How simple daily habits improve mental health more than motivation
- Sourabh Shah, Consultant Occupational Therapist, VIMHANS
Motivation is a feeling, and feelings can be volatile, while habits give you real-life experience of doing anything. When you're in a good mood, you feel inspired; when stressed, tired, or overwhelmed, that inspiration disappears.
Habits help a person to remain constantly active, which is essential for achieving goals and learn skills. It gives you real life experience and after doing any activity several times you will be able to develop the required skills to do work in better way.
Why habits matter more than “feeling ready”
In real life, not everything works according to you. It is possible that, when you try and start to do anything, you feel things that weren't expected, and suddenly your sense of urgency is misplaced. Actual experience of doing any task helps you understand the complexities of the tasks and what skills you need to know so that you can work purposefully and efficiently. Mental health routine tips help you to develop self-regulation skills if you feel demotivated or anxious. Daily habits for mental health will help you stay motivated and feel good or worthy when you achieve small successes in your tasks.
Daily habits support long-term emotional wellbeing.
Habits help a person to be consistent and consistency is very important when doing difficult tasks. It can be seen in many people that some time they are confident and do any work well and also put in more effort than required, but other time they didn’t feel pleasure in performing tasks. But you should make a habit of working with consistent effort, take proper time, work with an open mind to learn new things, this will make you feel good emotionally.
How small repeatable actions rewire the brain
Neuroplasticity is the process in which the brain changes in response to external stimulus. Neuroplastic changes require practice over multiple attempts; they cannot happen in a few attempts. Daily habits for mental health give the brain a feeling of a task, both physically and mentally. For example – you are learning to ride a bicycle and you fall, then next time you ride a bicycle you will keep in mind the reason for the fall and subconsciously you will avoid that mistake.
Habits reduce decision fatigue and protect energy
Habits give you real-life situation experience which helps in decision making. When you are aware of any process and situation then your decision-making ability will be better than the person who has no habit. People with mental health problems often have trouble making decisions. They often experience anxiety about making decisions. If a person performs a task and has prior knowledge about that task, he will take decisions more accurately.
Why motivation and willpower are unreliable on tough days
Motivation and willpower can be affected in difficult situations, making a person stressed and anxious. The motivation to start something new is a good thing, but it's not guaranteed to last forever. Emotions can be influenced by health, mood, environment and other factors. Emotional awareness and emotional regulation may be affected in individuals with mental health problems, and therefore, the emotions before starting any task are not always appropriate on tough days.
Some barriers in Mental health routine are-
• Severity of mental health issue. If you are having Severe mental health condition it can affect your cognition, physical health, Self- regulation and coping skills.
• Home and work place environment plays important role in following routine. It is not easy to follow a routine if the home and work environment is not supportive, cooperative and adequate.
• Personal attitude also plays a role in this as how open-minded you are to learning new things, your seriousness towards routine and self-improvement plays an important role.
• Social and cultural factors.
• Physical health is one of the important things because physical and mental health are interconnected.
"Feeling better" before starting a task can help a person approach any task with confidence, focus, and efficiency, but in many conditions, this wait can be longer, which effect the efficacy of a person to do work and many time person is unable to feel better, reason can be of parasympathetic response of our nervous system. In people with mental health problems, stress and anxiety trigger a parasympathetic response that prevents them from feeling better.
Achieving small successes while doing any work is mostly helpful in completing the long-term work. Thinking "all or nothing" when doing any task can affect your consistency, causing you to leave the task incomplete if it is more difficult than expected..
Treat yourself with kindness, especially after a perceived mistake. View it as a learning opportunity rather than a definitive failure. Treatment for a mental health problem requires a person to be patient during the recovery process.
Experiencing guilt and stigma around needing support?
These things can leave you isolated and make the problem worse. They may also delay treatment, and delayed treatment can increase the time it takes to treat a mental health issue. There are many mental health problems that can be treated properly if you seek help from a qualified and trained professional at the right timeTimely intervention for many mental health problems can reduce treatment time and save the individual vital resources. With the help of a trained professional, you can live a better and more productive life and play a vital role in your family.
Simple daily habits VIMHANS clinicians recommend:
• Appropriate sleep is very essential for a person for good health and it is also needed to your bodies normal physiological functioning. Try to make a fixed sleep pattern and don’t disturb it.
• Include yoga, exercises and relaxation techniques to burn the extra calories from your body, which will make you to feel good and improves your attention and mood.
• Avoid excessive screen time and scrolling Reels. The algorithms of social media apps are designed to keep you regularly engaged on these apps and give you a good feeling in a short period of time. It affects your ability to concentrate and maintain focus, which is essential for performing daily work-related tasks. It's becoming a reason for anxiety in population.
• Spending some social time also helps in achieving good mental health as it provides your brain with the proper amount of serotonin which is essential for good mental health. The serotonin neurotransmitter is what makes humans evolve as social creatures and makes you feel good when you connect with people.
• When you make a habit of achieving your goals it is important to prioritize your work and not get bogged down when you have a lot of work to do. Make a time table of daily activities and work, so that you can remain in a good mental health and it helps in reducing anxiety and stress.
• Eating a balanced diet according to your body's needs also helps you manage good mental health, because excess calories can also disrupt your sleep and alertness levels, which can impair your performance at work.
Short check-ins help in assess your emotional and physical state. Good insight is essential for treating any mental problem. A person with good insight can assess himself what kind of emotional problem he is experiencing and can seek professional help at the right time so that the problem can be stopped at the right time.
Breathing work means use controlled breathing techniques such as the Jacobson technique and abdominal breathing. It helps reduce stress and anxiety. Practicing these activities boosts self-confidence, improves concentration, and reduces fatigue.
Grounding is a mental health technique used to manage overwhelming emotions or stress by bringing your focus to the present moment through sensory or physical exercises. A person with mental health issues commonly experiences overwhelming thoughts which affect focus and also reduce interest in activities. In this, if you focus on the present and work with patience, then it increases self-confidence and overall performance.
Journaling is a therapeutic practice that can significantly improve mental health by providing a private space to write down thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It helps reduce and clarify thoughts, improves mood, and allows you to track symptoms or triggers. Writing without judgement can be a mindfulness practice that increases self-awareness and helps you stay grounded in the present. It also provides a safe space to express thoughts and feelings that you might not feel comfortable sharing with others.
Digital boundaries and news limits to protect mood. Misinformation is one of the most common problems people face. Many unqualified individuals are misleading people by spreading false information about health treatments. We should set some limits and boundaries so that social media does not take over our thought process.
Social media is focused on increasing consumption by people and the amount of time spend on these apps. Many times, they don’t care what type of affect will happen on their users. Feeling of happiness in short time and fear is some of the key areas according to which algorithm of social media work, so that usage by users can be increased.
Connection habits: one meaningful conversation a day
Humans are social creatures by nature, and serotonin is the neurotransmitters that is released after meaningful interactions and makes a person feel good. Everyone should make connection habits and it helps in express feelings with some trustable people. Meaningful conversations allow you to share your feelings with someone in your daily routine and it also helps in reducing stress, anxiety and foster a greater sense of connection. It also helps in strengthening relationships because sometimes after both the parties clarify their issues with each other open-mindedly, the relationships improve.
How to build a mental health routine you can stick with
When you try to make mental health routine first consider your Occupational role in your family and work. Plan a routine which is achievable and start with a simple one and slowly increase the complexity as much needed. Consider your physical and mental status while planning. The schedule should have all the work needed and prioritize the work according to your needed and what is expected from you in your Work and family.
Start tiny: one or two mental health routine tips at a time
It may be more effective to start your daily routine with one or two routine tips. Most people come to you for mental health solutions because their daily routines are chaotic and disorganized from long time. Due to this chaotic schedule, they have work, social, daily life activities and personal issues.
Now when we are trying to get someone back to a well-functioning life, a difficult and elaborate routine increases the likelihood of that person failing to succeed in following the schedule. Initially, achieving success in some areas of daily routine will increase motivation and further other areas can be included as per the individual, which will help the person to become more organized in the future.
Pair new habits with existing routines (stacking)
Stacking helps in leverages the fact that your brain already has an established pathway for the existing routine. The existing habit acts as a cue for the new one, making it easier to remember and perform. By starting with small, consistent actions, you are building a foundation for bigger changes over time.
To start stacking, choose an existing daily habit and add one small new mental health action with the older habit. For example, after making your morning coffee, you could stack a new habit of meditating for five minutes or taking three deep breaths.
Track progress with compassion, not perfection
This mindset will help you be kind to yourself during setbacks, celebrate small victories, and focus on effort and learning rather than results. Too much perfectionism can cause anxiety and lead to withdrawal from the activity or situation if the work seems more difficult than expected.
Neuroplasticity occurs when you practice a task multiple times and if you want to do something for a long time then you should be kind to yourself so that you do not fail to follow your schedule and do not get stressed to improve your mental health.
VIMHANS supports your daily mental health
We provide a setup with experienced and qualified professionals who can guide you to the right habits that help you improve mental health. We also focused on generalizing the skills learned in our setup, so you can function well in real life. At VIMHANS we have focused on caregiver training model that will support you in your tough times and after the psycho education programs at VIMHANS, you will be able to do everything that is required and expected. Mental health is an area of health care where new research and new treatment methods are emerging, hence we adapt to changes with time to provide latest tools to our clients like RTMS stimulation, Virtual reality, Biofeedback etc.
Because stigma is a barrier to accessing mental health services in India, we provide our customers with an environment that will make them feel comfortable and perform tasks for relaxation, cognitive skills, emotional regulation, prevocational skills etc. which will help our clients to improve their skills and become a person with good mental health.
Clinical guidance to personalize daily habits for mental health
Mental health professionals are trained and have experience of treating clients. Clinical guidance can help you to do develop an insight about your ability and how you should approach to develop daily habits. A simple guidance by professional can change an unappropriated schema towards your lifestyle. Professionals also help to develop personalize daily habit according to your priority and grade it according to need. Professionals also help in guiding you what are the prerequisites to perform any habit how you can develop.
Therapy and counselling to remove blocks to routine
Clinical therapists work on inappropriate schema in any person toward themselves or any other, so person’s perspective can be change to follow routine appropriately. Client’s priorities, capabilities, are consider before giving any guidance. The therapist first takes a detailed history of the client and also considers the physical and mental aspects of the client's daily routine. If a client needs any other professional help they can refer.
Ongoing caregiver and family support through VIMHANS services
At VIMHANS, we consider client’s caregiver an important part who helps in client’s treatment process. The caregiver has to stay with the client for a longer period of time and they help monitor progress, symptoms of disorder and approach for professional help if needed.
Family support groups allow different families of person with mental disorder discuss with each other about how they manage their family member’s mental health issue. Mental health professionals provide information about pathology of mental disorders, what therapies and techniques can help their patient.
Being a caregiver of mental health client is not an easy role. This can have a negative impact on their mental state and life. At VIMHANS we also provide professional help, relaxation sessions and counseling if needed.
Sustainable change starts with one daily habit | Final thoughts:
Consistency is very important to manage a routine for healthy health and for consistency it is necessary that you make your routine achievable and balanced as per your working capacity. This is why lasting change starts with a few daily habits. Over time, a person will be able to incorporate their work-related and personal goals into their daily routine and accomplish them. Once you get used to it and are ready to incorporate all needed habits into your daily routine, then you can bear the burden of your routine, and this will give the person a feeling of mental fulfillment.
Emotions change over time, and motivation can vary greatly depending on the situation. A sudden surge of motivation can change when a person's perceived ability doesn't match the difficulty of the task.
Slow and steady habits allow a person to assess their capabilities and gradually with consistency one can get used to the task. This technique helps a person if they are going to perform a high-performance task, such as a job. The immediate burden of a task can lead to aversion to participation in the activity.
VIMHANS helps you design mental health routine tips that fit real life
Initially, you will have to go through an assessment process at VIMHANS, where your mental state and ability to perform daily will be assessed. You will then be given recommendations and advice on a mental health routine tailored to your situation. We have a multidisciplinary setup of various trained professionals like Psychiatrists, Psychologist, Occupational Therapists, Nursing, Dietetic and other support staff who can help you if assistance is needed and we provide space to work on some daily habits under professional supervision. At our institution, we have been able to enable many of our clients to live a normal life and become a productive person in society and live a normal life.