In addition to eating healthier and exercising more, improving mental health is high on the list of New Year’s resolutions this year. But how do you improve your mental health? Two experts give tips.
If you want to improve your mental health, it is important to take the time to do this. Mental health is a broad concept. It is about the quality of your life, whether you feel lonely, whether you are satisfied or experiencing happiness and how healthy you are.
Mental health consists of different components and building blocks and some of these are about ‘mental fitness’, such as mental skills (personal component), belonging and participation or feeling supported (social component), setting boundaries or finding relaxation (functional component) and the absence of psychological complaints (perceptive component).
Contact and relationships just as important
It helps to be aware of what you want to improve, emphasizes Jolanda Meeuwissen, researcher at the Trimbos Institute. Just as you can do exercises to become physically stronger and fitter, you can also do exercises that make you mentally vital. “Keep trying, slowly building up and repeating exercises are important for strengthening your mental fitness.”
Contact and relationships with other people are just as important for our mental health as good nutrition and sufficient exercise, says Emy Grootveld, spokesperson for the Parnassia Group. Talking about your feelings can be a huge relief. When you keep your feelings to yourself, this can actually lead to gloom, stress or loneliness.”
Dealing with setbacks
“Mental fitness is about the resilience you have to deal with stress, changes and setbacks in your life,” says Meeuwissen. There are various exercises you can do to become or stay mentally stronger and fitter.
It doesn’t have to be all at the same time. Keep working on it and ask for help if you have many or serious complaints and tips and exercises do not help
You can think of getting more energy, coming into balance, mastering assertiveness, increasing happiness, applying mindfulness, relaxing better and finding meaning. For each of these aspects of mental fitness, there are also many tips that you can use every day. “You can choose which focus areas are important to you and tackle them one by one. It doesn’t have to be all at the same time. Keep working on it and ask for help if you have many or serious complaints and tips and exercises do not help.”
Some tips to improve mental fitness
Exercise has a positive effect on mental health and is good for the brain. Exercise three times a week is ideal. But moving for half an hour every day also gives relaxation, reduces stress and improves your mood. Find ways to make exercise fun. Regular exercise can even reduce anxiety and depression,” says Grootveld.
Nutrition also influences mental well-being. “Go for less mess and more healthy food. Less sugar, alcohol, tobacco and oiliness. More water, vegetables, fruit and healthy fats,” Grootveld continues.
Tips that you can use yourself to improve your mental fitness are, according to Meeuwissen:
• Give direction to your life, do things that you find fun and important.
• Live and enjoy consciously, pay more attention to what you are doing through mindfulness.
• Develop social relationships, relationships are an important source of happiness and well-being.
• Live healthy, this will not only make you physically fit, but also mentally.
• Take control of your life, solve problems and don’t delay.
Do you want to know how your mental fitness is doing? Then take the mental fitness test to find out.
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