Below are MHPs six pillars of mental health. To incorporate these pillars into your daily and weekly life means to improve, nurture and maintain your mental health. Look at MHPs blog for further information on each pillar.
Healthy Eating
Mental health and food are much more closely connected than you may think. You may know that different foods alter you energy levels in different ways, such as high GI foods and low GI foods. However, did you also know that the food you eat has a huge impact on your gut microbiome, and your microbiome has a huge impact on your wellbeing. The best foods for your gut health and, therefore, mental health are beans, lentils, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and wholegrains. These categories should make up the majority of your diet.
Nature
Getting out in nature is an incredibly powerful anti-stress activity, as well as often an anti-depressant too. We don’t really know why, exactly, but we know for sure as an activity it has huge benefits. Maybe it is a connection to our deeper past as animals, maybe it is escaping the very human concrete world, maybe it is the sense of perspective it can give us. We never live far from nature, so get out to a beach, a forest a country walk, listen to the birds and go slow.
Exercise
Movement is important. It is increasingly common in the modern world for people to spend the vast majority of their day sitting - sitting at work, sitting in front of the TV, sitting whilst on your phone, sitting whilst driving. Movement increases our heart rate, increases oxygen and nutrient delivery to the brain, protects our joints and strengthens our muscles and bones. It also releases certain endorphins, hormones and neurotransmitters which are excellent for our mental health. You should, at minimum, walk for thirty-minutes every day.
Goals
Without goals, life can quickly become meaningless. A meaningless view of life can quickly turn into nihilism and depression. Goals give us a sense of purpose, as sense of direction, a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to engage in life productively. It doesn’t matter whether they are career related, hobby related, personal of family goals. All that matter is that you have one, or two, or three, that you keep them in the forefront of your mind and strive towards them.
Social Connection
Humans are hypersocial animals. Without social connection, we quickly become depressed. Unfortunately, we have a taste of social connection with social media, but the impact of face-to-face connection, or even talking over the phone, is significantly more beneficial for us than messaging. Face-to-face connection releases a multitude of beneficial chemicals in our brain, all strengthening our mental health. So, put down your phone and get out to see someone, or at least call them.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a broad concept. It is, ultimately, any activity that allows you to focus, that calms down your rapid thoughts to a snails pace, or even stops them completely. It is strongly correlated to a reduction in stress and anxiety, as well as an increased understanding and connection with ourselves. For you it may be meditation, drawing, walking, running, singing dancing, painting, and so on. All that matters is that you are focused, without music or noise, on the task.