By Roz Jones
To stay fit and healthy as a Caregiver, it’s important to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health. There are little things you can do each day that can contribute to your mental wellness.
Add these items to your daily routines and feel the difference:
- Get enough sleep. A lot happens in your brain while you sleep – for both your physical and mental health. Sleep helps to regulate the chemicals in your brain that manage moods and emotions. When you don’t get enough sleep, you may start to experience feelings of depression or anxiety.
- Most adults thrive with 7-9 hours of good quality sleep each night. Experiment and see how many hours work best for you.
- Eat nutritiously. Good food is good for our bodies, plus it’s good for our mental health too! A deficiency in certain minerals, such as iron or vitamin B12, can negatively affect your mood during the day.
- Eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and healthy fats like avocados. Avoid processed foods with unnatural chemicals. A healthy diet helps both your body and mind feel good.
- Limit caffeine, as this can increase feelings of anxiety.
- Eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and healthy fats like avocados. Avoid processed foods with unnatural chemicals. A healthy diet helps both your body and mind feel good.
- Avoid alcohol, smoking, and drugs. These items can affect your mental health also.
- Drinking too much alcohol can leave you with a thiamine deficiency, which can cause challenges with your memory, coordination, and confusion.
- Withdrawal symptoms of smoking and drugs can lead to a host of issues. For example, you may feel irritable or anxious without having smoked, while withdrawal effects of drug use may include low moods and anxiety.
- Drinking too much alcohol can leave you with a thiamine deficiency, which can cause challenges with your memory, coordination, and confusion.
- Get some sunlight. Your body needs sunlight because it is a good source of vitamin D. This vitamin helps our brains release chemicals like endorphins and serotonin. Chemicals that help improve our mood.
- Try to reduce stress. Stress can sometimes be unavoidable but learning what triggers it and how to cope with it is key for your mental health.
- You can learn to better manage your worries by making a list or schedule of what needs to be done. Prioritize the most important items and do those first. When you get used to doing this each day, you’ll soon realize that your tasks are manageable, and you’ll feel less need to worry.
- Once your important tasks are taken care of, find relaxation methods that work for you and let the stress of the day melt away.
- You can learn to better manage your worries by making a list or schedule of what needs to be done. Prioritize the most important items and do those first. When you get used to doing this each day, you’ll soon realize that your tasks are manageable, and you’ll feel less need to worry.
Your mental health is important and, if not looked after, it can start to affect your physical health as well. Do the little things regularly that can help you to build stronger mental health. You’ll love the difference in the way you feel.
The Caregiver Cafe 