Advertisement feature by Daisy Dixon, founder and psychotherapist at Chrysalis, talks about wellbeing
TICK tock, and the clocks have gone back. The nights are getting darker, and this can really affect our mood and wellbeing so I thought it would be helpful to see what we can do to make the darker months lighter.
Wellbeing describes how you are feeling and how well you can cope with day-to-day life. Our wellbeing can change from moment to moment, day to day, month to month or year to year.
If you have good mental wellbeing, you can feel relatively confident and have positive self-esteem, feel and express a range of emotions, build and maintain good relationships, feel engaged with the world around you, live and work productively, cope with the stresses of daily life, and adapt and manage in times of change and uncertainty.
We’re all different so what affects someone’s mental wellbeing won’t necessarily affect others in the same way.
But we all have times when we have low wellbeing, feel stressed, upset, or find it difficult to cope. Common life events that can affect your wellbeing include loss or bereavement, loneliness, relationship problems, issues at work and worry about money.
Other times there is no clear reason for why we feel the way we do – which can be frustrating.
No matter the reason, it can be helpful to remember you deserve to feel good and there are steps you can take to improve and maintain your mental wellbeing.
A good place to start is with breathing – simple focusing on breathing can help the body and mind relax.
When we feel anxious or stressed, it’s our body’s natural response to feeling threatened and so our breathing rate increases as does blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, sweating, state of mental arousal and adrenaline flow.
Relaxation helps to decrease that adrenaline response. Learning to breath more deeply can help you feel a lot calmer.
This simple breathing exercise can be done in a few seconds, no matter where you are. It is particularly helpful at stressful times, but it’s also useful to do it at regular intervals throughout the day:
• Take a deep, slow breath in and hold it for five seconds. Feel your abdomen expand as you do this.
• Breathe out slowly, to a count of five.
• Breathe in again, make every breath slow and steady and the same as the one before it and the one after it.
• As you breathe out, concentrate on expelling all the air in your lungs. You could make a noise like ‘whoo’ as you do this to help you feel the air being let out. Keep the outbreath going for as long as you can. Keep it relaxed for a few seconds before you inhale again.
Another simple step, to improve well-being, is accessing green space as this can really help promote feelings of wellbeing and improve self-esteem. As little as 30 minutes’ exposure to natural light per day can improve mental health and help maintain a healthy sleep pattern.
This is even more necessary in the winter months when light becomes less. So, wrap up and take a stroll round the park, countryside or sit in your garden with a cuppa.
Writing down your worries can help neutralise stress and anxiety. Some people find it helpful to write down their worries and thoughts daily.
If you do this, try and add some feelings and emotions as well. Once you understand what you are feeling, then you can better address, understand and learn from those worries and unhelpful thoughts.
Hopefully these steps will boost your winter wellbeing and please remember to be kind to yourself, and practice self-care.
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