Mental Health Awareness Week is a good time to explore where we see ourselves in terms of our mental wellbeing.

Mental health is a relatively recent concept that is thankfully far better understood today than it was even twenty years ago. Science has realised how mental and physical health are interdependent and irrevocably linked to each other.

If one of these two is compromised, the other is also under threat. When you’re physically unwell, it affects your mental health, and when your mental health suffers, your physical health often dips too.

Improving your physical fitness is likely to have a beneficial effect on your mental wellbeing and taking steps to improve your mental health can mean that you feel more able to take care of your physical wellbeing.

We now know that certain hormones play a crucial role in balancing our mood and our energy levels. Conversely, fluctuating hormone levels - such as occurs during peri-menopause - can destabilise mental health quite dramatically, negatively affecting sleep, cognitive function and mood, and often leading to varying degrees of anxiety and depression. Mental health issues can also be hereditary to some extent. And experiences in childhood and beyond can deeply affect our mental wellbeing throughout our lives.

Medical treatments and medications exist to help improve mental health. There are also different kinds of therapies that are crucial in helping people with varying mental health issues. These are all hugely important and we have come a long way in this field.

But can we have agency over our own mental wellbeing? Are there steps can we take to minimise any potential issues with our mental health?

I have experienced anxiety at times in my life when I know hormones have played a huge part. And yet, at the time, I didn’t know that. Since then, I’ve learned of a few things that would have helped me a lot, had I known of them back then.

I’d like to list these things here. They are concepts and tools that I use today, and which I believe help me keep my mental health in good shape most of the time. I hope that, if you don’t know of them already, they’ll help you too.

Self-compassion. I subconsciously blamed myself for having anxiety. This was so unhelpful! There were natural physiological reasons why I was out of kilter, and it wasn’t my fault. Self-blame creates the notion of ‘I ought’ or ‘I should’, which only adds to the problem.

Dropping the need to be perfect. Life has its twists and turns, and when things aren’t flowing nicely and you feel out of sorts - it’s ok. It might not feel ok, but just as the body can become unbalanced, leading to disease, so can the mind. With the passing of time and the right help, equilibrium can be restored. Patience and acceptance are good tools.

Stepping back from thoughts and learning to observe rather than react or panic. This seems almost impossible if you’re so locked into your thought patterns that you can’t imagine stepping back from them. But a daily meditation practice, even for just five minutes, is a journey to experiencing that this can be done, however gradually. It’s a skill, just like anything else that is learned. It takes commitment and dedication to the practice.

Just breathe. This can be your meditation instead of watching your thoughts. Slow, deep breaths calm the body and mind and create a sense of wellbeing, bringing you into the moment. This can be a regular daily practice or a useful tool in moments of panic or uncertainty. And if practised daily over time, the benefits to the nervous system are great. 

Being in nature. Connecting with plants, animals and the weather, grounding your bare feet on the grass, breathing in the fresh air, feeling the breeze in your hair and the sun on your face - these are all things that benefit mental health. Making sure we get out and about as often as we can ticks many beneficial boxes!

Physical exercise. Nothing dramatic, just regularly mobilising the joints, toning and stretching the muscles, and getting the heart rate up for, say twenty to thirty minutes on five days a week. Rest days are important too.

Rest days, having wind-down time at night before bed, so the body knows it’s almost time to sleep. Taking time out during the day, pausing for five minutes between activities to absorb what you’ve just done and prepare for what comes next. Checking in with yourself is a good stabiliser: “How am I feeling? Ok! That’s good – now I can go back to what I was doing!”.

Good nutrition and plenty of hydration! Enough said, really. As with most of these points, taking care of physical health has a direct effect on mental wellbeing.

Cultivating friendships and connection. A few good friends is all we need. I hope you have yours. Helping others in any small way creates connection that can lead to moments of fulfilment and happiness.

Learning something new. Keeping the brain active and feeding that natural curiosity we were all born with is a great way to stay sharp and create more purpose in our lives. It doesn’t need to be intellectual. It can be taking up a skill, such as gardening, an art class or learning ukelele!

All these things can either have immediate beneficial effects, or produce a cumulative improvement in mental health over time. They are all within our reach in small ways and in larger ways, with some willpower required. Once you’re in the habit of these things, it can become easier to maintain them.

But if things drop off, there’s no self-blame or panic. Everything is constantly in flux, like the seasons and the tides. Knowing that we are part of a much bigger picture can bring a sense of trust in the universe. There are things we cannot control, and that’s just as it should be!  

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Thank you to Charlotte Russell for sharing her expertise, find out more about Charlotte’s work at www.3cwellbeing.co.uk or watch her pilates practices on the YouTube channel ‘Charlotte Russell Wellbeing’.