Mental Health Management: Prioritize Mental Health Daily

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Taking care of yourself on a daily basis is a wonderful way to prioritize your mental health.  

Food: Eat enough, often enough, in delicious nutritious ways! Good nutrition supports our brain chemicals! Get in as many colors as possible through your fruits and veggies, and include fats, proteins and carbohydrates in every meal. Play with seasonings, switching up what herbs and spices you use whenever you get bored. 

Exercise: Move in ways that are enjoyable during and leave you feeling great after! Exercise affects hormones, so moving can help lift you up. Each week, try to include some cardiovascular activity, strengthening, stretching, and cardiovascular activity. If you don't currently do this, build to 150 minutes per week of cardio, and at least two stretching and strengthening sessions per week. Some activities, like rapidly hiking hills might be both strengthening and cardiovascular activity for you, don't forget to give yourself credit for that! If you don't currently enjoy any types of movement, experiment and do something different each week until you find a passion.  Whether it is yoga in a cozy studio, a nightly dog walk, or kung fu, finding something you love will help you stay consistent. 

Sleep: Strive for good quality and quantity of sleep. While we can't force this one to happen like clockwork, we can set ourselves up for success by planning our days to allow enough time to wind down before bed, and then sleep more than 7 hours before needing to wake up for the next day. For many, a consistent bed time and bedtime routine help.

Social connection: Let your support system support you! Spend time with your favorite people, get in some belly laughs and do things that you genuinely love. Think back and identify what your favorite social experiences have been in the last year. Then use this information to get the most out of your time, so if game nights were better than a dinner out, take note and schedule a game night in the near future. 

Hobbies: Gift yourself time in the schedule to spend things you genuinely enjoy! If you love house plants dedicate a few minutes to puttering and checking on them instead of watching TV. If you love music, keep it with you so every car ride and unexpected wait time has a silver lining. 

Gratitude/meditation/mindfulness: What activities do you find yourself immersed in, where past and future stresses don't touch you? Sipping morning coffee and taking time to notice how great it is counts as a mindful moment! When taking time for gratitude don't just say what you are thankful for but also how thankful, and why.  Taking the extra time brings extra impact and uplifting appreciation for the good around us! Journaling can also be a powerful tool for introspection.

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