It can be easy to fall into a state of anxiety or stress with the overwhelming negativity in the world around us. Everywhere you look, there is war, financial burden, political turmoil, and other horrendous offenses. Add that to your personal life stressors, and you must equip yourself with mental health exercises to combat the chaos.
What Are Mental Health Exercises?
Mental health exercises are exercises for the mind that provide health benefits. They are a healthy way of dealing with thoughts, feelings, situations, events, and experiences that overwhelm with stress and anxiety.
1. Speak Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations can help you overcome negative thoughts and disrespectful self-talk. Daily positive affirmations can help combat negative thoughts, feelings, and situations. By disrupting negative thinking patterns, your brain builds a new route for positive thoughts, improving mental health.
2. Practice Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is a relaxation technique that reduces stress and anxiety by mentally entering a peaceful setting by envisioning it. It is frequently used in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a psychotherapy that implements self-help strategies to help people change unhealthy thinking patterns, feelings, and behavior.
3. Do Yoga
Yoga is one of the most fantastic mental health exercises I’ve discovered because it relieves neck and back tension through stretching and focuses your breathing. Breathing exercises of any kind are wonderful at immediately reducing stress and anxiety.
4. Go on a Prayer Walk
The C.S. Lewis Institute says: “Prayer walking is a type of intercessory prayer that involves walking to or near a particular place while praying. As you prayer walk, your prayers extend beyond your own concerns, focusing directly on the needs of others and opening yourself to see them with God’s eyes and heart.”
This practice opens your heart to gratitude, empathy, forgiveness, and other things that improve mental health.
5. Take a Mindfulness Moment
Take a moment for mindfulness, as many times as you need throughout your day, to significantly reduce anxiety and stress. Try mindfulness exercises such as mindful eating. Focus on the tastes, textures, and smells while enjoying a meal alone.
Be mindful when doing chores. For example, when doing the dishes, notice the weight of the dishes, the water on your skin, etc. Be present in what you’re doing, and don’t allow your mind to wander away from being mindful in that moment.
6. Aerobic Exercise
Harvard Health explains, “The mental benefits of aerobic exercise have a neurochemical basis.” Exercise significantly reduces stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline, while stimulating endorphin production, your body’s “natural painkillers and mood elevators.” Aerobic exercises include swimming, cycling, running, dancing, stair climbing, and rowing.
7. Cognitive Reframing
Cognitive reframing, a psychological technique used in CBT, helps you identify how you view experiences, situations, and ideas and how to change those views accordingly.
8. Connect With Nature
Connecting with nature is my favorite mental health exercise because it centers me on God’s incredible creation. Spending hours at Sunset Beach in California, listening to the waves roar while breaking on the shore, and standing for hours entirely captivated by Snoqualmie Falls in Washington are the most extraordinary mental health experiences I’ve given myself.
Get into nature. Ground yourself by removing your shoes and walking barefoot in the grass. Breathe in the fresh air and give your stress and anxiety to God.
9. Start Gratitude Journaling
Gratitude journaling is one of many ways you can practice gratitude to improve health. Focusing on the positives in your life redirects your attention from what you don’t have (stressors).
10. Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a 10-15-minute relaxation technique that can help reduce stress and anxiety. You can practice PMR lying down or in a comfortable sitting position. It involves tensing different muscle groups, holding them for five seconds while breathing in, and then releasing and relaxing. The VA lists and walks you through each muscle group you exercise using this PMR technique.
11. Smile Therapy
Have you heard the adage, ” Grin and bear it?” Smiling can trick your brain into feeling happy by releasing feel-good endorphins. Not only does smiling reduce stress, but Henry Ford Health reports that it also reduces blood pressure, reduces pain, strengthens your immune system, and increases endurance.
Read More
- 18 Meaningful Ways to Volunteer Your Time While Boosting Mental Health
- 12 Helpful Steps to Creating a Daily Schedule That Works for You
Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.