Depression

Try to move your body and work up to 30 minutes a day. Exercise can be the first thing we let go of when feeling depressed and unmotivated, even though exercise helps with our overall health, mood, sleep, negative thoughts and increases energy levels. Walking outside is great way to boost your mood and you can invite friends to make it even more enjoyable! Take a look at Beyond Blue's resource on keeping active for tips on getting started and planning enjoyable activities.

Sleep plays an important role in our mental wellbeing, it can impact on and is impacted by mental health. Some people find it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or have difficulties with waking up in the morning (or all of the above). Developing good sleep hygiene can be an effective way to mitigate some of these affects. Try to limit blue light (TV, Phones, iPads etc.) and stimulants (caffeine, alcohol, tobacco) at least an hour before you go to sleep. Set a schedule with a regular time that you go to sleep and try to make your room as quite, dark and comfortable as possible. It is also a good idea to only use your bed for sleep and sexual activities as this help your brain associate your bed as a place to sleep, rather than a place for your mind to be active with work or study.

The foods we consume impact on our overall health, mental health, energy levels, concentration, stress management and self-esteem. Small changes in what you eat can produce positive effect, eating well does not need to be all-or-nothing!  Try to eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, legumes, wholegrains, lean proteins and water.

Establishing and maintaining a routine can help to manage mental health and studies. Routines can also serve to alert us that there may be some factors impacting on our mental health if bad habits begin to increase. Beyond Blue has an easy to follow guide about routines and how to create one.

Our thoughts can impact on and be impacted by our emotions and mood. Unhelpful thinking styles are common thought patterns that can cause significant distress. For example, you may notice that you exhibit personalisation, whereby you tend to blame yourself for anything or everything that may go wrong even when there is no basis to so, it may leave you feeling guilty, full of shame or have self-doubt. You can challenge your unhelpful thinking styles to begin to change your thoughts and the effects that they have.

Mindfulness helps us to stay in the present moment. It can be easy to let your mind wonder or engage in tasks without thinking about them. You can start practicing mindfulness by starting with moments in every day activities like noticing how the warm water and soap feels on your hands when washing up or make a cup of tea and focus on all the steps. You may like to download a mindful calendar to help prompt activities you can be mindful about.