Healthy Head Habits - Erinn #8
Healthy Head Habits
This week's blog is slightly different to my others, talking about my experience with stress and anxiety in my final year of study, and healthy habits to promote positive mental health.
My final year at Waterford Institute of Technology studying the Internet of Things has been something of a marathon. My course is predominantly continuous assessment based which can often seem like a great thing until you are inundated with assignments, all due around the same time.
It is vital to manage your time both for college work and for socialising and exercising. From a personal perspective, I feel I've been able to manage my stress thanks to the constant support from my family and friends. It's as simple as going for a walk or meeting for a coffee that can prevent you from getting bogged down in college work and increasing your anxiety.
Exercise
Keeping active helps protect both your physical and mental health. Regular exercise will help you sleep, relax and feel better. Exercise helps reduce stress and boosts your energy levels. It can also be a good way to meet people and get more involved in your community.
According to the HSE's exercise and your mental health article, adults should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise every day at moderate intensity for 5 of those days.
Spending time outdoors can reduce stress levels and help make you feel more energetic and mindful. Whether you go for a hike or sit down in a park, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun on your skin is definitely a mood booster.
SleepSleep is an essential function that allows your body and mind to recharge, leaving you refreshed and alert when you wake up. There's a close relationship between sleep and mental health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health.
As a student, one can often find themselves up late working on assignments or studying for exams. Studies have proven that skipping sleep regularly affects academic performance, and, on a more practical level, it affects one’s ability to operate.
Deep sleep, also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is the time when our brain processes emotions and other complex thoughts. When we don’t get enough sleep, our brains have difficulty processing positive emotions and memories, which has a negative effect on mood and can be severely detrimental to a person’s mental health.
Self-Care
Self-care has been defined as
"a multidimensional, multifaceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being." (Dorociak et al., 2017)
Essentially, the term describes a conscious act one takes in order to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health.
There are different types of self-care including:
1. Physical
2. Social
3. Mental
4. Spiritual
5. Emotional
Physical Self-Care
Physical Self-Care is the most basic and important form of self-care that one can practice.
This type of self-care includes how an individual is fueling their body, how much sleep they're getting, how much physical activity they are doing, and how well they're caring for their physical needs.
My final year at Waterford Institute of Technology studying the Internet of Things has been something of a marathon. My course is predominantly continuous assessment based which can often seem like a great thing until you are inundated with assignments, all due around the same time.
It is vital to manage your time both for college work and for socialising and exercising. From a personal perspective, I feel I've been able to manage my stress thanks to the constant support from my family and friends. It's as simple as going for a walk or meeting for a coffee that can prevent you from getting bogged down in college work and increasing your anxiety.
Exercise
Keeping active helps protect both your physical and mental health. Regular exercise will help you sleep, relax and feel better. Exercise helps reduce stress and boosts your energy levels. It can also be a good way to meet people and get more involved in your community.
According to the HSE's exercise and your mental health article, adults should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise every day at moderate intensity for 5 of those days.
Spending time outdoors can reduce stress levels and help make you feel more energetic and mindful. Whether you go for a hike or sit down in a park, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun on your skin is definitely a mood booster.
Sleep
Sleep is an essential function that allows your body and mind to recharge, leaving you refreshed and alert when you wake up. There's a close relationship between sleep and mental health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health.
As a student, one can often find themselves up late working on assignments or studying for exams. Studies have proven that skipping sleep regularly affects academic performance, and, on a more practical level, it affects one’s ability to operate.
Deep sleep, also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is the time when our brain processes emotions and other complex thoughts. When we don’t get enough sleep, our brains have difficulty processing positive emotions and memories, which has a negative effect on mood and can be severely detrimental to a person’s mental health.
Self-Care
Self-care has been defined as
"a multidimensional, multifaceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being." (Dorociak et al., 2017)
Essentially, the term describes a conscious act one takes in order to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health.
1. Physical
2. Social
3. Mental
4. Spiritual
5. Emotional
Physical Self-Care
Physical Self-Care is the most basic and important form of self-care that one can practice.
This type of self-care includes how an individual is fueling their body, how much sleep they're getting, how much physical activity they are doing, and how well they're caring for their physical needs.
Social Self-Care
Close connections are important to your well-being. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into building your relationships with others.
Close connections are important to your well-being. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into building your relationships with others.
Mental Self-Care
Mental self-care includes doing things that keep your mind sharp, like puzzles, or learning about a subject that fascinates you. Reading books or watching movies are also ways to fuel the mind.
Practising self-compassion and acceptance can also help maintain a healthier inner dialogue.
Mental self-care includes doing things that keep your mind sharp, like puzzles, or learning about a subject that fascinates you. Reading books or watching movies are also ways to fuel the mind.
Practising self-compassion and acceptance can also help maintain a healthier inner dialogue.
Spiritual Self-Care
Research shows that a lifestyle including religion or spirituality is generally a healthier lifestyle.
Nurturing your spirit, however, doesn't have to involve religion. It can involve anything that helps you develop a deeper sense of meaning, understanding, or connection with the universe.
Emotional Self-Care
Emotional self-care can include activities that help you acknowledge and express your feelings regularly and safely.
Emotional self-care can include activities that help you acknowledge and express your feelings regularly and safely.
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