6 Ways to Feel Happier by Improving Mental Health
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Attain Happiness by Bettering Your Mental Health
The strong relationship between improving mental health and happiness is evident, as mental health impacts overall health in more ways than you might imagine.
Think about how your body reacts when you feel angry, sad, or stressed. From headaches and a
pumping heart through to fatigue, back pain, or digestive upsets, many emotional issues trigger
physical symptoms.
What can you do, though, if you want to overhaul your mental health to feel happier and more
energized?
Well, there are many simple tweaks you can make to start establishing better mental health and
we’ll highlight some of these today. Customize these suggestions to fit your lifestyle and start
feeling happier day to day.
Cultivate Happiness by Improving Mental Health: 6 Tips
- 1. Learn to manage your stress levels more effectively
- 2. Boost self-esteem
- 3. Focus on embracing a healthy lifestyle
- 4. Focus on the positive side of life
- 5. Nurture your relationships
- 6. Express your gratitude
1) Learn to Manage Your Stress Levels More Effectively
Stress is part of everyday life and a healthy response to potentially dangerous situations. When
stress consistently intrudes on your life and starts dragging you down, though, you should
consider implementing some stress management techniques.
Introducing regular exercise – more on this below – and making sure you get some time for
yourself can both help to alleviate simmering stress.
Practicing yoga or meditation will help you to become more mindful and present while focusing
on your breathing. Breathing techniques can calm you down when your emotions are running
high, especially if stress is accompanied by feelings of anxiety.
2) Boost Self-Esteem
Your self-esteem reflects how you feel about yourself. The best approach to improving your
self-esteem is straightforward: treat yourself as you would treat a valued friend, positively and
honestly.
Next time you start putting yourself down, ask yourself if you would act this way toward your
best friend.
As you become more aware of the negative self-talk that can easily cause your mood to flag,
you can start reframing this with the kind of advice or encouragement you would give to a loved
one. The better you feel about yourself, the happier you will feel.
3) Focus on Embracing a Healthy Lifestyle
The Latin phrase “mens sana in corpore sano” describes a healthy mind in a healthy body. With
mental and physical health so closely interlinked, living a healthier lifestyle can bring about
improvements to mood as well as physical health.
Balanced diet
Eat as many whole foods as possible while minimizing processed foods
and fast foods. Stay hydrated by drinking water throughout the day. Avoid spikes in
blood sugar. Applying these simple tips will make you feel more energized and happier.
Exercise regularly
Aim for 30 minutes of daily exercise that raises your heart rate.
Exercise has many proven benefits for mood.
Limit alcohol consumption
While the occasional alcoholic drink may help you to
decompress after a stressful day, do not drink excessively. Drinking too much alcohol will
do nothing to alleviate stress, and you could even end up developing alcohol use
disorder.
Improve sleep hygiene
Aim for between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. Eliminate
caffeine in the afternoon and evening, stick to a regular sleep schedule, and avoid using
electronic devices in the lead-up to sleep. Wake feeling rested and energized with a
smile rather than crawling out of bed still feeling exhausted.
4) Focus on the positive side of life
Here’s a very simple way of improving your mood and happiness levels. Next time you start
dwelling on anything negative, deliberately shift your focus to the more positive aspect of the
issue in question. Disappointed about a canceled arrangement with a friend? Focus instead on
pampering yourself with a bubble bath followed by a movie night at home.
5) Nurture your relationships
Healthy relationships with friends and family members can make you feel happier and more
connected.
If you find yourself rarely making enough time for your loved one, start prioritizing this area of
your life just as you would prioritize professional commitments.
Show your loved ones how much you appreciate them and make the time for social connection.
This will dramatically boost your happiness.
6) Express your gratitude
Anger, bitterness, and resentment all fly in the face of happiness and sound mental health.
The good news? You can fight back by practicing gratitude regularly.
Even better, you can get started right away. Write down five things you are grateful for each
week. This should be easy enough. From here, start writing down one thing you are grateful for
each day. Again, you should have no problem finding at least one positive in your day.
The more you acknowledge the good in your life and the more grateful you are, the happier you
will be.
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