How to Prioritize Your Mental Health and Mood

It’s not a secret that things are tough in the world right now. With everything going on during the Covid-19 pandemic, many people’s day-to-day lives have changed considerably. That’s why it’s more important than ever to prioritize your mental health. Law enforcement officers are constantly having to interact with people that are dealing with a mental health crisis. Haven Gear is proud to support their efforts by providing top-notch safety and riot gear to these brave and helpful first responders. Let’s look at some ways of prioritizing your mental health to keep yourself as healthy as possible during these trying times.

Start a New Hobby

Doing the same old boring routine each day can get quite old. Invigorate your mind and interests by committing to a new hobby you enjoy. This can be anything from artistic pursuits like painting or pottery, creating crafts, or even looking at how to cook in a genre of food you’ve never tried before. Thai food sounds good, doesn’t it?

Have an Exercise Routine

When you exercise, your brain produces beneficial serotonin. This can help ward off feeling down or blue. Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes per session, at least four times per week. Change it up so you aren’t doing the same routine all the time because that can get a little boring and doesn’t challenge your body. Maybe something fun like rollerblading or a dance class would put a little pep in your step.

Eat a Healthy Whole Foods Diet

Are you hitting up the drive-through for greasy fast food too often? How you eat directly affects your mental wellbeing. Your body and brain need healthy foods to thrive. Try a whole foods diet of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain carbs.

Connect With Friends

Even if you can’t see some people in person right now, it’s still important to connect with friends and extended family members. Schedule some virtual time together, make a simple phone call to check-in on someone, or a daily text can do wonders for connecting with the ones you love.

Try Daily Meditation

Meditation can center yourself to clear out some of those cobwebs in your brain. It doesn’t have to be a long session of meditation, even 10-20 minutes will take you out of your daily routine to have some quiet and reflective time. Mindfulness in meditation takes practice. Sit somewhere comfortable with minimal distractions. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. If it helps, choose a mantra to repeat over and over that relaxes you.

Tone Down the Drinking

Alcohol is considered a depressant. So if you’re hitting the whiskey too hard each night, or turning one glass of wine into a whole bottle each day, it’s going to affect your mood. Plus, if you are constantly feeling hungover the next day after a night of drinking, your energy levels are going to be low. Long-term drinking can bring on some negative health aspects that impact your life and mental health. It might feel good to drink in the moment, but eventually over-drinking can make depression worse.

Improve Your Sleep Habits

Not getting the proper amount of sleep can have a severe impact on your mood. Ideally, you want to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. If you are chronically sleep-deprived, it can make you anxious, irritable, and foggy during the day. When you have issues winding down at night, try turning off all electronics and screens for two hours before bed. Sleep experts say the blue light of these devices interferes with your production of melatonin, which is the hormone that controls your sleep.

Seek Mental Health Help

There isn’t any shame in admitting you need help to deal with your mental health. Seek out the right professional help if you are struggling. You aren’t the only one, and it’s natural to feel depressed, sad, or anxious with everything that is going on in the world right now. Let the right people help you navigate your way to feeling better. It’s definitely a brave move to make your improved mental health a top priority.