Getting the basics right in looking after your mental health (and why that doesn’t always solve everything)

One thing that really annoys me in the world of mental health is when people try to say that there are simple things that will solve everything. To boil it down to one snappy little soundbite. One of those things is getting the basics of self-care right. Typically, it’s these things:

• Exercise
• Get outside
• Be around nature
• Eat well and hydrate
• Prioritise your sleep

The thing that bugs me the most about this is that they kind of have a point, and they kind of entirely miss the point, too.

Do each of these things make a difference to your overall mood? Yes, most of the time. Is mood the same as mental health? No. It’s related, but it’s not the full picture.

Taking care of yourself in these ways does have a physical impact on your body and your mind. They also each affect one another. Eating, exercise and being outside affect your body and it’s rhythms, which tends to have a positive effect on sleep. Sleeping well makes it easier to have the energy to eat well and get outside.

So, doing these “basics” as I am going to call them, does have a positive impact. Both in the moment and for the longer-term.

However, the problem I have with how the basics are presented comes in two forms:

When they are presented as a guarantee

Most of the time. Tends to. These are important phrases. You might exercise, eat well and get outside but still struggle with your sleep. Maybe because of anxiety. Maybe because of something else. You might do well with all of these things and still feel detached or flat.

Because these are not the only things that contribute to our overall mental health, or our mood in the moment, for that matter.

If you have had a loss in your life, you are still likely to feel that loss and all the emotions that come with it, even if you have been to a spin class. That’s not to say that engaging in the basics is not going to be of any use to you – it probably will. However, if you do still feel sad, angry, lonely, whatever it might be, maybe that’s not because you aren’t working hard enough.

If you have OCD, you can get all the sleep you want, that might not stop the thought spirals that come along. Exercise might help your overall outlook and energy levels, but it might not help you out of the loops you get stuck in. That, again, is not because you aren’t trying hard enough. It’s that you need something else.

When they don’t take the very fact of mental health into account

If you are depressed, it can feel physically debilitating. The heaviness, the lethargy. It also comes with anhedonia – struggling to feel joy or achievement. Yes, doing more of the basics is likely to help with your overall energy and mood and is likely to be a part of management or recovery, but it might not do for you what it does for someone who is not depressed, particularly not immediately. So the expectations need to shift a bit there.

When we struggle with our mental health in any form, sleep is often affected. Yes it would be good to get some good sleep, but that might not be entirely in your control right now. Working on it would be great, but beating yourself up for not getting it “right” won’t be helpful.

Sometimes food and exercise can become a part of the problem. For someone with mega-high expectations of themselves, exercise will be another way to punish yourself or to set unreasonable goals and then feel like you are failing them. Eating “well” can be taken to extremes: becoming fixated on calories or what the “most healthy” option is at all times.

Focusing on doing the basics is a useful principle, but it is only useful if taken with a pinch of salt. Yes, getting some movement, daylight and nutrients is a good idea, but if doing those things is a challenge right now, adjusting your expectations might help.

And, if you are doing all this but still struggling with things, it might not be because you aren’t working hard enough. It might just be that there is something else going on.

Thanks for reading. Until next time,

Ted

P.S. It might also be about finding the ways that the basics work for you. Exercise that you actually like. Recipes that work for you. Sleep routines that work with your life. That can take time, too, you know.