3. Get Some Exercise
According to a study published in the Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, “aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression.” And still another study published in Public Health Nutrition concluded that “sufficient evidence now exists for the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of clinical depression.”
The same study also found that exercise has a moderately reducing effect on certain types of anxiety, can improve physical self-perceptions, and can enhance mood states and cognitive function.
That’s why taking brisk walks may help you formulate your otherwise disordered ideas. Exercise also causes your brain to release endorphins, neurochemicals that create a feeling of general well-being and euphoria.
Eat, sleep, and exercise. Makes sense. But there are a couple of other, more long-term things you can do to keep yourself mentally healthy amid the thralls of change.
4. Find Your Community
The need to belong is evolutionary and primal. Since the days of hunter-gatherer societies, the importance of existing within some sort of community has been integral to survival.
Things are no different now than they were way back then — the brain still seeks out relationships and new ways for you to form connections. According to a paper by the Australian Psychological Society, community offers support and a sense of identity derived from those with whom one can form meaningful, ongoing interactions.
The sense of belongingness can facilitate desired outcomes, or provide buffers against significant challenges.
That’s why, whatever the change you’re facing, having a community or support system is integral to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and your mental well-being — think of finding it as yet another opportunity for you to rebuild your social support network and forge valuable relationships that could last a lifetime.
5. Embrace Change
Last but not least, the most important thing you can do when facing change is to embrace that change. Do what you can to make every moment matter.
There are countless studies and articles that analyze the importance of welcoming change, but this point is best made with an ancient Chinese proverb: “A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.”
This article was first published in Brain World Magazine’s Summer 2017 issue.
