Using lifestyle medicine to manage mental health - anyone up for a support thread?

[Bisgedi]

My GP and I agreed that lifestyle medicine (LM) could be right for me after a spate of panic attacks due to chronic stress over the last year (alongside anxiety with bouts of depression throughout my life). It’s been really debilitating. Can’t work and sometimes I can’t get up off the floor. But I’m convinced by the growing evidence around LM and want to ‘take’ my lifestyle medicine just as I would pharmaceutical medication.

It’s not an easy road but I want to celebrate every ‘pill’ I take - getting light early in the day, going to bed without my phone, getting into green space, etc.

I’d also be interested in sharing resources - podcasts, tips, etc.

Hop on if you’re interested!

Ive been on/off MN for 15 years but have NC for this.

I’m on the final part of a year long wean from Effexor. I feel very overwhelmed with ordinary life. I’m also not sleeping as well as before so feel very tired too. However even though it was cloudy i spent half a half hour doing gardening today and it was nicer outside than it looked from inside. I did this because it’s become a habit over a few weeks.
i have a visitor coming tomorrow for all day and I haven’t seen her for five years. I’m very nervous. She won’t judge me, she’s very nice, she’s also a very loud person. But I still feel nervous and overwhelmed. Found it very difficult to just get the shopping in for her visit.

@Nools24 thanks to your post I spent half an hour clearing weeds and leaves off my drive just now and feel much better for it. Having a really rough day so that's been a good way to shift things a bit. Thank you! 🌱

This is really helpful. Thank you.

Went to a pilates class this evening, felt so much more positive when I came out. Exercise is a boost but I think being with other people helps me too.

When I can't sleep these days I just try to remember to do breathing and relaxation instead. It's the next best thing and at least it feels like it is restful not stressful.

@Meadowwild I've slipped back into my phone /overnight listening habits so your encouragement is really timely. Having something to listen to at night feels like a way of being kind to myself when it's actually a coping mechanism that has major downsides. I feel like I need a kind live-in coach to encourage me to make good decisions - let's take that cup of tea outside for 5 mins, let's plug the phone in downstairs overnight - but really that's what I want to be able to do for myself.

So this is a note to self, really:

• plugging phone in overnight downstairs helps me to sleep better
• phone plugged in downstairs makes the mornings better too.
• there are a lot of hard, sad, distressing things happening in my life at the moment and I want to find better ways to process and acknowledge these in the daytime.

I'm writing this as I sit outside listening to the birds in a slight drizzle. My pj trousers are damp from a wet chair but it's good to be out here nonetheless. Ideally I'd be doing this without my phone but it's a HUGE start.

Thank you..this is helpful! Will start small and aim for a walk today and go from there.

Really struggling as family stuff is truly awful right now. I have a prescription for meds that I'm deciding whether to take) when to start.

Kids are elsewhere for 24 hours and the house is a tip so I'm going to put on an audio thing and try to Pomodoro my way round it. (25 mins on/5 off. Ish.) I try to avoid YouTube generally as I get sucked in, but Remi Clog's cleaning videos are so lovely. She's really open about mental health stuff, really gentle and really kind. So I'll try to channel her self compassion while I do it.

I've had coffee outside in the drizzle.
Signed up for a mental health programme online.
I went to a beginners' yoga class yesterday for the first time.
I spoke to an elderly neighbour and invited her to come round for coffee next week.

Hopefully I'll be able to add more things later.

Trying to see all these little things as little pinpricks of light.

@Bisgedi - because you probably need to hear it from someone else right now, as it may not be possible to realise yourself: You are doing brilliantly. really brilliantly. You are practising self-care and trialling different approaches, all while feeling so low.

If Pomodoro is too much (it always was for me) try Flylady's 5 minute room rescue. In 5 minutes tidy the biggest eyesore messes in one room: chuck out rubbish, papers, flyers, empty food wrappers, cans etc. Hang up bags, coats, pair shoes and put them away or in a neat row. Make beds and chuck dirty clothes in the laundry. From the clean laundry mountain, put away towels and bedding first as that makes the pile a lot smaller. Then have a 10-15 minute break - a coffee, read a magazine, do a sudoku - whatever. Then another room - 5 minute blitz. With just five minutes, you don;t have time to dither.

I am always stunned how much better a room looks in only 5 minutes. It gives me energy. Then you do a 10 minute clean after the 5 minute tidy - sweep/mop/ hoover the bits you can see, dust and polish the bits you can see, plump up cushions. In 10 mins the room looks and smells clean and fresh, and is tidier than before. It's not perfect. It's not a deep clean but that's okay. You are not well.

Thank you, @Meadowwild, that has actually made me cry. I might try "song on/song off" with a high energy 80s playlist because I think you're right about 25 mins. I'll burn out!

Your post's reminded me about How to Keep House While Drowning so I might just recap her method too.

Thank you so much.

Please may I join? I'm on day 5 of caffeine withdrawal and slipped up today by having a Pepsi max whilst taking my son out for lunch. However I do hope I'll crack it. Anxiety is a big barrier for me and i know affeine makes it worse. I'm (heavily) medicated on two SSRIs and HRT but want to supplement that with lifestyle medicine as well. I'm a full time teacher, have 2 DCs and am going through a divorce.
Things that help me:
-Going for a walk in the woods on my lunch break every day, for 15 mins

• No alcohol whatsoever, I have over 600 days of sobriety

-List making

• Mindful eating and keeping a BMI of 20
• Lifting weights to improve muscle mass
• 20k steps a day average
• Phone has a 2 hour timer for screen time daily
• In bed by 9.30pm

Hi all, I hope everyone is doing ok.

I'm coming off MN again (blocking it with the Freedom app) as I find it impossible to moderate my screen use. I'm not on any other social media or forums and MN has become an obsession very quickly. I'm not anti MN at all but I end up using it as pseudo connection.

This thread has been really helpful and I'm so grateful for everyone who's posted.

I'm going to redownload the Action For Happiness app as that might perform a similar function without me going down AIBU rabbitholes.

I'm also going to find a RL meditation group. I would really like to find people to be in a MH-focused reading group and to work through the exercises in, say, Resilience (Rick Hanson) or The Expectation Effect. Not sure how realistic that is!

My big takeaways from all of you:

Lots of little actions add up. Every cup of tea in the garden or minute of slow breathing or 10 seconds of cold water is a little pinprick in the blanket of dark, and let's a bit more light in.

Love to everyone here. Xx

This is such a helpful thread. Have taken a bit of a nose dive last few days. Have got much better at managing anxiety but especially in the morning I wake up with racing/ dark thoughts, feeling panicky.

Things going well: lots of dog walking everyday, morning 5 mins in the garden, running, Pilates class (in person)

Where I need to focus: phone out of bedroom, less caffeine. Am addicted to phone and caffeine so neither are easy. Tips welcome. Would also like to do a daily meditation if possible.

Am struggling with clutter/ mess - I liked the 5 minute idea I saw above

Hope everyone is ok

@Bisgedi - Good luck to you.

Hi guys
I'm a GP and lifestyle medicine doctor
Passionate about holistic medicine having transformed my own life with lots of the techniques youve been mentioning

I'm preparing to open up to coaching and seeing patients who want to make improvement to mental/physical health with lifestyle medicine

Wondering what kind of physical and mental health issues you'd want help with from a doctor like me? Any questions about certain topics like HRT and would you find this helpful?