How to Improve Mental Health
According to Patricia Harteneck, Ph.D., MBA, “Mental health is much more than a diagnosis. It’s your overall psychological well-being… as well as your ability to manage your feelings and deal with everyday difficulties.”
“Taking [these] steps to improve your emotional health on your own can boost your mood, build resilience, and add to your overall enjoyment of life:”
1. Tell Yourself Something Positive
How you think about yourself can have a powerful effect on how you feel. Practice using words that promote feelings of self-worth and personal power.
2. Write Down Something You Are Grateful For
The feeling of gratitude is clearly linked with improved well-being and mental health as well as happiness. Write a daily gratitude list. Get into the regular practice of finding something to be grateful for and bask in that feeling.
3. Exercise
Your body releases stress-relieving and mood-boosting endorphins before and after you work out, which is why exercise is a powerful antidote to stress, anxiety, and depression. Little changes include looking for small ways to add activity to your day, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or going on a short walk. For bigger changes and to get the most benefit, aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise daily, and try to do it outdoors. Exposure to sunlight helps your body produce vitamin D, which increases your level of serotonin in the brain. Plus, time in nature is a proven stress reducer.
4. Eat a Good Meal
What you eat nourishes your whole body, including your brain.
Carbohydrates (in moderate amounts) increase serotonin, a chemical that has been shown to have a calming effect on your mood. Protein-rich foods increase norepinephrine, dopamine, and tyrosine, which help keep you alert.
Your Almased shake is packed with 27 grams of high-quality protein, so it also contributes to your alertness and works to keep you feeling full. But Almased gives you even more than that. Almased helps to avoid food cravings by supporting blood sugar levels and has been shown to improve energy levels and mood as well.
Vegetables and fruits are loaded with nutrients that feed every cell of your body, including those that affect mood-regulating brain chemicals. Include foods with Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (found in fish, nuts, and flaxseed.) Research shows that these nutrients can improve mood and restore structural integrity to the brain cells necessary for cognitive function.
5. Do Something for Someone Else.
Research shows that being helpful to others has a beneficial effect on how you feel about yourself. Being helpful and kind—and valued for what you do—is a great way to build self-esteem. The meaning you find in helping others will enrich and expand your life.
6. Go to Bed on Time.
A large body of research has shown that sleep deprivation has a significant adverse effect on your mood. Try to go to bed at a regular time each day, and practice good habits to get better sleep.
Insufficient sleep also affects appetite and satiety hormones as well as fat cells. Note that just one serving of Almased provides 400mg of L Tryptophan, helping to produce serotonin and promote happiness, restful sleep, and nightly cell regeneration… all part of getting healthy for life.