10 habits to prevent mental disorders

Key ideas to apply to your daily life to prevent the onset of psychological disorders.

The prevalence of mental disorders has increased significantly in recent decades, and the reasons for this epidemiological upturn are the subject of much research.

Depression and anxiety disorders, in particular, are becoming increasingly common. In fact, a high percentage of people who consult their family doctor suffer from one of these psychopathologies.

It is therefore important to learn strategies to reduce the likelihood of suffering from mental health problems. In this article you will find various habits to prevent psychological disorderssimple and accessible for all the people.

Ten habits to prevent mental disorders

The ten habits to prevent mental disorders presented below are based on current scientific knowledge. Sometimes they allude to organic bases (such as physical exercise and/or sleep), while in other cases they have an impact on cognitive or behavioral correlates associated with both the onset and maintenance of these emotional health problems.

1. Be compassionate with yourself and recognize your imperfection.

It is dramatically common that, when judging ourselves, we adopt a posture of enormous rigidity and self-criticism. In this way, we tend to impose we tend to impose on our lives a whole succession of obligations that are not really obligations.We often take the unnecessary risk of feeling unhappy and frustrated. Many times, in these moments of emotional pain, we may say such cruel words to ourselves that we would not even say them to the worst of our enemies.

And it all starts from the fact that we force ourselves to live in the narrow margins of an unattainable perfection, trying to satisfy impossible expectations that progressively erode affective resources and condemn us to psychological discomfort. It is therefore essential to adopt an understanding attitude that recognizes the option of making mistakes as a matter of course, without succumbing to catastrophic thoughts when this happens ("if I don't do this perfectly, I'm worthless", for example).

2. Cultivate your hobbies

Neglect of enjoyable moments is common among those who wander down the dark path of depression. Although sadness is a necessary and useful emotion, sometimes it can precipitate the summative loss of activities that in the past provided happiness, so that the quality of our daily life is impoverished and we enter a prison whose bars are forged with monotony.

The emotional inertia in which we are immersed when we find ourselves in such a state does not make things easier, so we must be aware that our first attempts to overcome it will seem like impositions that contravene our body's demands. we must be aware that our first attempts to overcome it will seem like impositions that contravene what our body is demanding of us.. As if they did not arise naturally or were opposed to an imperative that escapes our control. Every major life change involves a prior process of adaptation, which requires effort and persistence, even when we know well that it will bring us positive things.

3. Maintain healthy relationships with others

Social support is considered one of the keys to mediate between stress and its impact on psychological health.especially when it is of an emotional nature (having people to talk to about our intimate concerns or having someone to provide us with affection), far above that which only covers our immediate material needs (providing us with economic resources). Feeling that we are loved and esteemed has, in itself, therapeutic properties.

However, it is essential to keep in mind that social support is not measured by the number of people we have around us, but by the quality of the ties that bind us to them. Saying thank you, asking for forgiveness and opening up to others is also important; for a wonderful network of human beings may not be of real help to us if we lack the skills to communicate adequately with it. That is, social support requires a proactive and open attitude to give and receive.

4. Do new things every day

Inertia and routine are two elements that erode our ability to be happy. In fact, they shorten the time of life in a certain sense: it has been demonstrated that those who live without bringing variety to their daily lives end up perceiving their existence as shorter than it really was, because the brain ignores repetitive moments because it considers them of little personal relevance. For the latter, living with emotion is basic.

Dare from time to time to break with your most rigidly established habits.Walk down unusual streets, change your haircut, dress differently or undertake some learning experience that generates curiosity in you. In any case, make your daily life a space in which astonishment and the unexpected can arise, without this implying an erratic and uncontrolled life. This fragile balance, as necessary as it is elusive, comes to be forged with practice.

5. Practice regular physical exercise

Physical exercise has proven to be healthy not only for the body, but also for the mind.. Daily activity activates the body at times when it may be falling into a sedentary lifestyle that often coexists with depression or anxiety, generating a series of endocrine changes that manifest themselves in the form of emotional health benefits and a reinforcement of our self-image.

Physical exercise boosts the production of endorphins at a central level, which reduce the sensation of physical and emotional Pain and provide us with pleasurable sensations. Studies on this issue show that people who practice aerobic sports regularly show reduced levels of depression and report feeling substantially less stressed, regardless of the objective demands of their work or the rest of their daily responsibilities.

6. Be genuine with your emotions

Efforts to hide emotions, or the refusal to feel them fully, are associated with an exacerbation of their intensity and greater difficulty in regulating them. and greater difficulty in regulating them. There is ample evidence that the professions that generate the most accentuated psychological discomfort are those that force us to act in a different way than we feel in our inner self (keeping a smile on our face despite having had a bad day, for example).

The first step is to interpret the emotions we may feel as useful tools for understanding the world around us, others and ourselves; embracing them as an indivisible part of the experience. By doing so we will be able to approach them with much more security, keeping the necessary distance to distinguish their nuances and listen to what they are trying to communicate. Escaping from what we feel is like trying to flee from a room without doors or windows, but even more distressing.

7. Look for a purpose

Viktor Frankl said that any circumstance in life, no matter how difficult it may be, would be bearable by attributing a personal meaning to it. He added that the absence of a purpose was responsible for generating a deep malaise (or noogenic depression), which would be perceived as a painful void in the fabric of existence. For all these reasons, his logotherapy pursued individuals to discover their fundamental goal, their life plan or their ultimate purpose.

Finding a purpose, something worth living for, strengthens the motivation to continue our efforts, strengthens the motivation to continue our efforts in situations of failure or frustration..

8. Surround yourself with nature

Humans tend to feel happy when they mingle with nature. However, this effect is not appreciated by the simple fact of being close to animals or plants, but requires the ability to feel integrated as part of the environment. requires the ability to feel integrated as a part of the environment.. Today it is known that children who grow up in places that stimulate this connection, developing a feeling of fraternal union with the rest of the living beings that inhabit the earth, improves the ability to feel empathy towards others.

Walks in undeveloped areas are pleasant for most people. If we do it taking advantage of the sunlight, we will improve the central production (pineal gland) of melatonin during the night, a hormone related to positive affections and a more restful sleep (as it contributes to regulate the circadian rhythms).

9. Sleep regularly

Sleep is one of the most rapidly compromised physiological functions among those suffering from psychological problems. Insomnia is an element common to both depressive and anxious symptoms, so it can be present in both cases.It can be present in both cases. Thus, we know that poor sleep increases the risk of suffering from mental health problems, while the latter also impair the quality of sleep, producing a cycle from which it can be difficult to escape.

Getting adequate sleep is important, and for this we must adopt a set of healthy habits: avoid physical exercise three hours before going to bed, seek a dark and quiet environment, take short naps (45 minutes maximum), eat a frugal dinner, wear comfortable clothes, refuse to drink alcohol or coffee in the last hours of the day, seek a pleasant temperature, set regular times to go to bed or wake up, and use the bedroom only for sleeping and having sex.

10. Learn to make decisions and be assertive.

One of the reasons why people often experience discomfort in their lives is because of their difficulty in making decisions, or in using proactive strategies in the face of unsolvable problems. Identify the problem, define it in operational terms, extracting plausible alternatives, assessing the quality of the options available to us, and acting accordingly.These are a basic process for dealing successfully with demanding situations. There are specific programs for this, such as Nezu and D'Zurilla's decision-making training.

On the other hand, learning to communicate assertively is also a habit that can protect us from developing emotional problems, particularly those arising from interpersonal conflicts. Through assertiveness we express what we need while safeguarding the rights of others, without engaging in excessively hostile or passive behavior. Assertiveness is thus a search for balance in the relationships we maintain with other people.

Bibliographical references:

• Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. Foreingn Affairs, 86(6), 26 - 27.
• Shang, E. (2019). The keys to happiness: Associations between personal values regarding core life domains and happiness in South Korea. PLoS One, 14(1), e0209821.