Mental health has become a big issue in New Zealand and all over the world in recent years, and the statistics prove it. Data from the 2021 General Social Survey showed New Zealanders overall mental health has been declining. While most New Zealanders appear satisfied with their lives as a whole, with an average satisfaction rating of 7.7 out of 10, proportions of people claiming to feel positive emotions has significantly declined.

This data also showed a significant increase in the proportion of people with poor mental health in New Zealand, from 22% in 2018 to 28% in 2021, showing more than a quarter of the population claiming to have poor mental health across many age groups.

Positive mental health is crucial, and profoundly influences every aspect of our lives. It impacts our thoughts, actions, and interactions with the people around us. Positive mental health empowers us to navigate challenges, build meaningful relationships, and make better decisions. Which is why we think it’s important for you to stay knowledgeable on strategies you can use in your everyday life to combat the affects of poor mental health, so here’s 5 easy tools you can implement into your everyday life to keep your mind healthy!

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Practicing Mindfulness

‍Acting with mindfulness suggests that the mind is fully attending to the present moment, what your doing, the space you’re in, it’s the ability to be fully present and aware without overreacting or feeling overwhelmed. Over time, practicing mindfulness will help you to appreciate the relationships more fully between your thoughts, feelings, and the things happening around you, learning to see how they affect each other, and how this appreciation can have a positive effect on your wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around you.
Research suggests that when we are intentionally practising this, people often experience a significant reduction in stress, anxiousness, and depression, feeling more balanced and in tune with what’s happening outside of our heads. From this, we feel more calm and clear which has a positive affect on wellbeing and mental health, broadening your perspective and providing an important foundation for learning.

Practicing mindfulness is easy, and anyone can do it at any time through simple exercises. Practicing mindfulness is as simple as paying attention to your environment with all of your senses, touch, sound, sight, and smell, e.g. when you eat your favourite food, take the time to smell, taste and truly enjoy it. Live in the moment by intentionally bringing open and accepting attention to everything you do, or taking a minute to focus on you breathing when having negative thoughts.
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Be kind/Give

‍Kindness or giving is to do something that helps others, motivated by genuine compassion. Often, this involves putting others feelings or needs before your own, maybe you give your seat up on the bus to someone who needs it more, or make someone a cup of coffee at work. Studies have shown that acts of kindness are linked to increased feelings of wellbeing, improve our support networks, and encourage us to be more active.

A smile isn’t the only thing gained from giving, there’s also a chemical response in the brain that comes as a result of doing nice things. Serotonin, Dopamine, and Oxytocin, the ‘feel good chemicals’ are secreted in the brain as a result of your good deeds for others. Other research has found that giving has positive effects on your health apart from a feel good chemical response, research shows generosity over time can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, stimulate your brain’s mesolimbic pathway, or reward centre, while releasing endorphins, which can lead to a “helper’s high” boosting self-esteem.

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Stay Active

‍Remaining physically active stands as one of the most readily available tools with a profound impact on one's mental well-being. While every individual has different circumstances, and different needs for their mental health, physical activity is consistently recognised to have a positive impact on mental health. Exercise can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, improve mood, boost self-esteem, and enhance overall psychological well-being. It also plays a role in preventing the development of mental health problems and in improving the quality of life of people experiencing mental health problems.

While some people see staying active as a daunting and difficult task, at a very basic level physical activity means any movement of your body that uses your muscles and expends energy, there are endless possibilities and almost certainly an activity to suit everyone. Everyone should aim to do at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week, which can be split up into an easy 20 minutes a day.
Now you just have to choose an exercise, remember you don’t have to start running marathons or lifting heavy weights, it can be as easy as going for a walk, swim, or even some yoga. Anything that keeps you engaged and gets your heart rate up.

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Connect With Others

‍Social connections influence our mind, bodies, and behaviour, all of which have an influence on our greater health. Having strong social connections can lead to a longer life, better mental health, and improved overall health. Humans are social creatures, meaning social connections is important for your survival, relationships, family, friends, coworkers, and community all have a major impact on your mental health.
Social connectedness is the degree to which people have and perceive a desired number, quality, and diversity of relationships that create a sense of belonging, being cared for, valued ,and supported. When people have supportive relationships, they’re more likely to make healthy choices and are better able to cope with negative emotions.

The amount and quality of your relationships matters, as they play various roles in your life. Feeling lonely is hard to cope with, but there are steps you can take to tackle this. Spend time with people who make you feel happy and nurture those connections. Try talk to someone every day, with your family, people you see regularly and share interests with, or even people you see simply through group affiliation such as work colleagues, or someone you might share the same faith with. It's important to have intimate connections (family and friends), relational connections (people you see regularly), and collective connections (people from your community). If you’re lacking in any of these areas, try starting a conversation with someone you see often but don’t talk to so often, join a team or group to get to know some new people, or you could make some connections through helping others and volunteering. There's many ways to make more social connections, you just have to put in the effort.

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Keep Learning

‍Having an open mind, open to new knowledge and experiences can have great benefits for everyone’s mental health. Allowing yourself to gain knowledge-based perspectives on the world as well as training your brain to handle different types of challenges keeps you mentally stimulated. New skills allow people to gain knowledge which helps you in different areas of life. As we get older, some aspects of life can get in the way of continuous learning, whether your too busy with work or family life its always important to find the time.

Learning boosts self-confidence and builds a sense of purpose, studies have shown people engaged in learning report to feeling better about themselves in general, as well as feeling like they have more hope of fulfilling goals and aspirations. It doesn’t take much to learn something new, whether it be learning to cook, learning a new hobby, or taking a class, you should keep learning throughout your life to in order to continuously grow as an individual, and open up new opportunities.