Mental-Health (1)
Maintaining Mental Wellness Written by: Olivia Frymark

Maintaining a healthy mind is one of the most important modalities of proper wellness and is key in establishing a balanced lifestyle.

According to the World Health Organization, mental wellness is defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

In honor of Mental Health Month this May, here are four tips to consider and improve your mental wellness.

Connect With Others

Social wellness is a key factor in boosting your mental health! Relationships with others help provide you emotional support, increase self-esteem, and improve brain power and memory to name a few! [Learn more] about how you can boost your social wellness by being part of a community.

Get Active

Your mental and physical health are connected. Exercise is known to improve your mood by causing chemical changes in the brain that reduce feelings of stress and depression. Don’t let physical activity intimidate you. Try dedicating at least 30 minutes a day (in whatever for your most comfortable with) and work your way up from there. Whether you’re walking, running, practicing yoga, bike riding, etc., any practice of physical activity is not only good for your body, but it’s also great for your mind!

Practice Gratitude

It’s a good practice to reflect on all the things we are thankful for in our lives. It even helps us handle stress better. Gratitude and appreciation are known to decrease levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. You can practice gratitude by journaling, sharing positive feelings of love and appreciation for someone, smiling, and meditating to name a few examples. This tip is one of the easiest things to start incorporating into your life as soon as possible. A little increase of positivity to your daily life doesn’t hurt either!

Meditate

Meditation is the practice of being mindful. Mindfulness is defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.” Mediation and mindfulness are known to reduce stress, anxiety, symptoms of depression, and memory loss. It also helps control pain, decrease blood pressure, and improve sleep. We recommend meditating for at least 10 minutes a day (consecutively) to start seeing results. If you aren’t sure how to start, there are plenty of free guided meditation experiences out there to get you going!

The Bottom Line

Mental health is a key component of our overall wellness that we should always be working on. If you are feeling down, consider implementing the above practices into your daily life. They can be done almost anywhere, and at any pace you are comfortable with!