Mental Health Self-Care: Practical Tips for Reducing Anxiety & Depression

Practical Tips for Reducing Anxiety & Depression

In the previous article of the Self Care Series, we provided an overview of self-care and its 6 pillars. In this article, we will focus on mental self-care, what it means, creative suggestions, and identify ways to prioritize your mental wellbeing! 

Let’s Start With What Self-Care Means and Why is it Important

• Mental Self-Care focuses on mental health and well-being. It involves checking in with how you are feeling on a daily basis, reducing anxiety and stress, regulating your emotions, and seeking help when needed. 

• Mental self-care is especially important when you are feeling depressed. Our suggestions range from taking as little as 5 minutes to 30 minutes and will provide some relief when feeling depressed or anxious.  

• By prioritizing your mental health, you can improve your mental clarity and focus, feel more present in your life, prevent burnout, and have a better quality of life. 

• Mental well-being not only benefits yourself, but those around you. You may be able to better support your friends and family in times of need, if you are feeling secure and mentally equipped. 

Below Are a Few Creative Ways to Engage in Mental Self-care. 

• Mindfulness Techniques: The practice of being present in your daily life, enjoying the small moments, decreased anxiety, and making decisions with a clear mind. Mindfulness is being aware of your surroundings and taking note of sounds, conversations, and other company. You are in the moment and not thinking about the other billion things you need to work on as soon as you get home. To improve mindfulness practices, you can try any of the following: 

• Mindful Eating (Reference: Duke Integrative Medicine) Approximate time: 5 minutes. In this brief exercise, you will engage your 5 senses when enjoying a small food item. You can try this with a piece of chocolate, your favorite fruit, or even some tea/coffee. The article references a raisin, but you can do this with any food item. 

  • Brief steps to follow: 

1. Choose a special food to try this exercise. Something small, easy to eat and describe, something delightful. 

2. Observe the item, explore its texture, notice its grooves, colors, shape, and surfaces. 

3. Rotate the item between your fingers and apply a bit of pressure. Take note of what it feels like. Feel free to close your eyes in order to emphasize your sense of touch. 

4. Think about any thoughts you have about this food item. Any memories? Likes? Dislikes?

5. Hold the item right beneath your nose and inhale naturally. Notice any aromas? Bring your awareness to any effect it may have on your mouth or stomach. 

6. Bring the item to your mouth. Hold the item in your mouth for at least 10 seconds, again, noticing how it feels, explore with your tongue, feel the sensations. Pause. 

7. When you’re ready, take 2 bites. Bring full attention to the taste and texture. 

8. Take about 20 seconds to experience this. When swallowing, think about the sensations and bring awareness to your body functions. 

• 54321 Grounding Technique (Link to Video) Approximate time: 5 minutes 

• This is one of my favorite grounding methods to assign clients. I engage in this technique myself when I’m bored, feeling anxious, stressed out, or need to reorient myself to the present. 

• You will also engage your 5 senses in this exercise. You can do it lying down, sitting in a chair, or when you’re outside. Do not do this exercise when you are driving. 

• Body Scan Meditations: Approximate Time: 5 minutes

• Body scans are great for enhancing your mind-body connection. Try this 5 minute video to experience a body scan meditation. 

• Meditation and Sleep: Meditation looks different for everyone and does not need to have a religious connotation to it. For some, meditation is sitting in a room in a comfortable position with complete silence and focusing only on their breath. Meditation can also be walking in the park and focusing on one thing. Meditation and sleep go hand in hand to promote a deeper, more fulfilling slumber. To try out meditation practices, you can try any of the following: 

• Tibetan Sound Bowls

• Youtube Videos on Meditation: Daily Meditation Channel and Lavendaire

• Personal Favorites: Embrace Imperfection and Meditation for Positive Energy, Peace, & Light   

• Guided Yoga: Yoga with Adrienne and Yoga with Bird  

• Slowing Things Down: If you’re ever feeling like you’re juggling too many plates at once, it might be time to set some plates down. You may benefit from taking a break to avoid burnout and fatigue. I know what it’s like to feel the need to run all the time, but you might need a breather and re-assess what you’re running toward or what you’re running from. Need guidance on how to set some plates down and pause? Try one of the following: 

• Make a list of your priorities (things you’re juggling) and assess your goals 

• Look at your schedule and move things around. Write out your “ideal schedule” on a sheet of paper and see what adjustments you can make.  

• Schedule breaks/meal times/work hours. If you use an agenda or scheduler (like Google Calendar), allocate time for breaks. Schedule them in as you would a meeting or appointment. 

• Mental Stimulation: Challenge and grow your mind since we spend most of our time doing work-related things. Focus on things that bring you joy or excitement.  

• Read/listen to a new book or podcast 

• Do a puzzle a day - there’s many apps for this 

• NYT Games 

• Chess 

• Learn a new skill that you’ve been wanting to try 

• Unplugging:

• Limit scrolling time 

• Check emails at certain times of the day and not in bed. You’ll have to hold yourself accountable for this and there are settings/limits you can set on your phone.  

• Answer texts/emails at certain times of the day. You can have an automatic response that notifies people that you will respond at a certain time the following day, that way you don’t need to worry about responding right away.  

I hope that these suggestions are helpful for you in some way. These are not one-size-fits-all approaches and you may need to modify it to suit your needs. I suggest trying just one thing from this list and see how it goes. Consider whether you are content with your mental health and if not, what would you want to change? How would you want to feel? 

If you’re enjoying this Self-Care Series, stay tuned for our next Self-Care article, which will focus on emotional self-care. 

Practical Tips for Reducing Anxiety & Depression

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