. Cuddles and affection from DH are also important.

What about you?

Writing, gardening or being outside in general.

Exercise but outdoors.

So doesn't matter if it's cycling, running or just a walk with the dog.

The one thing that always lifts me though, and my friends joke that we can meet all in a foul mood but we always leave laughing, is open water swimming!

Recognising when I'm getting mentally tired and giving myself a break. Having a nap when I need it. Flexibility with when I work. Keeping the house tidy but not spotless. Reading many, many books and having a puzzle on the go in my office room constantly so that I can tinker with it when frustrated about my numbers (accounts!).

Crochet, time to myself, walking the dogs and reading.

Agree the exercise has to be outdoors. Going to the gym makes me depressed...

A good work life balance. Currently on maternity leave and struggle without work to keep my mind occupied. Cuddles with my children, long walks whenever I can, self-care and aromatherapy!

Playing tennis.

It's great because it's outdoors, getting exercise, it's sociable, uses your brain and it's great fun.

Cats.

Being outside and seeing the sun.

I used to teach and would spend all the spring term under artificial light.

Knitting.
Cats.
Perspective.

Should probably add... and medication and putting CBT into practice each day. Requires constant work but it has saved me.

I have struggled with my MY quite severely over the years, still do. Bipolar disorder and OCD.

Little packets of the wellbeing strategies I mentioned, combined with medication and therapy, help keep me well.

I hope that helps
Someone!

Early days for me but the single best thing I have done for my mental health recently is not drink alcohol.I was drinking too much and felt anxious and stressed.

Since not drinking I have felt clear minded, happy and stronger mentally.. and what has come from that has helped me mentally too. Much better self care, exercise, eating better.

I appreciate this doesn't apply to everyone but it has blown me away how much better I feel mentally and what other positive things have come from it

Daily exercise which is also time to let the mind wander.
Adequate sleep.
Proper food.
Doing meaningful work.
Connections with loved ones.

Pretty simple, but not always easy to jerk the balance.

Lots of exercise, cooking, good friends.

Keep the balance!!!

Loving myself and my own people to the fullest and knowing that pretty much with having someone to love and good health everything else can be sorted somehow, so kind of really , negativity does not live long in my mind even though I am very sensitive and from a country where emotions are more lived out in the open, so perhaps people think I am weird or crazy for showing so much of me. Anyway, I am very happy with what I have and numerically is under the English average but I know how to make all that I want to happen happen with it, so basically I believe I am happy, therefore I am. Does it sound so easy? Appologising if it does...I too have had life and health challenges but have a good stoic traits also and am very stubborn

Reading the classics. I also read out loud whenever I’m home alone. I’ve got a weird, almost supernatural faith in great literature and its power to heal - Jane Austen, Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf, the poetry of Keats and Wordsworth and Betjeman, etc. All of them seem to work on you at a subconscious level.

I also find audiobooks a big help. Laying in a hot bath listening to Stephen Fry read Sherlock Holmes or P. G. Wodehouse is better than any therapy.

Stress is a major contributor to my bouts of depression. Unfortunately, one of the major causes of stress is beyond my control - the fact that there are just too many people. I used to find being alone in nature a help. But my local woods have been hacked down to make way for a new housing estate, and the traffic is now so bad it’s difficult to get anywhere. It’s also increasingly noisy around here. As I type I can hear the screeching of souped up car engines. The world is just too crowded and too noisy. It’s no wonder we have a mental health crisis.

@JaneyGee I love reading too!

Reading. I have to be in a quiet room and I can just lose myself in a good book!
Exercise for me too, but I do it these days for my mental health, rather than what I look like ( esteem issues back then) . I think it's just whatever works for you.

Running.

High dose vitamin D! Creating things, reading, hugs, gardening, dancing, partying with friends.

I don’t have this diagnosis but I’m convinced I have caffeine induced panic disorder. I’ve quit caffeine and it’s been life changing.

The Scottish Highlands are beautiful and basically deserted, if you're someone who loves solitude. You don't have to live in a high populated area

Books help me too. And working less/sticking to a good work-life balance. Seeing my babies.

Exercise in all its forms has strangely always made me more anxious, but it often makes me light headed too, so maybe that's blood sugar related

The Herald has a great five day piece about Highland Clearances🤣 definitely a great place to consider moving to as no one wants to live there.

So many of the things listed here are imperative for well-being, I think.

Being outside, any exercise, good food, downtime, happy time, hobbies, etc.

My personal mental oasis is doing a hard jigsaw listening to classics in audiobook form.

Have just finished a rampage through Georgette Heyer which are blissful. And back onto Jane Eyre now. Heavenly.