Panache

Dr. Sarah Greenberg writes about having a mental health version of brushing our teeth. She states social media and smartphones act as excessive sugar for our brains.

Since our screen usage has increased over the years. The awareness about mental hygiene must be spread. We take supplements to make our bodies strong and strengthen our immune system.

It is time to work on our brains similarly. Below are a few ways through which you can achieve good mental hygiene.

Time Block your Consumption.

The majority of us jump to scrolling our screens between two tasks or simply because we get distracted. Hence, the emergence of a low attention span.

We barely notice the amount of our life and time we spend looking at the screen. Therefore, it is a good idea to time-block our content consumption as much as possible.

You can replace that time with something else. Put the phone on a reminder to block apps. Get rid of your smartphone and use it only for work. Delete the apps that destroy your mental peace. Reboot your phone to be minimalist.

If you check a built-in “time-watched” feature on Youtube. You will find how many hours you are mindlessly scrolling through your feed.

Instead of consuming what has been created and is served to you. Try to create something as per your interests or hobbies. Write poems, draft something in a journal, create a painting, a sketch, or something crafty inspired from Pinterest.

Invest your time in something that you can be proud of.

Also read: 10 signs you need a Digital Detox.

Also read: 10 effective ways to Digital Detox.

Consume Healthy Content.

Another aspect of mindlessly scrolling your life away is the kind of content you are consuming. How many times has it happened to you that you watched a reel, a video, or a post and the music gets stuck to your brain?

Don’t ignore the things that your subconscious mind consumes while your attention is somewhere else. The internet is filled with polarizing views, comments, opinions, and content that is too strong for our minds. It is too hard not to get influenced by that.

When was the last time you checked your subscriptions, unfollowed the accounts that do not serve you, or clicked on “don’t recommend channel” because the content was getting too overwhelming?

If you are going to consume everything that the algorithm serves you, your brain will be saturated with the information without absorbing something of use. And that is not healthy for your mental health.

Also read: 10 documentaries/ podcasts to watch about Mental health this weekend.

Also read: 10 shows about Mental Health to watch this Weekend.

Be closer to yourself.

Continuing from the previous point, once you become conscious about the things you should consume and content you should not watch. You become one step closer to yourself. You not only understand your needs, wants, and desires. But also start spending your time mindfully.

With all the noise of the world blinding our senses, we almost forget that the most precious relationship that we have is with ourselves. You must be aware of your mental health limits like your mental and emotional capacity.

How much can you mingle in social settings? How much time do you need to recover after spending time outside depending on your personality? And most importantly, practice healthy boundaries to maintain your sense of self in a healthy way.

Also read: 8 things to know about yourself.

Also read: How to become the best version of yourself?

Also read: How to live for yourself?

Be closer to healthy relationships.

To maintain a healthy relationship with yourself can heavily depend on the quality of your surroundings. If people around you make you feel bad about yourself, you will eventually start feeling bad about yourself too.

Hence, it is necessary to maintain relationships with people who support you, are good listeners, and remain authentic to you. Only a pure, natural, and authentic environment is a good environment to help you flourish in your life.

It can be difficult to cut cords with toxic people in life but once you understand the joy of being in a healthy relationship with yourself, you will feel that it is a small price to pay. The pain is preceded by a feeling of liberation, non-dependence, and living for yourself.

Express yourself.

Once you get out of the toxic relationships around you, you are left with healthy, fulfilling relationships, and a space to freely express yourself. When you are talking about maintaining your mental health, it is important to express yourself in a healing, supportive, and non-judgmental environment.

Not being able to express your feelings and thoughts healthily can lead to complex feelings, frustration, and piling up of thoughts. That leads to bad mental health and unhealthy emotional outbursts.

Please try to talk to a trusted friend or write your thoughts in a journal. Try to seek help if necessary to understand your emotions more comprehensively. As any stressful situation can make the situation worse.

It is necessary to maintain your mental health hygiene to learn to cope with any unforeseen stressful situations.

Create a healthy mental world.

We spend most of our time in our heads, it must be a nice place. But we realize it too late. Our minds are filled with clutter that does not support our healthy existence in any shape or form. But how do we make a healthy mindset?

The first step to developing a healthy mindset is to surround ourselves with healthy people, consume good content, and create a positive outlook toward life. Practicing mindfulness could be the second step towards creating a healthy mind.

But it is not easy to get rid of the negative thoughts. One of the easiest ways to do that is to confront them with reasoning. For example, if you think that you will not be able to achieve a certain goal, you should immediately question yourself as to why. Are there legitimate reasons to be thinking this way?

And don’t forget to plant positive thoughts through affirmations when replacing negative thoughts.

Learn to manage stress.

In today’s world, stress management is a basic skill that needs to be learned. However, a healthy mind can manage any kind of stress more effectively than a mind that was not prepared for that. We often think that this is a skill that cannot be developed later. But you can learn it.

Dr. Neel Burton in his article writes, “The amount of stress that a person can handle is largely related to his or her thinking and coping styles and his or her social skills. People with positive coping and thinking styles and good social skills are better able to diffuse stressful situations.”

One healthy way to immediately cope with a stressful situation is to break it down into smaller segments and write a plan to follow that. In that way, you will not only be able to look at the problem with a more critical view but immediately diffuse stress by having a game plan.

Also read: How to manage stress?

Pay attention to your triggers.

There is no doubt with the spread of mental health awareness, people are becoming more and more aware of triggering behavioral patterns. Some people are affected by loud noises, dirty surroundings, and many other factors.

It is equally important to become aware of your mental and emotional triggers. Chest pain, headaches, sweaty palms, and breathlessness could be some of the triggers that indicate your stress response. But triggers like sadness, bed-rotting, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, scared, helpless, or anxious are often looked over.

Any stressful situation can cause these symptoms. But, if these symptoms occur very often or for a prolonged period, they are likely to become a condition. And you may need immediate medical assistance.

Practice healthy sleep and meditation.

Maintaining sleep hygiene is one of the best ways to maintain mental health. When you sleep, your brain takes time to recover, repair, and process data. As Mark Manson says, your morning routine does not matter, until your evening routine is not sorted.

If you find it difficult to have a full night’s sleep, all you need to do is devise a plan and stick to it. Please remove all the distractions and make sure you finish all the necessary work before a designated period.

Relax before you go to bed so that sleep hormones can do their work, and you can fall asleep faster.

Meditation and Mindfulness have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and increase positive mental health. These methods range from deep breathing to consciously doing every task throughout the day.

People who do these practices daily, can develop a mental immunity towards stress and manage the most critical challenges in the most efficient ways possible. You might want to give it a shot. Mindfulness can heal and restore your brain.

Seek Professional Help.

Dr. Julie K. Hersh equates Mental hygiene to brushing teeth every day. She suggests that the day people understand the significance of mental hygiene. They will go to a medical practitioner as soon as possible.

In her article, “Mental Hygiene: Preventive Care for Mental Illness.” She suggests that even though people don’t die with tooth decay almost 36000 people die with mental illnesses every year.

If we can detect a condition before it gets out of hand, it will be easier to treat it.

Seeking professional help is considered taboo in our society since it comes with a lot of labels. But on a personal front, it can save you a lot of years of feeling numb, lonely, helpless, and unworthy.

Don’t hesitate to ask for help.

Conclusion

We have become more aware of cleanliness and sanitary hygiene compared to medieval times. However, a lot of work needs to be done to become aware of mental hygiene among people.

It would not only reduce the rising mental illnesses but will lead to emotionally healthy living.

Also read: What is PTSD? Do you have the signs of it?

Also read: 8 glaring signs of social anxiety.

Also read: 10 signs you have “Saviour Complex”