Mental health impacts us all. Maybe you’ve been feeling down, anxious or emotionally overwhelmed lately. You get to the end of the day and realize you’re feeling completely depleted.
Or perhaps you’ve noticed that a close friend or family member has been struggling recently. You want to be supportive but you’re not sure how to best approach the situation.
Treating mental health can be tricky – where should you start?
As a part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Synergy Integrative Health and Wellness has put together a guide on navigating and treating mental health. We talk about:
- Treating mental health holistically
- Daily habits that make a big difference to treating mental health
- How to help a family member or friend who is struggling
- Treating mental health long term
If you’re looking to improve your day-to-day mental health or help a friend in need, you’ve come to the right place. By the end of the article, you’ll know exactly how to go about treating mental health issues and how you can support those around you.
Treating Mental Health Holistically
Treating mental health naturally or holistically is about more than looking at your emotional ups and downs. When taking a holistic approach, your overall health, environment and daily habits are also important.
Feeling a sudden shift in your mood can often be a sign of a larger health issue such as a hormonal imbalance, gastrointestinal issues or even a weakened immune system. Rather than treating mental health as a separate health issue, it’s time to dig a little deeper.
Here are some questions that encourage a more complete approach when thinking about treating mental health:
- How are you sleeping?
- Are you eating foods that support your health?
- Are you moving your body?
- How are your stress levels?
- Are you connecting with others?
These types of questions can help get to the bottom of treating mental health issues and navigating daily challenges.
Treating Mental Health On a Daily Basis
Taking a holistic approach to treating mental health issues is often a long term journey and takes time and consistency. Here are five habits that you can implement that can make dealing with mental health issues easier.
1. Daily Walk
Moving your body benefits your physical health and helps to prevent heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. But it can also make a huge difference when treating mental health issues.
Going for a daily walk is the perfect way to start! Here are some ideas on how to incorporate walking into your day:
- Start with one 20 minute walk per day
- Prioritize getting out and about on your lunch break
- Try a yoga or pilates routine if you can’t leave the house
Hot tip: Find a good podcast or audiobook as you walk and you won’t even notice the time going by!
2. Connecting With People
Connecting with a friend or family member that you trust can help to reduce stress and is an effective way of treating mental health ups and downs. Sharing how you feel with someone you trust can be grounding and release pent up emotions even if nothing gets ‘solved’.
If you’re looking for more ways to meet more people, here are our favorite solutions:
- Host or join a local board game night
- Take up a new weekly hobby like book club, pottery or salsa dancing
- Volunteer at a local charity
3. Go to Bed At the Same Time Each Night
Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep when it comes to treating mental health. It can be a game changer for stress relief, lowering cortisol and helps give you a fresh perspective when you wake up in the morning.
All these reasons are exactly why getting more sleep can be helpful for treating mental health issues before they become more serious.
Let’s break down what a good night’s sleep looks like:
- Setting up a nighttime routine (think scented candles, dimming the lights, taking a bath, reading a book)
- Avoiding screen time in the evening
- Being asleep by 11pm
Above all, try to keep your bedtime consistent to support your natural circadian rhythm!
4. The Role of Food in Treating Mental Health
Your gut and brain are talking to each other all the time so eating well can make a huge difference when treating mental health issues. Choosing fresh foods over packaged or processed foods and including protein and healthy fats like avocado and olive oil is a must.
If you’ve noticed that you feel bloated or that your blood sugar levels aren’t stable throughout the day, your gut is telling you something and it might be time to book in a gut health test.
Once we know your microbiome results, our registered dietitian nutritionist can help to ensure that your diet is supporting you in every way possible with high nutrition and energy sustaining meals.
5. Treating Mental Health With Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Treating mental health disorders may sometimes require more than changing your daily habits. If you’re struggling with more serious mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or PTSD, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy may be helpful.
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can help to rewire the way your brain works and work through unresolved issues like grief or past trauma.
Additionally, working alongside a therapist is a crucial part of the healing journey and treating mental health issues. Their support during sessions and processing your emotions can help you get the most out of treatment.
Synergy Integrative Health and Wellness recently did a deep dive into ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and you can read more about it here!
How to Support a Friend or Family Member
When it comes to treating mental health, you may intuitively know what will work for you. But supporting others through their mental health issues can be a challenge.
You may not realize this, but your support matters – a lot. Mental health struggles and treating mental health can feel isolating and being there for your loved ones can make a difference.
If you’re wondering what kind of support works best, here are some ideas:
- Be there – being present and listening to what they have to say is huge and can help them feel less alone and truly supported!
- Ask how they’re doing – be open to pushing past the surface level and get to know how they really feel.
- Encourage them to seek help – there’s no shame in needing help. Offer to drive them to holistic health appointments or ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions.
- Check-in regularly – don’t let it be a one-time thing. Checking in regularly shows you care and are there for them.
Treating Mental Health Long Term
Most importantly, remember that treating mental health isn’t a short term commitment. Treating mental health in your daily life requires consistency and healthy, everyday habits.
At Synergy Integrative Health and Wellness, treating mental health is a part of our holistic, root cause treatment process. We look at your overall health, nutrition and your everyday habits. This helps to ensure that your mental health struggles are not linked to a hormonal imbalance, gut issues or something more serious.
Just a friendly reminder that treating mental health is not only important during Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s important all year around. Check in with that friend that you haven’t heard from in a while, connect with your loved ones and ask your colleagues how they’re doing.
If you want to get back in the driver’s seat when it comes to your health and mental health, book in a consultation with our mental health expert today!