Self-Care Tips for Mental Health Awareness Week

With Mental Health Awareness Week fast approaching, we look at things to do to take care of yourself on a daily basis.

What is the purpose of Mental Health Awareness Week?

Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual campaign that’s been run by UK charity The Mental Health Foundation since 2001. It takes place each Spring and aims to raise awareness of mental health conditions and solutions, with people encouraged to both seek and give advice. This year, it takes place from Monday 9^th to Sunday 15^th May.

What is the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2022?

The theme of the Foundation’s Mental Health Week 2022 is loneliness – something that many people in care experience on a regular basis.

“One of the best things about being a carer is that you know you have a real chance to make a difference in that person’s day,” says Bluebird Care Worthing Care Assistant Supervisor Jackie. For some of them, you might be the only person they talk to that day, or even that week! So the smiles you see from them when you arrive are genuine, and the gratitude you often feel from them when you help them do something they wouldn’t be able to themselves… it can just be the loveliest thing.”

How do you mentally care for yourself?

At Bluebird Care Worthing, we know mental health isn’t just a concern for people in care. Anyone can struggle with anxiety, low mood or depression, from unpaid carers to students with deadlines, professionals with high-stress jobs, and everyone in between. Whatever you do, and whatever your background, knowing the things to do to take care of yourself can make an enormous difference.

These are eight mental health self-care tips you can use to manage your state of mind on a daily basis.

1. Set goals

The first of our easy self-care tips is to be proactive with everything you’re doing. When you do things simply for the sake of it, it’s easy to lose motivation and slip into unhealthy patterns. But when you get a goal in mind, you’re far more likely to do the other healthy actions that line up with the success you want to see. So whether you’re training for a marathon, have a target weight you want to hit by a certain date, or you’d just love to be able to go for a walk with your grandchildren without feeling out of breath, setting a tangible goal then measuring your progress towards it regularly will give you a feeling of happiness that only comes from making progress in something meaningful.

2. Exercise regularly

One of the best ways to look after yourself is by incorporating regular exercise into your daily and weekly routine. It doesn’t have to be much – even 30 minutes of light walking a day will get your endorphins flowing and lift your mood, making your emotions more robust for if and when stressors occur.

3. Eat a balanced diet with few toxins

Another of the major things to do to take care of yourself is eating and drinking well. And by “well,” we don’t necessarily mean a lot! Highly processed foods full of fat, salt, sugar and other additives might make you feel good the moment you eat them, but they’ll spike your body’s energy levels for a short time and then drop them lower while you struggle to digest them. That’s not great for your body, and it’s definitely not going to lift your mood. Nobody’s saying you can’t eat the foods you like, but balance your intake of steaks, pizzas and pastas with fresh leaves, and you’ll feel far better in body and mind. The same also goes for caffeine and alcohol. Instead, drink those in moderation and make herbal teas and water your main go-to's for hydration. Your mood will thank you for it before too long.

4. Do a calming mental exercise each day

In a world where almost everyone has a smartphone, one of the easy self-care tips is to use it to benefit your mental health. Rather than endlessly scrolling through fear-provoking news sites, try downloading a meditation or mindfulness app like Headspace and seeing what benefit it brings to your mental health? Not sure which app to try? Check out 13 of the best meditation apps available here.

5. Make sleep a priority

This might sound like one of the most obvious ways to look after yourself, but how many people manage to get between seven and eight hours of sleep on a regular basis? If you experience anxiety or intense stress at work or in your personal life, switching your mind off at bedtime can be incredibly difficult. On the other hand, low mood can leave people in bed for longer than they should. (Indeed, there is a train of thought that too much sleep can be even worse for you than too little!). If you’re struggling for shuteye, some of the apps mentioned in the meditation link above might also be helpful – particularly Calm, which has programmes to help improve your sleep quality.

6. Give yourself a life full of connection

As we mentioned in our blog post ‘The We In Wellbeing,’ connecting to other people is incredibly important. We’re a social species, after all, and connection is built into our biology. Just look what happens when someone tells a joke and you’re in a group of people laughing! And that positive feeling only increases when you’re connecting to someone you truly care about. Of course, this can be difficult to do if you already feel isolated and don’t feel you have a lot to offer. But pushing past that and reaching out to set up a low-key coffee with a friend or loved one can be one of the best things to do to take care of yourself. And once you’ve done that, build from there to give yourself a regular social calendar. From support groups to social groups and hobbies like dance lessons or book clubs, connecting with others is one of the best self-care tips around.

7. Practice gratitude

The seventh of our mental health self-care tips might seem trite at first glance – but did you know that even the simple act of thinking about being thankful physically changes your brain chemistry? Depression, stress, anxiety and low mood all tell you that things are tough and you have little to be thankful for. So when you realise how many things in your life you do have to feel grateful for, it can’t help but combat the negative emotions to some degree. Try ending your day by thinking about three things you’re grateful for, and maybe even try telling some of the important connections in your life how thankful you are for them. It’s ironic, but on a mental and emotional level, that act of showing gratitude to others really is one of the best ways to look after yourself.

8. Give back

Our final mental health self-care tip is in some ways the gratitude point taken to a new level. And again, it might seem like something that’s difficult to do if your mood and resilience levels are low. However, giving back to people who need your help is proven as a wonderful way to sustain good mood by seeing how much you matter in this world. So the next time you’re preoccupied with your own troubles, try helping someone else. You never know, it might help you to help yourself, as well!

Are you looking to give back each day?

At Bluebird Care Worthing, we see daily the wonderful power of helping people. Caring may not always be easy, but the bonds our Bluebirds build with our customers and each other are something they truly cherish. So if you’d like a life full of special moments that really matter, we’d love to hear from you.

Visit our Worthing carer jobs page to see our current vacancies, or get in touch for a chat about why becoming a Bluebird could be brilliant for your mental health.

Related posts

• The ‘We’ In Wellbeing
• What’s it Like to Become a Carer?
• Five Surprisingly Big Benefits of Working in Social Care
• Why Carers Are Needed Now More Than Ever
• Acts of Kindness: Lauren’s Story