Stress at work, exhausted, low spirits? Our mental health not only influences how we feel but can also affect our physical well-being. But how can we strengthen our psyche? This is easier than we think.
Make it a habit to see the positive. Especially if you catch yourself seeing only the crises, problems, and failures, ask yourself specifically: What has happened today that is positive? What did I do well? What can I be grateful for? In this way, you not only train your brain to pay attention to the positive, but you can also find millions of reasons to be happy every day.
Read our mental health guide to learn more. We split it into four categories: Mindfulness, Nutrition & Health, Working Life, and Relationships.
Mindfulness
How we deal with the daily challenges in life depends heavily on how resilient we are. Stress, setbacks at work, drastic changes, or a rainy day throw some people off track more than others. The ability to deal with such challenges is called resilience. We all know: Whether the glass is half full or half empty is a matter of attitude.
Fortunately, you can learn to see the glass half full. The keyword is mindfulness: it means not thinking about the past or worrying about the future but valuing the present moment. It does not have to be a full hour of meditation on the living room floor to reach this state. There are many ways to learn and internalize mindfulness – and each person can develop their own unique method.
A short walk, for example, can already lighten our mood – regularity is what counts. Because just one hour of daylight, a day ensures that more serotonin is released in the brain. For the next two to three hours, we already feel better, even on a grey winter's day.
Those who do not have time for this can use conscious breathing, for example, on the way to work. Meditation apps that include acceptance training have been shown in studies to reduce the stress hormone cortisol in volunteers after only 14 days of use. The great benefit of mindfulness training: If we learn to accept situations without judgment as they are, we can break through old patterns of thought and behavior and grow beyond limits that we often set ourselves.
Nutrition and Health
A healthy diet is closely related to our physical health – but we can also influence the psyche by eating consciously and using healthy foods.
In long-term studies, scientists have found a connection between the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet and the risk factor for depression. This is due to the higher glycemic index and the higher glycemic load in highly processed foods containing carbohydrates, which cause blood sugar levels to rise faster and for longer. These include, for example, white bread, French fries, or sugary drinks. Few or no processed foods such as vegetables, fruits, or lentils, on the other hand, have a less drastic effect on the body's sugar balance.
The reason why too much sugar harms our mental well-being is the chemical reaction it triggers in the brain. In simple terms, regular sugar consumption ensures that our brain adjusts to it and regularly expects sugar to keep our mood constant – a similar pattern to drug addiction. If the sugar intake stops, a dopamine deficiency sets in, and we feel depressed. Therefore, even cooking with fresh fruit and vegetables is not only good for our body, but also for our soul.
As the saying goes: “Sour makes funny” – there is really something to it because fermented foods such as active yogurt cultures, kefir, or kimchi demonstrably reduce stress hormones in our body. On the other hand, alcohol is perceived as a mood enhancer, but this is only a subjective, short-term effect. In the long term, however, permanent abstinence has a much greater effect on the psyche because alcohol intake over a longer period of time causes many cognitive disorders. The difference only becomes apparent after a longer period of abstinence from beer, wine, and the like.
In addition to diet, exercise also contributes significantly to mental health. Regular exercise can even kill several birds with one stone: you don't just move. Team sports provide additional social contacts. Anyone who still trains, jogs, or rides a bike in daylight does their psyche a lot of good. Because daylight also regulates our waking-sleeping rhythm. In short: Daylight makes us awake, but the lack of daylight causes increased melatonin in the body, which makes us tired.
Let's get down to sleep: Here, too, healthy sleep hygiene can ensure that we wake up feeling refreshed the next day. This includes fixed sleeping times but also rituals before going to bed. For example, writing down the day's events can help us fall asleep more relaxed and process what we have experienced.
Working life
The number of cases of illness with psychological causes has more than doubled in the last ten years. Employers benefit from mentally healthy employees not only because of reduced sick days. Studies show that satisfied employees are, on average, twelve percent more productive. A stressful work environment can also harm people without previous mental health problems. Therefore, it is important to regularly ask yourself whether your own job makes you happy – and to know in which areas you can make changes yourself.
Those who see a purpose or vocation in their job are happier. Employees with dead-end jobs – i.e., without career or development opportunities – are more likely to suffer from depressive moods. Those who can use their personal strengths at work and realize that they are important for the company are more likely to identify with their job and work more productively. In the working environment, interpersonal relationships also determine how well we feel. An open, communicative environment and a corporate culture that values each employee's opinion ensures that they feel comfortable.
On the one hand, breaks are important to recover after periods of concentration. On the other hand, to spend time with colleagues. If you don't take breaks and go home completely exhausted after a day's work, you will ultimately get less out of the evening. Even short breaks can be spent in the fresh air and provide an opportunity to strengthen personal relationships with colleagues. All this has a positive influence on our well-being.
Of course, work should not determine our whole life – a good work-life balance is equally important for our resilience and satisfaction. Those who can easily separate work and private life spend quality time with family and friends without bringing home professional stress. Learning to switch off is, therefore, important for our mental health. For example, it can already help to go home by bike or on foot instead of by car or train: Exercise directly after work has been proven to lower stress levels.
Learning new things and developing yourself makes you happy. Therefore, in a good working environment, there should be an opportunity to acquire new skills. It doesn't matter whether it's training courses, online offers, or a new project. If you can actively work towards a goal and then use your new skills on the job, you will work more productively and be happier than someone subjected to the same routine every day.
Relationships
Our mental health depends heavily on social relationships. No matter how bad we are – a good conversation can immediately put the world back in order. It doesn't matter whether it's about partnership or our family, a circle of friends, or relationships with work colleagues.
Time invested in friendships is always well invested. Even a phone call to a friend can help put problems into perspective and feel mentally strengthened. Even if we just listen, it has positive effects: On the one hand, we give our counterpart the chance to say a problem out loud. On the other hand, we feel better about ourselves immediately as a result of the good deed. However, this does not mean that we always try to please everyone. A healthy amount of self-love is also part of a balanced life. Whoever learns to say “no” even once in a while, without feeling that they are disappointing other people, is happier in the long run.
Just as the people around us should understand our perspective, it is also important to put ourselves in other people's shoes. This change of perspective helps us to better assess certain situations. In this way, you may realize that the reason for your colleague's bad mood has nothing to do with your own behavior but that he or she is simply having a bad day.
However, if difficult conversations are imminent, it is better to tackle them directly rather than postpone them for a long time. If you prepare yourself properly for the conversation, describe your own position objectively, and are prepared to listen to your counterpart without judgment, you will ensure that both sides can leave the conversation with a positive feeling.
Communication is the be-all and end-all – especially the communication of moods and feelings. Unlike a broken arm, the causes or symptoms of psychological problems are usually not directly identifiable. Saying what you are struggling with or what is on your mind takes a lot of pressure off their shoulders.
