10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them to your life

In the same way that it is our task to protect our body and keep it healthy, it also falls to us to protect our mental health. There are many small daily things that, if we do them every day, help us to have a good psychological state.

There are many actions that, if done daily, keep our brain healthy, protecting our mind and our state mood of emotional and cognitive problems, such as memory failures, attention problems and disorders mental.

Next we will discover 10 psychologically healthy daily habits, related not only to the field of the cognitive and the absence of mental disorders, but also make us enjoy good social relationships.

• Related article: "10 daily habits that improve your emotional balance"

10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them

We all know that health is not a mere physical matter. Both organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and government health agencies emphasize that health is a state in which there is physical, mental and social fulfillment. In the same way that we must protect our health, avoiding taking substances that are harmful to our body and adequately protect ourselves in situations that require it (p. (eg, putting on a helmet when riding a motorcycle or wearing a mask on the street) we must also incorporate psychologically healthy daily habits.

That psychological health is not what we first see when we look in the mirror does not mean that it does not affect our way of perceiving ourselves and relating to others. An emotionally burdened person, who is not able to regulate his emotions and whose brain is not intellectually active is a person that is more vulnerable to various psychopathologies, both mental disorders such as depression and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. To avoid this, we can incorporate the following psychologically healthy habits into our daily lives.

1. Keeping the brain active

The more time our brain spends inactive, the more it will cost us to start. To avoid this, it is essential that in our day to day we incorporate activities that demand a little mental effort, no matter how minimal. Even if we are on vacation or enjoying retirement, it is very important to prevent the brain from stopping Because, if we do, the moment we have to go back to work or want to enjoy something minimally intellectual, it is going to be a real odyssey.

You don't need to complicate your life or break your head a lot to keep your brain active. It is enough to resort to lifelong entertainments such as chess, checkers, card games or even petanque. Any game where there is a bit of strategy can work very good to make us think and keep our minds active. We can also resort to individual entertainment, such as sudoku, crossword puzzles, reading or writing.

2. Set goals and organize

A psychologically healthy habit that we should all incorporate is setting short, medium and long-term goals. In the case of workers and students this is especially important because, by structuring our work and study routine, as long as we comply with it by reaching the small goals that make up the great objective that we have set ourselves, we will avoid situations such as, for example, having to be working intensively on the last moment.

Although we can perform intensely at the last moment, it is best to plan the tasks, avoiding that we we overwhelm before having to turn in a job or study for an exam because we have not known each other manage. The stress felt in these situations, even if it keeps us awake and focused on the goal we want to achieve, can damage our mental health and for this, as far as possible, we must organize our objectives.

Planning goals and organizing routines is also a powerful psychological ally for people who are already retired. Because what they organized their day to day, their work, they no longer have it, they run the risk of that the days fly by, without knowing what to do and enter a situation of apathy and depression. For this reason, when we retire, it is very important to set goals of any kind, be it learning a language, improving in a sport or learning to paint well.

By completing the small steps that lead us to our goals in each of these hobbies we can better organize time, feeling that we are productive and that we have not lost our usefulness or performance.

3. Get enough sleep

Getting enough sleep is a protective factor and promotion of psychological health. There are people who need more sleep than others, but in general, most of us need to sleep between 6 and 8 hours. Sleeping too little makes us feel mentally tired, putting us in a bad mood because we are not able to do our daily chores properly, while sleeping too much makes it difficult for us to concentrate and spend all day "Breaded". You have to know how to find the right balance to enjoy ideal psychological health.

4. Be assertive

The habits that promote good mental health are not only cognitive and physical, but also social. Assertiveness is the ability to say what we think but in a socially appropriate way and without violating the rights or sensibilities of others, but enforcing our own. Being assertive is a habit that protects us from being in a bad mood and suffering from mental disorders, in addition to improving our social relationships and identifying which ones are not worth it.

Within this assertiveness is the ability to know how to say "no", especially when people ask us for more things than we can and want to do, both in work contexts and personal. Promising more than one can end up overwhelming us on the one hand, because we feel that we sacrifice our desires for others, and It can also make us look bad because we can say “yes” to things that are beyond our capabilities and therefore do it wrong.

• You may be interested in: "Assertive communication: how to express yourself clearly"

5. Express yourself creatively

Art has been the tool of emotional expression since time immemorial. Since prehistoric times, humans expressed themselves with cave paintings on the walls of caves and, throughout history, large painters, sculptors and, in short, all kinds of artists have excelled exposing their inner world with all kinds of representations artistic. We can do exactly the same.

Regardless of what technique we use and what our talent is, expressing oneself creatively is a constructive and very original way to keep our psychological health in good condition. Whether with sculpture, painting or even macramé we can keep ourselves busy while we let our own work. imagination, activating our brain and feeling how we create something that represents who we are, something totally personal and irreplicable.

6. Have a healthy diet

We cannot have good mental health if we eat poorly. The brain needs a varied and balanced diet in order to function both cognitively and emotionally, for this reason we cannot forget about nutrition. Foods from all food groups should be incorporated, such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meats, cereals, legumes and dairy. It is also important to control portions and ensure that the diet incorporates 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat and 20% protein.

Among the nutrients that make our brain work better we have omega 3 and 6, vitamins of group B (B6 and B12), folic acid, tryptophan, iron, calcium and magnesium. All of these nutrients are found in natural, unprocessed foods, and virtually any lifestyle in which the Mediterranean diet is incorporated has satisfied the demand for these substances.

Tryptophan deserves special attention as it is the precursor to serotonin and melatonin., neurotransmitters that are directly related to the state of mind and the sleep cycle. Among the foods they have tryptophan we find lean meats, egg yolks, dairy products, fruits such as bananas and pineapple, whole grains, dark chocolate and legumes.

7. Staying physically active

The "healthy mind in a healthy body" is a classic. Exercising not only puts us in physical shape, but also mentally, helping us to have adequate cognitive abilities and a good state of mind. In other words, the practice of regular sport contributes to our having a good memory, attention, being protected from depression and other mental disorders, in addition to staying emotionally well and less susceptible to changes in humor.

The ideal is to practice between 3 and 4 times a week some sportAlthough something as simple as walking about 30 minutes a day is enough for our psychological state to benefit in the long run. It should be said that practicing more or less intense exercise contributes to the secretion of endorphins, which induce us to in a state of well-being and pleasure, something that will certainly keep us in a good mood and will make us see life in a more positive.

8. Disconnect for a while

In a society in which we are asked to be connected at all times, it seems that disconnecting daily, even for just a little while, is impossible. However, this is not only something that is possible but is also a necessity.

In order to loosen up and prevent our brain from collapsing, it is very important to reserve a moment a day, no matter how brief, to leave our mind resting, without stress.

We can do this in many ways, all that can come to mind. Whether it is lying in bed listening to music, watching our favorite television program, taking a bath of foam or meditating we can disconnect from the stress out there, whether caused by our family or by the job. The mind needs a little rest otherwise it cannot work or perform adequately.

• You may be interested in: "6 easy relaxation techniques to combat stress"

9. Connect with nature

Many people ignore the benefits that nature brings us. Despite the fact that we have been living in cities for centuries, the human being is still an animal connected with nature, especially forests and fields, although this also applies to the beach and the lakes. Whatever our favorite natural environment, any of them will help us to have good mental health.

If we are lucky enough to live near a mountain or in the countryside we cannot miss the opportunity to take a walk around since nature gives us calm and protection against problems psychological. If, on the other hand, we are not so lucky we can resort to the alternative of walk in a park or green area, visit a botanical garden or a natural museum.

10. Take care of relationships

Taking care of personal relationships on a daily basis is something that few know how to value, but that we should all take into account. We may take for granted that our friends, family and partner will always be there, even if months go by without us talking to each other out of simple carelessness and neglect. Big mistake. Although this does not happen so much with family, the truth is that with friends there is a real risk of it happening and a relationship that used to be as if we were brothers becomes that of two practically unknown people.

For this reason, we must dedicate a minimum of daily to rekindling our social relationships, especially if we do not live close to our loved ones. You don't have to talk to everyone every day, but you do need to pay a minimum of attention to them regulate each of the people who are part of our personal contact list. For example, we can start Monday talking with a friend, Tuesday with our brother, Wednesday with our parents ...

Although the ideal is to meet in person and do something together, the distance can make this difficult for us. Fortunately, new technologies keep us connected and bring us closer to those who are very far from us, with which we can make video calls or, simply, chat to remind those who are still our loved ones that we do not forget them and that we want to keep the flame of affection and friendship.

Bibliographic references:

• World Health Organization (2013). Mental health: a state of well-being. [On-line]. Available in: https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/es/.
• Ryff, C. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081.
• Chekroud, S.R., Gueorguieva, R., Zheutlin, A.B., Paulus, M., Krumholz, H.M., Krystal, J.H. & Chekroud, A.M. (2018). Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1-, 2 million individuals in the USA between 2011-2015: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet Psychiatry.
• Aranda, C., Pando, M. and Aldrete, M. G. (2002). Retirement, psychological disorders and social support networks in the retired elderly. Journal of Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine, 29, 169 - 174.
• Belsky, J. (2001). Psychology of aging. Madrid: Auditorium.