Mental Health Self-Care in 10 Minutes or Less

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Mental Health Self-Care in 10 Minutes or Less
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Video: Bipolar Disorder and Relationship Breakups
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Mental Health Quote

------------------------------------------------------------------

Facebook Live This Wednesday

Many people put a lot of emphasis on the new year. Some look back on the past year and feel bad about their level of accomplishments or worsening situation. On the other side, there's a lot of pressure around "New Year. New You." Our host, therapist, Emily Roberts, will be talking about this and taking all your personal mental health questions on any topic this Wednesday evening at 7p CT/ 8 ET. Hope you’ll join us.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Mental Health Self-Care in 10 Minutes or Less

When you think of mental health self-care, does the word “hassle” come to mind? When mental illness symptoms flare, doing things to care for our mental health can go a long way toward improving our thoughts, emotions, and energy levels. However, practicing self-care for mental health can be easier said than done. It can be difficult to think of things to do when we need it the most, and the idea of engaging in a long, complex activity can be so overwhelming that we don’t want to bother.

That’s why it’s important to have a list of short and simple activities for mental health self-care. The activities on this list can be done in 10 minutes or less, and they’ll add up to a sizeable mental health boost.

Self-Care Activities for Mental Health in 10 Minutes or Less

• Drink water from your favorite water bottle
• Mindfully eat a piece of fruit
• Walk up and down the sidewalk
• Color
• Read
• Close your eyes and breathe deeply
• Do jumping jacks
• Eat yogurt
• Walk up and down stairs
• Write a kind note to someone
• Take pictures
• Dance to a favorite song
• Write or draw in a journal

Taking a few brief breaks throughout every day to do something positive for yourself is very effective in boosting mental health.

Related Articles Dealing with Self-Care

• Journaling as Self-Care for Your Mental Health
• How to Increase Your Self-Esteem with Self-Care
• Self-Care for When You Can’t Avoid Anxiety Triggers
• Steps to Self-Care for Depression
• Binge Eating Disorder and Self-Care
• Self-Care in Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder is Hard

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: When your symptoms are intense, what mental health self-care practices work best for you? We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and experiences on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.

continue story below

From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Bipolar Advocacy: How to Become a Bipolar Advocate?
• I Can’t Do It – Bipolar’s Invisible Barrier
• Chronic Pain and Depression: Fibromyalgia Is Depressing
• My So-Called Life With Social Anxiety Disorder
• FDA Approves Digital-Tracking Drug for Mentally Ill
• The Suicide Prevention Lifeline Helps Anyone with Depression
• Stop the Stigma of Substance Abuse: Six Things Anyone Can Do
• Effects of PTSD on Relationships If Both Partners Have PTSD
• Facing Depression During the Holidays? 8 Tips to Get Through
• Two Main Causes of Anxiety That You Can Do Something About
• Develop Confidence and Self-Esteem: Leave Your Comfort Zone
• Is Social Media Normalizing Verbal Abuse?
• Your Relationship with Food and Mental Health Recovery

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

------------------------------------------------------------------

From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

I'm Hannah. I Have Bipolar 2

Bipolar Disorder and Relationship Breakups

Are people with bipolar disorder more likely to act viciously towards a person after a relationship breakup or after getting rejected? I can only speak as a woman with bipolar 2 disorder, and my answer is, no we are not. In this video, I explain my reasoning and share my personal experience dealing with breakups and bipolar disorder. (Watch Hannah)

------------------------------------------------------------------

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Others Have It Worse Than You and Bipolar Doesn’t Care
2. Numbing Out: What If I Said You Weren’t Addicted to Food?
3. Small Injury Leads to Prescription Pain Medication Addiction

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Mental Health Quote

"Never apologize to others for their misunderstanding of who you are."

Read more mental health stigma quotes.

------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or google+) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, circle HealthyPlace on Google+, follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook. Also, check out HealthyPlace on Pinterest and share your mental health pins on our Share Your Mental Health Experiences board.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index