7 Self-care Tips to Improve Your Mental Health

The results? People use a wide array of resources, and most people have a combination of practices they use on a regular basis. Not only does one size not fit all, no single option is a cure-all.

1. Develop mindfulness

One of the first words that came to mind for BetterUppers was “mindfulness.” That’s because mindfulness practices have a cumulative effect on our mental health.

However, developing a mindfulness practice is famously challenging. With so much to do and so many notifications clamoring for our attention, it can be hard to tune it all out for even a minute.

Here are a few tips for developing this practice:

• Mindful breathing: Taking deep breaths can immediately calm your mind and body. The best part? This is easy to do even if you’re at your desk, driving, or in the middle of a Zoom meeting.

• Meditation: Research shows that the gray matter in the brains of regular meditators actually increases. These cognitive changes help us improve our ability to learn, form and recall memories, regulate our emotions, and reflect.
• Gratitude: Reflecting on what you’re grateful for can bring you back to the present moment, especially if you’re worrying too much about an unknown future. This is one of the best and easiest ways to practice self-care for your mental health.
• Mindful walking: Jay Beaulieu, Sales Development Representative at BetterUp says, “I came across the practice of walking meditation and found that it works great for me. It’s the exact same practice of quieting your thoughts and reclaiming your attention as seated meditation, but perhaps better suited for folks who like to be on the move!”

2. Prioritize physical activity

If movement seems, well, more your speed, several BetterUppers cite exercise and physical activity as their go-to mental health habit. Here are a few ways to make this self-care tip for mental health a little easier:

• Try yoga: Yoga practice can improve executive function, relieve chronic stress patterns, and improve your relationship with your body. Leilani Garrett, one of BetterUp’s Sr. Account Executives, says that “Yoga, workouts with my trainer, Peloton, and meditation go a long way to keeping me balanced and grounded.”

• Or maybe a Peloton workout: Catie Farrow, Head of Storytelling at BetterUp, seconds a regular Peloton habit as a balm for mental health.
• Find a workout you love: Exercise isn’t one-size-fits-all. The best workout is the one you stick with consistently. The benefits of moving your body are magnified the more you do it.

3. Spend time in nature

What do hiking, gardening, and vacations all have in common? Time spent in nature. Many people find just being outdoors to be a therapeutic experience. The American Psychological Association (APA) links spending time in nature with lower stress levels, improved cognition, positive affect, and subjective well-being.

Here are some ways to develop this practice:

• Build your houseplant collection: Mario Perez, BetterUp contractor, shared, “I don’t spend a lot of time on gardening, however, I have some plants and potted trees. I really enjoy watering them and seeing how they grow.”

• Leave the electronics behind: Madeline Miles, a Staff Writer at BetterUp, advocates “uninterrupted, unplugged exercise. A walk, a hike, something where you’re not able to plug into any technology and just let your brain go on cruise control for a little while.”
• Move your normal activities outside: If you’re looking to incorporate more time outside in your schedule, you can combine it with anything on your schedule. Try reading outdoors, eating lunch alfresco, or taking a walking meeting.

4. Practice self-acceptance

A big part of protecting our mental health is keeping our inner critics in check. Learning to pay attention to our self-talk is important. Self-criticism can kill our motivation, energy, and creativity.

Here are some tips for practicing self-acceptance:

• Recognize that we’re all just human: BetterUp Care Coach Teregi Coleman says, “Life is easier when we recognize there are no such people as quitters, losers or failures. We are all just human beings who sometimes quit and sometimes lose. There are also no such things as winners. We are all just humans who sometimes win or are very successful in certain areas of our lives.”

• Talk back to your inner critic: Don’t let that little voice in the back of your head be in charge of what you believe about yourself. When you criticize yourself, fight back. Make a list of all the things you love about yourself and refer to it in these moments.
• Build self-compassion: You’re kind to your friends when they make you mad or mess things up. So why can’t you do the same thing for yourself? When you make a mistake, work on forgiving yourself.

5. Do Inner Work®

At BetterUp, we regularly take time to engage in intentional, restorative, and reflective practices. We call this Inner Work®, and it’s the key to making our outer work more successful and sustainable.

Here are a few ways to turn inwards as a form of self-care:

• Forget about how things “should be”: BetterUp Enterprise Sales Leader Michael Tamam says that this struggle is the root of many mental health challenges. If we can actively release our perceptions of how things should be, we’ll be able to focus on ourselves and find internal peace.
• Make it a daily habit: Michael suggests cultivating a daily habit of looking inwards and examining your inner landscape. Whether that’s through journaling or simply spending a few moments in quiet contemplation, the important thing is to take time for yourself.
• Get to know yourself: Why do you do the things you do? Self-discovery boosts your self-awareness. That can improve your mental health and behavioral health since it helps you understand your internal motivations.

6. Work on understanding your mental health

One of the best self-care tips that we can offer is to understand your mental health. Whether you have a mental illness or just want to support your overall well-being, getting informed can help.

While you can do that by reading resources online or watching documentaries, one of our favorite ways to learn is through the wide variety of books on mental health. Here are some book recommendations from our team at BetterUp:

• Who Moved My Cheese?: and The Power of Habit: Atu Kyeison, a GRC Analyst at BetterUp, recommends (and absolutely loves) these books. He says “These books really helped me understand how habits are formed and broken — and how changing one piece of the habit loop can change an entire outcome.”
•  The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: Leilani Garrett recommends this Deepak Chopra classic. “I’ve read it many times,” she says, “and have listed out the important points, along with other affirmations that mean something to me, which I read every morning.”
• The Obstacle Is the Way: Danny Codella, our Senior Writer, specifically mentioned this book as a favorite to help him keep [his] head above water through countless trials.
• The Daily Stoic: Cait Dowling (Storytelling & Customer Advocacy) suggests reading the daily excerpt from this book. She says, “It’s a great perspective re-fresher and helps ground me regularly — and it’s short!”
• Unwinding Anxiety: This book comes highly recommended by Maggie Wooll, our very own Managing Editor. She says it does a great job of “teaching you how to understand your brain and get curious about what is going on as an antidote to the fear/anxiety/reaction cycle.”

7. Find your flow state

Sometimes, the best way to take care of yourself is to just get out of your head. You can try these activities to manage anxious thoughts and get into flow:

• Organizing things
• Puzzles
• Meditative prayer, such as saying a rosary or other rote prayer cycle
• Volunteering with children
• Doing challenging manual labor

Final thoughts on self-care for mental health

When you ask the question, “How do I proactively take care of myself so that I can thrive?” self-care no longer looks like a reactive set of products and activities. Your self-care is purposeful — you have a goal and can form the plan that works best for you.

The amazing thing about developing a self-care strategy is that it becomes a kind of Inner Work® practice. To have a truly effective plan, you have to know yourself. You must become intimately aware of what you need, how you feel, and what will make a difference.