With the stresses of everyday life such as intense workloads at the office, maintaining our homes, and remembering to feed ourselves and our families properly, it can be very easy to let our quality-of-life slip, sending us into a downward spiral of poor mental health and physical wellbeing. At times, things can seem very overwhelming and sometimes even hopeless, but there are plenty of things you can do to improve your life with a bit of focus and dedication. We’ve listed some of our best tips to help you decide on the best path for you.
Sleep Well
This is probably one of the most important steps when it comes to improving your mental and physical wellbeing but there’s a fine line to walk. Firstly, you need to make sure you’re not lacking in sleep. Working yourself too hard by doing constant overtime at the office and getting up at the crack of dawn to start the cycle again just isn’t healthy. Adults should be getting around 7-9 hours of quality sleep per day to make sure our bodies can complete important maintenance during the time we’re essentially switched off. On the flip side, sleeping for too long can be just as problematic, and can also be a sign of poor mental health too. Excessive sleeping can lead to memory problems, a lack of concentration, drowsiness, depression and other mental health disorders, and an increased risk of heart disease and other serious illnesses.
Get Some Exercise
Getting yourself moving regularly benefits both your mental and physical health too. It can help you to shake off those extra pounds and get your heart and lungs into a healthier state. It’s also well-documented that exercise can be great for reducing the impact of mental health disorders such as combatting anxiety and depression, and it can even assist you in getting better quality sleep too. Using up excess energy will help you to feel ready for a good night’s sleep at the end of the day. Remember, you don’t have to go into overdrive with exercise either. Try to get around 2 and a half hours of exercise per week to maintain a good level of fitness for both your body and mind.
Nurture Relationships
Loneliness can be a devastating feeling. As humans, we are naturally sociable animals, no matter how much you think you prefer being a lone-wolf type. Many things in our lives can turn us away from others and decide that it’s not worth trusting people but opening your heart to others and accepting the genuine enjoyment you can get from surrounding yourself with positive, nice people could be the best choice you’ll ever make. Where possible, rebuild bridges and reignite past friendships with people that had a positive impact on your life. After all, life is too short to shut others out and experience it all alone.
Eat Properly
Making sure you’re eating the right foods is another great step towards improving your quality of life. Of course, the main hurdle here is being able to fight through that misconception of food preparation being hard or time-consuming. No matter what you think, there is plenty of time in the day to prepare food and take some time out to enjoy it with friends and family. As well as this, it’s important to figure out some nutrition goals for yourself. Learning how to set nutrition goals isn’t too difficult, and it can be incredibly beneficial to your health. These goals will help to guide you in eating the right foods to achieve better physical wellbeing.
Have Some Fun
All work and no play can be a very dull time. After all, what’s the point in living to simply work? Finding time to have fun and enjoy activities and hobbies is very important for your mental health and reduce those stress levels. Even if you do enjoy your work, not switching off from it can still be detrimental. Find some time in the day to redirect your attention to other things you enjoy, whether it’s reading, watching movies, or playing sport. Rediscover your passions that you may have put to the side to focus on your career and take some time to enjoy an evening with friends, either at home or at the bar. If you’re still not convinced, remember that having this downtime will help to replenish your productivity, enhancing your work in the long run. Cut Out Negativity
Lastly, it’s important to cut out any negativity in your life. Maybe you don’t enjoy your job as much as you did before and perhaps your boss is unpleasant to work with. In that case, it may be time to consider switching professions and finding a new place to work, to help you reignite your enjoyment of work. As well as this, it’s important to think about cutting negative people out of your life, as surrounding yourself with people that are deceptive, untrustworthy, confrontational, and demeaning is not a healthy thing. Cut ties with negative people and focus on reinforcing your positive friendships instead.