“THE BIG THREE”

1. SLEEP

How you feel in the morning is often a result of how well or poorly your body slept. It’s common knowledge that someone who has had less than optimal slumber will be grumpy, irritable and moody throughout their day. After all, there’s a reason it’s said that someone in bad mood “woke up on the wrong side of bed.”

Brain activity fluctuates during sleep, increasing and decreasing during different sleep stages that make up the sleep cycle. Each stage plays a role in brain health. The brain processes emotions during sleep which is why people who don’t get enough rest feel more stressed or sad.

Sufficient sleep, especially REM sleep, facilitates the brain’s processing of emotional information. A lack of sleep is especially harmful and can influence mood and emotional reactivity, such as mood disorders and depression, anxiety and many other disorders.

Sleep quality ranks as the most beneficial at improving mental health and wellbeing. Prioritizing getting quality sleep is of utmost importance. People who get too many or too little hours of sleep are more likely to feel symptoms of depression. Again, quality over quantity is key! 

A couple of simple ways you can improve your quality of sleep is creating a daily wind down routine and cutting out screen time before going to bed.

2. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Exercise is not just about muscle size or trimming your waistline; physical activity has also been linked to boosting mental and physical health. 

People who exercise regularly tend to do so because it gives them an enormous sense of well-being. They have more energy throughout the day, sleep better at night, have better memory, and feel more positive about themselves. Exercise is also has a positive impact on depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

Broaden your idea of what you think exercise is! Sure running, lifting weights or playing basketball is good, so is physical activity such as gardening or washing your car outside. Any physical activity that gets you up and moving can help improve your mood! Ask our friends at Drip IV about mood-boosting IV vitamin therapy!

Find ways to add physical activity throughout your day. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator or park a little farther away from work!

Even just 30 minutes or more of exercise a day for three to five days a week may significantly improve depression or anxiety symptoms. But smaller amounts of physical activity — as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time — still make a difference. 

3. HEALTHY DIET

A good diet is the best way to stay sharp and focused. Good nutrition significantly affects our physical best, our concentration and attention span and also our mental health.

A poor diet can lead to fatigue, impaired decision-making, and can slow down reaction time. In fact, it can actually make people more agitated and may lead to stress and depression.

A healthy diet has been proven to help prevent these disorders.

Our society relies heavily on processed foods. These foods are high in flours and sugar and train the brain to crave more of them, rather than nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Most of the processed foods we eat are highly addictive and stimulate the dopamine centers in our brain, which are associated with pleasure and reward. In order to stop craving these foods, you have to stop consuming them, which eventually start to change the physiology in the brain when you pull added sugars and refined carbohydrates from your diet.

To boost your mental health, focus on eating plenty of fruits and vegetables along with foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon. Dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and lentils are also excellent brain foods.