In my journey to becoming a therapist, I went to undergraduate and graduate school for one purpose: I wanted to understand how people function best. And, after spending a very long time in school, I’ve found that the research-proven answer to this question is something we’ve all learned since elementary school. Here’s how we can best care for our mental health:

Prioritize your sleep, eat good foods, and exercise regularly.

When we sleep, we need seven to eight hours of time in bed, no screens present. To be technical, we need four full sleep cycles per night, which for most people is around eight hours but that varies a bit per person; you can learn about your own sleep cycles with several great apps like Sleep Cycle. Also, having a bedtime routine that involves no screens will help your brain relax and fall asleep.

To eat good foods, the key concept here is balance. We’ve got to hit all the major food groups, not filling our stomachs up with starches or sugars, and know what’s in your food. If you take the time to learn what is in your food, you’ll naturally eat healthier and form better habits. That still means you can enjoy everything in moderation, and make the time to eat breakfast!

Lastly, here’s what good exercise is: If you’ll sweat while doing it, then it’s exercise. Whatever exercise you enjoy is the best because you’ll keep doing it, and if you can break a sweat twice a week then your brain will thank you. Recent studies have found exercise to be just as effective as antidepressants in treating depression, and exercise usually does so without some nasty side effects!

Yep, even with our innovative and groundbreaking therapies and medications, the best mental health care we have starts with sleep, food, and exercise. Doesn’t it feel weird to know that the simplest habits can produce the best results? It’s true though, so it’s worth prioritizing. Some of us have specific challenges that make it really hard to do these things, and that struggle shouldn’t be diminished. So, it might take some creativity and support from friends, family, or professionals to build this healthy lifestyle for yourself. For many people, these three habits will produce big results on their own, However, here’s my disclaimer: For some of us, these should be paired with therapy, medication, or other techniques to make life better.

Part of the reason that these three areas of life are so crucial to mental health is because of how sensitive our brains are; when we don’t give our brains the resources it needs, it’s really going to struggle to function at its best.

But, another part of this is the philosophical side, which honestly intrigues me more than the neurological. Our beliefs fundamentally shape who we are, and our functional beliefs are always changing. Some days we may believe that our friends really care about us, so we’ll gladly go out and see them; other days we may struggle to believe that in our core, and find ourselves being more reclusive as a result.

The same goes for what we believe about ourselves: When we believe that we’re a lovable person, we’re going to love ourselves better. And we can reverse engineer this too, if we do things that are good for us, then we can better believe that we are good. In a way, we’re acting our way into feeling.

Whenever you prioritize your sleep, giving yourself a full eight hours of uninterrupted time in bed, you are helping yourself to believe that you are a person worthy of love and care. Whenever you take the time to enjoy a filling, balanced meal, you are helping yourself to believe that you are a person worthy of love and care. And when you care for your body by breaking a sweat through exercise, you are helping yourself to believe that you are a person worthy of love and care.

Take care of yourself, you’re worth it!

Thank you for reading my practice’s blog, my library of all the random thoughts that would make a terrible book but make
a halfway-decent blog. To request a session or contact me, head to my Scheduling page to get in touch with me today!