Mental illness can negatively impact all aspects of your life: work, relationships and daily activities. It may trigger feelings of fear, anger and sadness as well as create difficulties sleeping.
Our contributors in this issue of the journal offer population and societal examinations of mental health needs and responses, challenging a narrow view of who can create knowledge about them.
1. Identify Your Triggers
First step to managing stress effectively is understanding its source. A trigger can be anything that elicits an intense emotional reaction such as fear or anger in its sufferers – whether that be memories, physical sensations or specific situations.
Internal triggers often come from our past while external ones come from outside influences like people, music or situations. No matter their source, experiencing a trigger may leave one feeling helpless and vulnerable in that moment.
If you find yourself struggling to cope with emotions such as anxiety, sadness and racing heartbeats, consider speaking to a mental health professional about them. It could be an indicator that more long-term support would benefit you; with help from the right therapist you could identify triggers while creating healthy coping mechanisms which will lessen their impact over time.
2. Practice Self-Care
Mental self-care encompasses practices like mindfulness, journaling and therapy as well as celebrating your accomplishments – this can help boost your mood and keep you motivated!
Chronic stress can arise from numerous sources, including situations you can control (like having toxic friendships) as well as difficulties that are difficult to overcome ( such as poverty or racism). Finding ways to cope with such issues in order to protect mental wellbeing is key.
COVID-19 and opioid epidemic have brought mental health into national discussion, but many people still face barriers when accessing treatment. To combat this situation, we must strengthen worker ability with private employer-sponsored health plans to hold plan sponsors accountable when they deny mental health benefits.
3. Seek Help
Talking with a therapist can be invaluable for managing feelings and thoughts, as well as learning to recognize warning signs that could signal that your mental health may be declining.
If you notice a friend is experiencing difficulty, gently encourage them to seek assistance. Although advice cannot be given without training in mental health care, support through this process may be offered instead.
Mental health has become a global priority since COVID-19 hit. People now realize the significance of addressing their mental health concerns head-on, with reduced stigmatisation and more options for guidance resulting in healthier and more resilient communities.
4. Exercise
Stress has an impact on both our physical and mental wellbeing, which makes exercise one of the best ways to decrease levels and enhance overall mood.
Exercise offers many proven advantages, including increased energy, decreased risk for anxiety and depression, better sleep quality and overall improvement to health and wellness. Exercise such as hitting the gym, playing tennis, running or lifting weights – will do just as much good to increase energy and lift mood!
Exercise is an invaluable asset when it comes to treating mental health conditions. But motivation may be an issue for some; one way of overcoming this hurdle would be finding an exercise buddy and making exercise part of your daily routine together.
5. Sleep
Sleep deprivation has been associated with various mental health difficulties of varying severity, and may play a part in their appearance, recurrence and maintenance [1]. As such, it presents an attractive target for intervention.
However, many studies do not clearly outline the independent effects of interventions designed to enhance sleep quality on mental health outcomes. They often compare such interventions against treatment-as-usual or wait list control groups instead.
Lack of sleep has long been linked with negative life events, compounding their adverse impact and dampening any positive ones that occur, in turn hindering people’s ability to regulate emotions and cope with stress effectively. Addressing insufficient rest should therefore form part of any mental-health recovery strategy.
