Fermoy Forum

Looking After Your Mental Health by Keeping Active
 Compiled by: Occupational Therapy Dept. (Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare)

When your activity level decreases, you may become even less motivated and more lethargic. When you stop doing the things you used to enjoy, you miss out on good experiences. This can make you feel even worse, building a vicious cycle.

If you are feeling low, it can be difficult to find the motivation and energy to do things that could lift your mood. You may find that you give up activities that you previously enjoyed. Over time, you might end up doing very little. This can lead you to feel even lower. You might also neglect your daily tasks and responsibilities, and start to feel bad about yourself or overwhelmed by all the things you have to do. 

One way to feel better is to be more active, especially in enjoyable activities and in tackling your list of tasks and responsibilities, in a realistic and achievable way, so that you set yourself up to succeed. It’s good to start gradually and build up what you are doing over time, as you would if you were training for a sports event.

Keeping active has many benefits:

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">It helps you to feel better. It gives your mind something else to think about and can help give you a sense of purpose, that you are moving forward and taking control of your life again. You may even get some enjoyment from the activities you do.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">It helps you to feel less tired. Usually, when you are tired, you need rest. However, when you are feeling low, the opposite is true. Sleeping more and doing less will only make you feel more lethargic and tired. It also leaves room for your mind to go over negative things, which will make you feel even worse. </li>
<li style="text-align:left;">It can help you think more clearly. Once you get started, you may find that you take a different perspective on problems.</li>
</ul>

However, it may not be easy to get started. You might think negative thoughts such as “I won’t enjoy doing this,” or “It’s too hard,” or “I’ll probably fail at this too”, or you might try to do too much too soon. Things that you usually don’t even have to think about doing can seem daunting. 
Pace yourself realistically, taking into account both your physical limitations and how you are feeling. You might need to take things more slowly than you have done in the past, to take more breaks, or to switch between one task and another, so that you do not spend too long doing one thing. Think creatively about how you might do something in a more manageable way. Think about what might get in the way of you doing it, and plan ways round these barriers.


The Weekly Plan

Plan your week in advance. You may be able to do more of the things you want to, in addition to the things that you have to do. This can really help to lift your mood.

Start by filling in everything you have to do, such as picking up children from school and attending appointments. Then you can begin to plan other activities that you would like to do. Remember to pace yourself. You may find it helpful to plan in some time for:

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">Things which are important to you and will give you a sense of achievement. Break big tasks down into smaller chunks. For example, if you want to sort out a pile of paperwork, you might make a start by spending twenty minutes on it each day. Often, it is easier to aim to do a task for a set period of time ratherthan trying to achieve a set amount.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Things which you might enjoy. This might include things you have enjoyed in the past and new things you would like to try.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Time spent with people whose company you like.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Exercise. This can improve your mood and general health. It doesn’t need to be anything too energetic. Walking or gentle yoga can be good options.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Time for yourself - make time to relax and give yourself space between activities.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Try to plan consistent bedtimes. Having a regular sleeping pattern can help improve your mood and energy levels.</li>
</ul>

Now, all you have to do is try to follow your plan each day. Give yourself credit for what you do, even if it seems quite small. Don’t worry if unexpected things come up and you cannot stick to it exactly. On the other hand, don’t let not feeling like doing anything stop you from doing what you had planned.


Self-Care Checklist

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">Drink a glass of water</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Stretch</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Take a shower</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Listen to a relaxation exercise</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">If possible go for a walk</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Listen to your favourite music</li>
</ul>
Questions You Can Ask Yourself:

<ol>
<li style="text-align:left;">What am I worried about?</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Who can I talk to about my worries?</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">What am I feeling positive about today?</li>
</ol>
 Wellness Tools

Our wellness tools are day to day things that we can do that make us feel good. When we are having a bad day- remembering our wellness tools and picking one to focus on can help lift our mood. These are specific to you.

A few examples may include:

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">Going for a walk on my own or with a friend</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">A relaxation exercise</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Listening to my favourite music</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Watching favourite movie/T.V show</li>
</ul>

Sleep Hygiene


Sleep hygiene includes having a relatively unvarying sleep schedule, an effective pre-sleep routine for falling asleep, an adequate amount of sleep, and living habits throughout the day that do not negatively impact sleep.

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;"> What do we think is the recommended amount of hours of sleep we should be getting as adults?</li>
</ul>
In and around 7-9 hours sleep is recommended for adults and older adults. This does vary from person to person and medications can impact our sleeping too.

<ul>
<li>Disruptions in sleep can impact your attention, concentration, memory, emotions and engagement in activities throughout the day.</li>
</ul>

Pre-sleep rituals: 
 are the routine activities that we do before sleep to help us get to sleep.

<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">What are the things we do to help us get to sleep?</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">The foods and drink that we take in during the day and the level of physical exercise or movement we do can impact our ability to fall asleep at night. Reducing caffeine intake after 6 p.m., E.g. soothing activities like warm showers, face mask, skincare, shaving, reading a book, mindfulness, yoga, meditation.</li>
</ul>

Environment:


<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">What do we do to the physical room/bed to help us to sleep?</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">The bed and bedroom should be preserved for sleep &amp; sex. Sometimes we might get into the habit of bringing the laptop into the bed to do work, or bringing food into bed. This confuses the body.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Our eyes take in the light in our bedrooms, and when we bring food or work to bed, we connect sleep/rest with these activities.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Light triggers the brain to believe that it is daytime and this makes it harder for us to sleep. We first have to reduce our light intake by switching off phone/ televisions/ laptop screens, dimming the lights (ideally pitch black, but each individual is different), closing the blinds/curtains.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Environmental adaptation: a comfortable mattress, number of pillows that you feel comfortable taking to bed, comfortable bed covers (e.g. the linen), reduced light intake, switching off phone, dimming the lights, closing the blinds/curtains.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Bed partners (a spouse, pet etc.) may also disrupt sleep through snoring or going to bed at a different time to us. This is when you may have to set a boundaries with your bed partner (come to bed a half hour after I go to bed so I have the chance to get into deeper sleep). You may have to adapt to having a bed partner by using simple equipment like earplugs and facemasks. </li>
</ul>
Post sleep rituals: 
<ul>
<li style="text-align:left;">These are the routine activities that we do after we sleep to help us to wake up/get out of bed.</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">What things do we do to help ourselves wake up?</li>
<li style="text-align:left;">Alarm clock, checking our phones, opening the curtains, going for a shower, having some coffee or tea (caffeine to alert the body), having breakfast (cereal, fruit, juice), exercise or doing your makeup/hair.</li>
</ul>

Looking After Your Mental Health While Social Distancing (Part 2)

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