How To Improve The Mental Health Of Students

How To Improve Mental Health - Student life is often regarded as the golden time of one's life, and for the most part, it is. However, living as a student can occasionally test your mental health. It's natural to feel overwhelmed by the burden of keeping up with your schoolwork while also maintaining your social life. That's why, in this article, we've compiled some suggestions for students on how to improve mental health.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Share What Bothers You

A burden shared is a burden halved. The stress of studying and taking tests can be overwhelming at times, and it's understandable to be concerned. But it is best to not keep your worry or anxiety to yourself if you're experiencing any. Speaking with someone, be it a friend, relative, or teacher is important to improve mental health of students. There are always things you can do to make yourself feel better about your position! If you don't want to chat with someone you know for some reason, you can get free online help, which can also be a way to improve mental health during lockdown.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Sleep Well

We realize it's easier said than done, but attempting to develop some form of sleeping regimen will really help to improve mental health naturally. According to research, having a consistent sleeping schedule is more advantageous than obtaining more sleep, so try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. If you're having trouble falling asleep, and want to improve mental health during lockdown, try listening to soothing music or getting a night lamp.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Eat Healthy

Eating foods high in complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, protein, and fatty acids is essential to maintain brain health, and hence improve mental health naturally. Consume food regularly throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stable and avoid the dreaded sugar crashes. Aim for 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and stay hydrated. We all need a treat now and then, but if your mood is low, adjusting your nutrition is a simple and quick way to improve your mood.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is defined as being thankful for the positive things in one's life. In order to improve mental health during lockdown, it's beneficial to do this every day, either by thinking about or jotting down what you're grateful for. These might be major things, like your loved ones' support, or small joys, like eating a delicious meal. Allow yourself time to rejoice in the fact that you had a wonderful moment. Practicing gratitude can help you see your life in a new light. When you're anxious, for example, you might not notice that there are also times when you're feeling good. Gratitude can assist you in identifying them and can help improve mental health of students.

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Notice Yourself Feel Better As You Practice Gratitude

How To Improve Mental Health: Connect With Others

Humans are social creatures, and having strong, healthy relationships with others is essential to improve mental health of students. Having a strong social support system can help you avoid the negative effects of stress. It's also good to have a variety of relationships. You could find methods to get engaged with your town or neighborhood, in addition to engaging with family and friends. You may, for example, volunteer for a local charity or join a group dedicated to a pastime you enjoy to improve mental health naturally.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Relax

Relaxation techniques are activities that you engage in to elicit your body's natural relaxation response. This reduces muscle tension and stress by slowing down your breathing and lowering your blood pressure. Relaxation techniques come in a variety of forms and are beneficial to improve mental health of students. Some of the relaxation techniques to improve mental health naturally are mentioned below-

• Progressive relaxation is a technique that involves tightening and relaxing various muscle groups while employing mental imagery or breathing techniques.
• Guided imagery is a technique for feeling more relaxed and focused in which you learn to focus on positive images in your mind.
• Biofeedback is a technique for learning to control specific physiological functions such as breathing, heart rate, and muscle tension using electronic instruments.
• Self-Hypnosis is when you hear a certain suggestion or see a specific indication; the idea is to bring you into a peaceful, trance-like condition.
• Deep breathing exercises entail concentrating on slow, deep, even breaths.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Meditate

Meditation is a mind-body activity that teaches you how to concentrate your attention and awareness. There are many different styles of meditation, including mindfulness and transcendental meditation. Meditation typically takes place in a calm environment with as few interruptions as possible. Practicing meditation to improve mental health during lockdown involves the following components-

• A comfortable and specific posture like sitting, lying down, walking, or any other position could be used.
• A single word or collection of words, an item, or your breathing can serve as a focus of attention.
• An open approach in which you strive not to judge distractions as they come and go.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Seek Therapy If Needed

If you feel you are facing some issues with regard to your mental health, get an appointment with a psychologist as soon as possible! As we previously stated, a burden shared is a burden halved, and a psychologist will gladly assist you, no matter how minor you believe your issue is. It's best to double-check and try to solve the problem as soon as possible.

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How To Improve Mental Health: Balance Your Emotions

Staying positive does not preclude you from experiencing negative emotions like sadness or anger. You must be able to feel them in order to go through challenging situations. They can assist you in dealing with a situation and can help to improve mental health of students. You don't want those feelings to take over, though. It's not useful, for example, to constantly think about negative things that happened in the past or to be overly concerned about the future. Hence:-

• Attempt to hold on to happy emotions when they arise.
• Take a break from the terrible news. Know when it's time to quit viewing or reading the news.
• Use social media to seek assistance and interact with others, but be cautious. Don't believe gossip, get into disputes, or make harsh comparisons to others' lives.

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Although approaching the subject of mental health for students can be intimidating, there is reason to be optimistic. Research shows that 70 percent of mental health issues in youth can be treated with early intervention. Detecting mental health concerns early and providing support to those who require it aids at-risk kids before their problems worsen. What's the good news? There are numerous options for doing so, as mentioned above in this article. We hope that this article guided you on how to improve mental health and ensure that things don’t take a toll on your mental well-being.

Somya is a psychologist, having keen interest research and academics. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D from IIS, Jaipur.