World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October is promoted by the World Health Organisation as an opportunity to collectively increase awareness and make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority. Their aim is to re-kindle international efforts to protect and improve mental health, as much as we do physical health, and to promote which interventions help.

The WHO states that two years of dealing with Coronavirus has led to a global mental health crisis with a 25% rise in anxiety and depressive disorders at the same time as severely disrupted service provision, widening the treatment gap for everyone. Add to this protracted conflicts and war, growing social and economic inequalities, and a staggering 84 million people forcibly displaced during 2021, and the mental health of the world is seriously under threat. This is undermining the progress in health and wellbeing that modern societies have so far taken for granted.

Treating our mental health as we do our physical health

In the same way that we can’t all achieve the physical fitness levels of an athlete, yet this doesn’t put us off exercising, we shouldn’t let this put us off beneficial mental health practices either. We all see the value in brushing our teeth daily to prevent problems, and there are simple daily practices you can engage in to protect your mental health.

We all know what we mean by physical health, we know when it is strong and when it is poor and needs attention. Mental health on the other hand tends to be more of an unknown entity, surrounded by uncertainty and negative associations. Yet, the answer to improving mental health is much the same as improving physical health: to raise your awareness and get fitter by putting action into practice regularly.

Take action to help your mental health:

Lay the foundations of good self-care.

Feed your body and mind with good quantities of nutrients, sleep and exercise, but go further and expand self-care into areas that will help you connect to your values and what you love to do personally, professionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically. This is quite simple but fulfilling. Ideas can be taken from a self-care wheel.

animated man watering his head to symbolise self-care

Raise internal and external self-awareness to manage your feelings.

Shine a light on your internal awareness of your thought processes, your emotions, and your physical feelings by noticing in what way they link up and how these might impact your behaviour in healthy and unhealthy ways. A mood diary along with journaling your thoughts can help you to identify connections between them.

Raise your external self-awareness of how you interact and may seem to others so that you can be considerate of their needs and empathic to their concerns. This improves relationships and helps you communicate your own problems to others when you need support.

Focus on flexible thinking.

A key difference between mental health and physical health is the presence of an unsettled mind where thinking is less clear, less optimistic, and more negative when we inevitably turn judgement upon ourselves, others, and the world, increasing the emotional pain we feel and creating barriers to moving towards the sort of life that we want.

Don’t believe everything that you think- stand back, check out and challenge your thinking
Talk to someone to express yourself and reveal to yourself what is really going on inside your mind
Talk kindly to yourself to reduce harsh judgement and criticism that often compounds poor mental health

Act in line with your values.

Connect to your values and commit to taking meaningful action. These might be personal values such as keeping fit, being in nature or with animals, environmental or justice causes or becoming part of a community with shared values. Identify your strengths and use these in this process.

Connect to others often and be kind.

Talk to others, share feelings and experiences and ask about theirs. Check in on whether you feel alone or lonely, and check out how your co-workers, friends, and family feel too. Always come from a place of kindness and curiosity.

For more, The Mental Health Foundation offers its best mental health tips backed by research in this downloadable booklet. See also our other articles on self-care and resilience.