10 tips to support your mental health
As you have discovered (or most certainly soon will), when it comes to mental ill-health there is not much that medicine will do for you (or your loved ones), and you will be left searching for answers or solutions pretty much on your own.
Alzheimer’s disease has been the subject of research for many years, but because the pharmaceutical industry is solely focused on patenting a “magic pill”, it ignores everything about human physiology and the overwhelming number of studies proving that dementia doesn’t have one single cause. Alzheimer’s dementia, for example, has been labelled Type-3 Diabetes. This indicates that blood sugar dysregulation and inflammation are the root cause of what seems a very serious — life-altering — disorder. So, would this also indicate that changing to a healthier lifestyle and diet may be the best weapons again neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration?
For many scientists and researchers, the answer is pretty straightforward.
A chronically inflamed brain will develop protective mechanisms to ensure neuronal survival.
There is an important question to figure out…
How does a brain become inflamed?
It starts with diet. Consuming a large intake of refined and ultra=processed manufactured food products, or even conventional fruits and vegetables, malnutrition is inevitable. A poorly nourished body cannot function. A poorly nourished brain and you cannot think straight and nerve tissue may not have enough antioxidant defences to prevent inflammation and cell damage.
Additionally, we feed our brain negativity with harsh, critical and demeaning inner talks, spending an entire lifetime indoors, being scared of others (thanks to the corrupt governments of the world and the orchestrated pandemics) and being addicted to social media and the news.[1]
This type of addiction is very serious. First, because it hooks your brain to believe that everything around you is dangerous and so you may start to believe that you are safer staying within the four walls of your home. Addiction to the news is a recognised disease.
A 2022 study published in the journal Health Communication explained that news addiction is linked to not only poor mental well-being but physical health too.[2]
Interestingly, this type of addiction is also linked to other types of addiction, including painkillers (as well as recreational drugs).
The stress and uncertainty of the past recent years and long-COVID have led to increased demand for mental health services. Experts also warn of the increased misuse of opioids and stimulants and the rise in overdose incidents.[3, CDC, WHO]
“Unfortunately, a lot of the news we consume today isn’t so much reporting as it is a way of keeping people addicted to the news cycle.”
These factors may also impact sleep and mood, leading to fluctuations in energy levels (fatigue, low energy and motivation, which are also used to fuel addiction to stimulants and sugar), hormones and transmitters, and antioxidant defences. For example, the glymphatic system only operates during the stage of deep sleep. Miss out on this crucial sleep and your brain won’t be able to remove metabolic waste, toxins and heavy metals. If these are able to accumulate in the brain, they may inflame the neurones and lead to poorer cognition (e.g., brain fog, poor memory and concentration) and the development of bad dietary habits. This may also increase your sensation of pain (e.g., increased concentration of glutamate in the brain), and increase your risk of painkiller addiction.
So you feel low and you are in pain and you become addicted to the news, caffeine and other drugs, and painkillers, so everything reminds you that everything around you is dangerous.
“Media outlets often end up focusing on disaster reporting — and rarely any positive news.
Consuming too much of this kind of news, whether actively or passively, can be very toxic, and what you hear has an impact on your mood.”
As a result, you isolate yourself from the world and hide behind a computer screen while social media addiction fuels your inadequacies. You feel worse about yourself looking at the smiles, the happy snapshots and the pictures of family and friends holidaying in idyllic places. You may be feeling many different emotions, but none are good for you and your mental well-being.
Then, you are missing the healing properties of nature, and health-supporting sunlight. You become disconnected from nature and food, and nothing seems to matter, so you give in to eating badly and avoiding feel-good activities and socialising.
Your gut may become inflamed as a result of man-made chemicals found by the spoon full in your junk food (a typical American consumes over 4 kilos of additives every year).[5]
The inflammation will lead to increased intestinal permeability and to changes in the microbial balance (i.e., dysbiosis), bowel habits, pain in the joint and movement restriction (another trigger for painkiller addiction), and brain inflammation.
“In total, poor mental health was estimated to cost the world economy approximately $2·5 trillion per year in poor health and reduced productivity in 2010, a cost projected to rise to $6 trillion by 2030”
According to the CDC, the European Commission, and the Alzheimer’s Society:
Cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were around 1 in 40 in the US and 1 in 140 in Europe in 2020, a large increase compared to 1960 with only 1 in 2500
Over 57 million people worldwide live with dementia (2020). It is estimated cases of dementia will increase to 152 million by 2050
An estimated 2.16 billion adults will be overweight, and 1.12 billion will be obese by 2030
Ultra-processed foods account for more than half of all the calories consumed daily across the world
Updated statistics from the global pandemic will indeed show a much darker picture, as the impact of government restrictions and lies on people’s lives is still to be identified. The long-term effect of the past few years and “forced” vaccinations (think heavy metal and undisclosed ingredient poisoning from unlicensed vaccinations) is still to be quantified. The human guinea pigs of today are the perfect specimens for researchers of tomorrow.
Illustration extracted from Mental Health Webinar.[4]
As for everything, it is at us to take control of our lives and nourish our bodies and minds.
How many of us have heard our doctor saying: “It’s all in your head”? How many of us have been bullied or mocked for our mental health challenges?
Indeed, the stigma around mental health is profound, which is also fulled by the indisputable impact of the news using mental health for big scary headlines.
To help you better understand all the factors that may impact your mental well-being, here are 10 things you might be doing that aren’t helping your mental health.
A sedentary lifestyle
Aside from the numerous physical benefits of being part of nature and exercising, spending time outdoors has a lot of psychological, emotional, and mental benefits.
Exercise also helps your body produce feel-good chemicals and a 10-minute walk is sufficient to lift your mood, especially if you are surrounded by nature.
Avoiding sunlight
Sunlight is vital to our health and is necessary to maintain and improve our immune system. Sunlight is so important that our bodies can manufacture vitamin D when our skin is exposed to ultraviolet light.
Vitamin D also supports brain function and is believed to improve our mood. Sunlight is also involved in rebalancing your circadian rhythms, so make sure to get plenty of sunlight in the early hours of the morning to reset your hormones like melatonin and cortisol.
Sleep deprivation
You may think burning the candle on both sides is helping you, but structuring your day is proven to help you be more efficient and productive.
Burning the midnight oil because you want to pack as much as you possibly can in your day may be detrimental to health in the long term, because you are actively preventing your body to detoxify, heal and repair, and rest, opening the door to many disorders. Anxiety, depression, stress, bipolar disorder, and many other mental health challenges are worsened by a lack of sleep, which, eventually, disrupt your sleep further. This is particularly pertinent if you are prone to ruminating and unable to letting go of the past (or past mistakes).
A bad diet
A grain and sugar-based diet lead to metabolic dysfunction, which can be a contributing factor to poor health and mental health conditions, especially if the diet is also featuring an over-abundance of ultra-processed poorly-nutritious junk, which are known to contain several chemicals that can inflame the brain and contribute to cognitive issues. A poorly-nourished and inflamed brain is a poorly-functioning brain and a brain that cannot be in control of mood, losing control over negative inner talks and emotions, which intrinsically affect your behaviour and potentially your relationships. You may use every negative experience to further disconnect from food, which further reduces your resilience and your ability to cope with change.
You may self-isolate as a result and avoid social settings, all of which make you feel worse and narrow your vision of the world around you. You become addicted to the news and social media to reinforce your belief that everything around you is dangerous, and the only place you can possibly be safe is alone, between your four walls and the prison of your mind.
Negative self-talks and repressed emotions
Harsh, critical and demeaning self-talks can play a critical role in mental ill-health and also eating disorders, which reinforce your beliefs of inadequacy, that you will never be good enough, pretty enough, or unlovable, and, therefore, maintain a biased overview of the world around you and the intention of those around you — who only have your best interests at heart.
Situations like this can lead to anxiety disorders, depression, mental panic attacks, breakdowns or emotional outbursts. These issues may be avoided if you are surrounded by friends and people you trust so they can show you a different perspective, a way out and a window of hope you probably have not thought about — because your focus is elsewhere. No matter how hard it is, always stay surrounded by loved ones. Never stay alone if you are not able to process bad emotions.
Always be gentle to yourself. Talk to yourself as if you were talking to someone you cared for a lot. You are your worse enemy, but you also are the best resource you can trust.
Putting others first
Ignoring your needs and over-caring for others as if your life depended on it is an open door to poor health, poor coping mechanisms and overdoing it when it comes to achieving balance. Your dedication may be welcome but if you do not put yourself first, how will you be able to maintain your mental and emotional balance.
Think of the preflight safety video. Always put your oxygen mask on first, because saving others less able to assist you thereafter won’t be able to save you. You will lose consciousness in a matter of seconds, so who will be there to put that mask over your face to save your life? Everyone around will helplessly see you taking your last breath.
It might be a dark picture, but the issue is real. Let this thought sink in…
Avoiding social settings
When we don’t feel 100%, we would rather stay in bed and avoid seeing friends and socialise. This is also applicable when suffering from an eating disorder, reinforcing beliefs of inadequacy or that no one will understand us, judge us or make us feel less than.
Surround yourself with people who support you, elevate you and make you feel good about yourself. Avoid people that spend most of their time criticising others (to make themselves feel more important and to forget about their insecurities), putting others down (especially you) and that are complaining constantly. Negativity is contagious but positivity too. So surround yourself with positive souls.
Self-isolation
By now, you understand the negative impact of self-isolation.
By being on your own, your vision of the world around you may become skewed and inaccurate to such an extent that your brain considers everything around you as dangerous, which leads to imbalances in brain chemistry and brain remodelling. As a result, your brain becomes hooked on fear and to reinforce this idea, you naturally become addicted to the news and social media (so you feel less than).
Doing too much
In the same way that overdoing can lead to sleep disorders and mental ill-health, structuring your days and prioritising can be essential to maintain your mental focus but also your emotional balance.
Burnout is so common because we keep on pushing even when we have nothing else to give. Putting yourself first and prioritising is thus key. Slow down and focus on yourself and on what is important. Is the world really on fire?
Passive-aggressive behaviour
Focusing on the outcomes rather than your own actions may be the trigger you need to reinforce a deeper disconnection from yourself and the world around you. Understanding that you may be the instigator of your misery can be the key to unlocking the next chapter of your life, where you are full of vitality, healthy and happy.
If you observe passive-aggressive behaviours in others, gently discuss your concern and open the discussion to finding new automatisms. Why are they using the power of abuse to get back to their own selves? What is this hiding? Why are they unhappy inside of their being?
In this case, it may be important to look at talking therapies and other forms of support so you can better understand your actions and reflexes and replace those with healthier coping mechanisms.
You have all the answers
The resources you need to change the way you talk to yourself and relate to others are inside you. You may not be able to access them, so surround yourself with others that will shine the lights on your abilities and greatness.
The main reason most people slip into these aforementioned habits is that they can be quite alluring — despite affecting your mental health deeper and driving your vision of the world around you into a dangerous light.
Avoiding social contact and distracting yourself with endless social media feeds is also very easy. But, do you feel good about yourself when you feel ‘worthless’ or anxious about the future and see others holiday in paradise, showing smiles and tanned bodies?
Does this motivate you to do something about your situation or feel worse about your situation?
Do you feel good about yourself when you surround yourself with people that criticise you and push you down or always ask something from you?
Do you feel full of vitality and clear of mind when you eat a full tub of ice cream or eat sugary junk watching TV all day? What about painkillers and drugs (prescriptions or recreational drugs) that you pop in a way to deal with the imbalances caused by a sedentary lifestyle and excessive intake of sugar (and additives)?
Well, as long as you understand that small streams make rivers, then oceans, then it is best to deal with the source of the problems before you drown in your ocean of problems. You are your own saviour so believe in yourself and give yourself all you need to become the hero of your own journey. This is your life. NOBODY can live for you.
The journey will not be easy so you must put in the effort and keep your end vision in mind. What is it you want to be or achieve? What will it taste like, feel like, smell like when you know you will get there? What will you hear? What will you see?
Are you there yet?
No…? So, find your destination and work towards it. Be positive and give yourself the tools you need to get there. Seek support if you need it and always remember you are never alone.
References
Johnston WM, Davey GC. (1997). The psychological impact of negative TV news bulletins: The catastrophizing of personal worries. British Journal of Psychology. 88( Pt 1), pp. 85-91. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02622.x
Bryan McLaughlin, Melissa R. Gotlieb, Devin J. Mills. Caught in a Dangerous World: Problematic News Consumption and Its Relationship to Mental and Physical Ill-Being. Health Communication, 2022; 1 doi:10.1080/10410236.2022.2106086
Abramson, A. (2021). Substance use during the pandemic. Opioid and stimulant use is on the rise—how can psychologists and other clinicians help a greater number of patients struggling with drug use? American Psychological Association. Available at: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/03/substance-use-pandemic
Sanchez. O. (2022). Mental Health. Associated conditions and our role to best support the individual and those around them (practitioner-only webinar). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgU4Fxl-N0U&list=PLfaVzOJIvTNnbrQQ3tTDDzKtroNJPly7-&index=1
Editorial. (2020). Mental health matters. The Lancet. 8(11), E1352. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(20)30432-0/fulltext#:~:text=In%20total%2C%20poor%20mental%20health,to%20%246%20trillion%20by%202030. (open access)
Source:
CDC (2021)
World Health Organisation (2021)
VeryWellMind (2020)