Can lifestyle changes help you recover from a mental illness? What are some lifestyle changes that can help?
While mental health services and professional help may be useful for recovery, sufferers can make some lifestyle changes that can help them manage the symptoms of their mental illness and help them to recover.
Nutrition: What we eat greatly influences our mood. It is important to have a balanced diet consisting of all the essential food groups and to eat at fixed times and in appropriate amounts.
Routine: It is also important to regulate our sleep/wake cycle. If we don’t get enough sleep, sleep late at night and wake up late in the day, or are in the habit of sleeping too much, this may affect our mental health negatively. Practicing sleep hygiene is very important for recovery.
Remain active: One of the key mistakes made by sufferers is that they think that they need to take time off for recovery. While taking time off from stressful situations may be beneficial, it is important to remain active in some task or the other. Otherwise the negative thought patterns accompanying mental illness may overwhelm our minds, impeding our recovery. Prolonged inactivity is also a major cause of mental health problems in the elderly.
Improve and maintain relationships: Relationships are very important in that they offer us much needed social support. Having trusted people close to us who have a positive influence on our life really helps with recovery. This is why it is also important to work on the relationships that may have been damaged during the initial stages of mental illness. For more information visit the improving relationships section.
Fix harmful habits: Letting go of harmful behaviours that may have helped us cope when we were ill, such as substance abuse and harming others, is also important. If we continue with those habits, the chances of relapse greatly increase.
Healthy coping skills: One of the most important ways to recover from mental illness involves building resilience against distress by practicing healthy coping skills. For more information about different coping skills visit the manage distress section.