11 Things to Work on to Improve your Mental Health (Besides Therapy) 

Written By Jeffrey Hoy

Improving mental health and functioning doesn't always require formal therapy; there are many non-therapy strategies you can adopt to promote well-being and overall mental health. Sometimes a therapist like myself can be a helper to guide clients to building a life that is more resilient to difficulties and reduce mental health issues by making important changes to these suggestions.

Remember, you are the ‘software’ of success - and that we need to make sure that the ‘hardware’ that is your brain is in good health because, for many, their mental health issue is a brain health issue.

1. Regular Physical Exercise

Engage in regular physical activity, such as walking, running, yoga, sports, or any form of exercise you enjoy. Obviously there is a wide array of opinions about what constitutes ‘exercise’ - it can be as approachable as just going for a 20 minute walk most days.

Regular physical exercise has been extensively studied and is known to have various benefits for mental health. Exercise promotes the release of endorphins, which are natural mood lifters, and it can also reduce stress and anxiety.

For maximum effectiveness, some research suggests exercise in the cardio range for at least 150 minutes per week (which breaks down to 30 minutes of fairly rigorous exercise 5 days/week). I know that sounds like a lot, but there are many many tricks and hacks to get consistent exercise in your life. Exercise has been shown to boost mood, lessen symptoms of many mental health issues such as mood disorders, ADHD, reduce stress, and improve cognitive function.

 

2. Healthy Diet

Nourish your body with a balanced and nutritious diet. Sorry to get a bit ‘preachy’ but the brain is an organ - it needs good nutrition to function properly, and when it doesn't function properly over time, problems bigger than just ‘thought fog’ or suboptimal memory can emerge. The Canadian food guide tells us that around HALF of what we eat should be vegetables. Certain foods, like those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, have been linked to better mental health.

 

3. Vitamin D

It is well established that a big chunk of the population in Canada is Vitamin D deficient… There are many issues this can cause, one of which is single handedly causing depression!

You can get your physician to do a blood test, or just buy a Costco bottle of vitamin D tablets that will probably expire before you can even take them all.

 

4. Adequate Sleep

Ensure you get enough sleep each night, as lack of sleep can negatively impact mental health and cognitive functioning. Do you think you are one of those super humans who only needs 4 hours of sleep per night? Extremely improbable - less than .01% of the population can do so. We all need 7-8 hours of sleep per night - if a person doesn't get that consistently, bad things happen to the brain and body over time.

Make a sleep schedule and stick to it. Find ways to get back to sleep if you wake up within your ‘sleep window’.

 

5. Gum Health

Ummm, what? This therapist is giving me the same lecture about gum health as my dentist now? Yes - studies show that poor gum health significantly increases the risk of mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Researchers postulate that ‘bad’ bacteria cultivated in the gums can get into the bloodstream and cause a host of health issues due to inflammation! We also know that inflammation can be a causal factor with mood disorders. This is still new research, but initial findings are quite striking.

 

6. Social Support

I’ll never forget the prof in my intro to clinical psychology course explaining “social support is the penicillin of treating psychological disorders'' - in other words, it's the thing that fixes a lot of things that can go wrong in terms of mental health and psychological wellbeing. Maintain a strong social network and spend time with family and friends. Nobody ever seems to talk about the work involved in sustaining a healthy social support system - I can just acknowledge that YES, it takes consistent effort/work to ‘tend to the garden’ that is your relationships with your friends and family.

We are a gregarious animal and for many, many reasons, social connections are essential for human emotional well-being.

 

7. Fun

Engage in activities you enjoy, such as hobbies, art, music, or sports (for me it's my lifelong obsession with sports cars, or my love for strategic games of many kinds). These can provide a sense of accomplishment and joy, and get those feel-good molecules flowing. This is helpful for a plethora of reasons, the least of which is still important - an effective distraction from your troubles.

Pro tip: the fun follows the action - just start doing it consistently and focus on the little moments of getting something out of it.

Remember, ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’ - meaning the more we experience fun/pleasurable moments means those neurons will have more of an affinity for each other and will be more likely to fire together in the future, and the less we re-strengthen negative experience through repeating unhelpful thoughts, actions, memories, etc.

 

8. Manage Stress

Learn and practice stress management techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or spending time in a quiet device-free room or in nature. Take a bath, smell an overpriced scented candle, do something that calms your nervous system and pulls your mind away from the gravitational pull of thoughts that cause tension.

Proactively plan your night after a stressful day (ideally using a shotgun approach using your own personal list of de-stressing activities). Letting stress stay in your body unattended day after day can lead to burnout and some not-good mental health situations/issues.

 

9. Limit Screen Time

Reduce the time spent on electronic devices, especially social media, which can sometimes negatively impact mental health either by disrupting sleep or by causing a sense of loneliness or unhelpful social comparison. This is especially important for youth and younger adults. Trust me when I say - its easier than you think to eliminate screen time for sections of the day, once you get past the ‘cravings burst’ (aka. that instinctive urge to check and do a little ‘doom scrolling’) which often takes about a week or so.

Pro tip: use the ‘screen time’ function within settings in your phone to block all the ‘especially bad’ apps at a set time at night.

 

10. Journaling

Write down your thoughts and feelings regularly, as it can help process emotions and gain insights into your mental state. What does ‘processing emotions’ mean anyways - simply put, it's a person actually noticing emotion(s) that are happening, making sense of them, and (maybe?) also feeling them in their body (bodily felt sensations are a component of emotions!).

Bonus points if you actually label the emotion(s) that are happening for you. Cheezy therapy saying incoming: “Name it to tame it”.

 

11. Mindfulness and Meditation

Well, this one is kind of therapy-like because you have to learn it somewhere, but I'm going to include it anyway. Practicing mindfulness and meditation can help reduce anxiety, improve focus, and promote emotional wellbeing. It allows you to be more present, including with noticing unhelpful thoughts / rumination which is often a huge causal factor with mental health. It involves being present in the moment and observing thoughts without judgment.

IMHO, approachable versions include: mindful eating, watching a candle for 5 minutes, guided meditations, or just good old fashioned sit cross-legged and keep re-focusing on your breath until your iphone timer goes off. Remember, practice and consistency makes this easier over time.

 

Obviously, each person is different, so not all of the above may work or are relevant for everyone. If you find that your mental health concerns persist or worsen, reach out to me or another therapist of your liking who can work with mental health. Non-therapy strategies like the above can really improve mental health - with that said, these benefits are often compounded by good therapy in the long run.

Lastly, all of the above will probably not address some root causes of depression like Unprocessed Traumatic adverse childhood experiences or trauma from adulthood, a chronic and overly harsh self-critic, a long history of ‘feeling not enough’ (aka. Low self esteem/self worth). I can help with the development of self care plans, and sticking to it, as well as doing deep therapy work to address root causes of many issues.

 
References:
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Jeffrey Hoy
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