World Mental Health Day - My Top Tips...

Today is World Mental Health day, and so I wanted to base this blog post on mental health, what it is and my top tips to help mental health struggles.

So if you struggle with mental health or you know someone who does, read on to find out more...

Mental Health is to related with how you feel mentally, but it can also have a physical impact on the body too. There are a variety of different conditions which are related with mental health, with anxiety and depression probably being the two main ones which are often talked about.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I struggle with anxiety, which is also covered under the term of ‘mental health’. So in this post, I want to share with you my personal experiences of anxiety, and share with you my top tips to help anxiety.

Firstly, anxiety arises when you feel very worried, panicked and afraid about a particular thing. This in turn often results in a variety of physical symptoms, (including panic attacks), due to a rush of adrenaline being released into the body.

From my personal experience I know how difficult and scary anxiety can be to deal with...

So here's my top tips to help you to combat anxiety when it arises...

1. Try relaxing breathing exercises.

I personally find this very helpful to do, because irregular breathing can be responsible for causing anxiety symptoms. By restoring your natural breathing rhythm, this helps you to feel calmer and less anxious.

2. Focus on positive thoughts.

Focusing on positive thoughts really helps me to be calmer, as it helps me to push the negative anxious thoughts away. Reciting Bible verses in my head is what I turn to, to give me positive thoughts.

3. Try doing some gentle physical exercise.

Going for a gentle walk can also help anxiety. It can help to lower your heart rate and balance out the excess cortisol and adrenaline which is being released in your body, as a result of anxiety.

4. Do something to divert your mind away from your anxious thoughts and feelings.

For me, physically doing something really helps my anxiety as it helps me to shift my focus from my anxiety to a specific task I need/want to do. By focusing on something different, the anxious thoughts and feelings naturally get pushed away and then in my experience you feel calmer.

5. Prevention

When I first started to suffer with anxiety, I started to create daily To Do lists. This helped me to prevent anxiety from arising, as I had set things to do that I could focus on, rather than focusing on my anxiety.

In addition, To Do lists can also help us to feel calmer and more organized in our lives, as they help to give us a clear focus on what needs doing each day. Therefore, this can help us to feel less overwhelmed in life.

6. Talking to loved ones.

Admittedly, I'm not very good at doing this, but I find that it does help to talk to someone who you are close to who is understanding towards your struggles. It can really help to get things off your chest, and your family and friends can often give you great and helpful advice.

I hope you found these 6 tips helpful for you in your anxiety journey.

If you found these tips helpful and inspiring, take a look at my two anxiety self help books - "Casting all your care upon him..."

These books contain daily self help for anxiety based on my own personal experience, and in these books I share with you a variety of really helpful and beneficial encouragement from the Bible which helps me.

You can find links to where you can buy these books on the "Self help books" section on this website. If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact me.