Habits that can hurt your mental health, why am I writing this? I am not an expert, but it has been more than a month since my last post. My blog is my creative platform and I have been neglecting it for mental health reasons. I don’t have many audiences yet but I feel I needed to write about this. Especially in the Chinese and Indonesian culture that I grew up with, mental health is not something that people prioritise.
According to the researchers, “They learned that Asian people faced a range of pressures and problems that discouraged them from seeking help for mental health concerns. Some said they felt tremendous pressure to be academically or professionally successful. To stay focused, they ignored or denied symptoms. Others cited cultural concerns. They explained that mental health was a taboo topic in their communities.” source: mcleanhospital.org
I am sure, that some of us have been pressured since we were kids. To be successful, to get a good job and get rich, to marry someone rich, and to be what our parents wanted us to be. It’s stressful and painful to live under such pressure from family and society.
Thankfully, I have been seeking help through anti-depressants (more on that) and read a lot of motivational quotes and books. I came across some of these points from Sunny Bloom Inspiration that I would like to share with you. Here are some of the habits that can hurt your mental health:
1. Not Taking Time for Yourself
Self-care, paying attention to your needs (physical, mental, emotional), and satisfying them. Prioritising yourself when making decisions. Engaging in activities that serve you and your mental health. Fighting back negative thoughts with positive ones. Working hard for yourself and your dreams. Allowing yourself to rest and recharge. Making peace with the past and focus on the present. Doing more of what makes you happy.
2. Too Much Social Media
Social media and content creating are some of my jobs. Every day I spent more than 7 hours designing and managing clients’ social media platforms. It has become a habit for me to feed on people’s stories and photos. My mind starts to wander in negative thoughts and comparing lives. Thinking of “I am not good enough, I am not pretty enough, I am not successful as her, I came from a different background than them, so I can’t do what they can do” We all know that comparing our life is one of the bad habits that can destroy our mental health, confidence, and spirit. But we can’t help it sometimes. So, I tried not to check that often, and I did mute some people and unfollow those who didn’t serve my mental health anymore.
3. Lack of Sleep
Lack of sleep plays an important role in mental health. Based on a study, women who sleep less than 7 hours a night would gain 38% more weight than women who sleep more than 7 hours a night. The weight gained could be from stress-eating and hormonal imbalance too. Beware of pulling off night owls and don’t have enough beauty sleep, ladies!
4. Absence of Physical Activity
For obvious reasons, this is one of the bad habits most people are lack. We need to move our bodies, get active, and have all the sweat! People who exercise tend to be happier because they release “happy hormones.” Exercise not only keeps us fit and healthy but also protects us from disease and degeneration. It stimulates the production of various hormones, including hormones that the body is capable of producing by itself include: dopamine, which makes us feel good; serotonin, which reduces depression; and endorphins, which make us happy and thus help to reduce physical pain. So, ladies. Get moving!
5. Bad Posture
Bad posture can increase both physical and mental stress. Because bad posture causes your back muscles to work harder, it causes physical stress and therefore, pain. This pain has a negative impact on our mental health, too. Stand up tall, shoulders back, and head high. Get your confidence back by doing daily habits with the correct posture.
6. Toxic People
You can’t change the people around you but you can choose the people around you. As simple as that, I have eliminated some people that bring me down on a daily basis. Most of them are family members, I tried not to hang out or visit as much with the excuse of social distancing. It works well so far. No negative people in my life and I can just focus on myself.
7. Not Eating Well
Another habit that can hurt your mental health that we often overlook is our daily food. Study reveals a link between certain diets and their impact on mental health. One of the biggest health impairments is society’s reliance on processed foods. These foods are high in flour and sugar and train the brain to crave more of them, rather than nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables. Poor diets, researchers say, play a role in worsening mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression. However, diets rich in vegetables and olive oil, such as the Mediterranean diet, can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. I am not saying we should just change our diet overnight, but it would be good to consume less processed food and start eating well accordingly.
8. Overworking
All in all, working long hours tends to reduce your level of fitness, play havoc with your diet and put stress on your mind and body. The result? Poor circulation, increased weight, heart problems, higher cholesterol levels, lack of energy, poor sleep, bad concentration, nervous conditions, depression, and so on. You might not really notice it, but work stress can release the hormone cortisol, which is hard on your heart. The mental health risks are no better, with a greater chance for depression, anxiety, and even suicide.
9. Not Managing Your Time Well
Poor time management is a major cause of stress. One of the habits that can hurt your mental health by doing nothing at all, a long procrastination. Or, I’m sure we have all had the feeling that there is too much to do and not enough time. We can start to feel panicky and anxious and lose focus. It’s important to note that you can have this feeling even if there’s hardly anything to do at all. By managing your time in a more efficient way, not only you will get the right things done, but you’ll also have enough time to relax, de-stress and breathe more freely.” Having good time management has many benefits for your overall well-being.
10. Letting Fear of Failure Stop You from Doing What You Love
One of the biggest challenges I have is Fear of Failure. Many of us have probably experienced this at one time or another. The fear of failing can be immobilizing – it can cause us to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when we allow fear to stop our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way. We all have different definitions of failure, simply because we all have different benchmarks, values, and belief systems. A failure to one person might simply be a great learning experience for someone else.
If you are afraid of failure, you might be uncomfortable setting goals. But goals help us define where we want to go in life. Without goals, we have no sure destination. Many experts recommend visualization as a powerful tool for goal setting. Imagining how life will be after you’ve reached your goal is a great motivator to keep you moving forward.
However, visualization might produce the opposite results in people who have a fear of failure. Research shows that people who have a fear of failure were often left in a strong negative mood after being asked to visualise goals and goal attainment.
So, what can you do instead when you have fear of failure?
Start by setting a few small goals. These should be goals that are slightly, but not overwhelmingly, challenging. Think of these goals as “early wins” that are designed to help boost your confidence. Taking one small step at a time will help build your confidence, keep you moving forward, and prevent you from getting overwhelmed with visions of your final goal. source: mindtools
I hope by these simple points, you too can break the habits that can hurt your mental health. The main things are to seek help, whether it is to visit a therapist, or taking anti-depressants medication, and have someone who will always be there with you no matter the circumstances. Build some new healthy habits and stay healthy ladies!
