10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them to your life.

A review of several psychologically healthy habits that you can apply practically every day.

Just as it is our job to protect our body and keep it healthy, it is also our job to protect our mental health. There are many small daily things that, if we do them every day, help us to have a good psychological state.

There are many actions that, if done daily, keep our brain healthy, protecting our mind and our mood from emotional and cognitive problems, such as memory lapses, attention problems and mental disorders.

Here are 10 daily habits that are psychologically healthyThe emotional balance is not only related to the cognitive sphere and the absence of mental disorders, but also makes us enjoy good social relationships.

10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them.

We all know that health is not a mere physical matter. Both organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and government health agencies emphasize that health is a state in which there is physical, mental and social fulfillment. In the same way that we must protect our health, avoiding taking substances that are harmful to our body and protecting ourselves adequately in situations that require it (e.g., wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle or wearing a mask in the street), we must also incorporate psychologically healthy daily habits.

The fact that psychological health is not the first thing we see when we look in the mirror does not mean that it does not affect the way we perceive ourselves and relate to others.. A person who is emotionally overwhelmed, who is not able to regulate their emotions and whose brain is not very active intellectually is a person who is more vulnerable to various psychopathologies, both mental disorders such as depression and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. To avoid this, we can incorporate the following psychologically healthy habits into our daily lives.

1. Keeping the brain active

The more time our brain spends inactive, the harder it will be for us to start. To avoid this, it is essential that we incorporate into our daily lives activities that demand a little mental effort, however minimal it may be. Even if we are on vacation or enjoying retirement, it is very important to keep our brains from stopping. because, if we do so, when we have to go back to work or when we want to enjoy something minimally intellectual, it will be a real odyssey.

It is not necessary to complicate our lives or to rack our brains to keep our brains active. It is enough to resort to traditional entertainment such as chess, checkers, card games or even petanque. Any game in which there is a little strategy can work very well to make us think and keep our brains active. to make us think and keep our minds active. We can also turn to individual entertainment, such as sudoku, crossword puzzles, reading or writing.

2. Set goals and get organized

A psychologically healthy habit that we should all incorporate is to set short-, medium- and long-term goals. For workers and students, this is especially important. because, by structuring our work and study routine, as long as we meet the small goals that make up the big objective we have set ourselves, we will avoid situations such as, for example, having to be working intensely at the last minute.

Although we can perform intensely at the last moment, the best thing to do is to plan the tasks, avoiding being overwhelmed before having to hand in a paper or study for an exam because we have not known how to manage ourselves. The stress that we feel in these situations, although it keeps us awake and focused on the goal we want to achieve, can damage our mental health. Therefore, as far as possible, we should organize our goals.

Planning goals and organizing routines is also a powerful psychological ally for people who are already retired. Because they no longer have what used to organize their daily life, their work, they run the risk of the days flying by, not knowing what to do and falling into a situation of apathy and depression. For this reason, once we reach retirement, it is very important to set goals of any kind, whether it is learning a language, improving in a sport or learning to paint well.

By accomplishing the small steps that lead us to our goals in each of these hobbies we can organize our time better, feeling that we are productive and that we have not lost our usefulness or performance.

3. Get enough sleep

Getting enough sleep is a factor of protection and promotion of psychological health.. Some people need more sleep than others, but in general most of us need between 6 and 8 hours. Too little sleep makes us feel mentally tired, putting us in a bad mood because we are not able to do our daily chores properly, while too much sleep makes it difficult for us to concentrate and we are "sleep deprived" all day long. We must know how to find the right balance to enjoy an ideal psychological health.

4. Be assertive

Habits that promote good mental health are not only cognitive and physical, but also social. Assertiveness is the ability to say what we think but in a socially appropriate way and without violating the rights and sensitivities of others, but asserting our own rights and sensitivities.. Being assertive is a habit that protects us from being in a bad mood and suffering mental disorders, in addition to improving our social relationships and identifying which ones are not worth it.

Within this assertiveness is the ability to know how to say "no", especially when people ask us for more things than we can and want to do, both in work and personal contexts. Promising more than what one can end up overwhelming us on the one hand, because we feel we are sacrificing our desires for others, and it can also make us look bad because we can say "yes" to things that are beyond our capabilities and, therefore, do it wrong.

5. Express yourself creatively

Art has been a tool for emotional expression since time immemorial.. Since prehistoric times we humans have been expressing ourselves with cave paintings on the walls of caves and, throughout history, great painters, sculptors and, in short, all kinds of artists have shown off their inner world with all kinds of artistic representations. We can do exactly the same.

Regardless of what technique we use and what our talent is, expressing ourselves creatively is a constructive form of expression, expressing ourselves creatively is a constructive and very original way to keep our psychological health in good shape.. Whether with sculpture, painting or even macramé we can keep ourselves busy while letting our imagination work, activating our brain and feeling how we create something that represents how we are, something totally personal and irreplicable.

6. Have a healthy diet

We can't have good mental health if we eat poorly. The brain needs a varied and balanced diet to be able to function both cognitively and emotionally, for this reason we cannot forget about nutrition. Foods from all food groups should be incorporated, such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, cereals, legumes and dairy products. It is also important to control portions and ensure that the diet incorporates 50% carbohydrates, 30% fats and 20% proteins.

Among the nutrients that make our brain work better are omega 3 and 6, B vitamins (B6 and B12), folic acid, tryptophan, iron, calcium and magnesium. All these nutrients are found in natural, unprocessed foods, and practically any lifestyle that incorporates the Mediterranean diet has satisfied the demand for these substances.

Tryptophan deserves special attention as it is the precursor of serotonin and melatonin, neurotransmitters that are directly related to mood and the sleep cycle.neurotransmitters that are directly related to mood and the sleep cycle. Foods containing tryptophan include lean meats, egg yolk, dairy products, fruits such as bananas and pineapple, whole grains, dark chocolate and legumes.

7. Keep physically active

It is a classic "healthy mind in a healthy body". Exercising not only makes us physically fit, but also mentally fit, contributing to adequate cognitive capacities and a good state of mind. In other words, regular sports practice contributes to good memory, attention, protection from depression and other mental disorders, as well as keeping us emotionally well and less susceptible to mood swings.

The ideal is to practice between 3 and 4 times a week some sport.Although something as simple as walking 30 minutes a day is enough to benefit our psychological state in the long run. It should be said that the practice of more or less intense exercise helps us to secrete endorphins, which induce us to enter a state of well-being and pleasure, something that will certainly keep us in a good mood and will make us see life in a more positive way.

8. Disconnect for a while

In a society in which we are asked to be connected at all times, it seems that disconnecting daily, even for a short time, is impossible. However, this is not only something that is possible but also a necessity.

In order to unwind and prevent our brain from collapsing, it is very important to set aside a moment a day, however brief it may be, to relax.even if it is very brief, to let our mind rest, without stress.

We can do this in many ways, as many as we can think of. Whether lying in bed listening to music, watching our favorite TV show, taking a bubble bath or meditating we can disconnect from the stress out there, either caused by our family or work. The mind needs a little rest, otherwise it can not work or perform properly..

9. Connect with nature

Many people ignore the benefits that nature brings us. Despite the fact that we have been living in cities for centuries, human beings are still animals connected to nature, especially forests and the countryside, although this also applies to the beach and lakes. Whatever our favorite natural environment, any of them will serve us to have a good mental health.

If we are lucky enough to live near a mountain or in the countryside, we cannot miss the opportunity to take a walk there since nature gives us calm and protection against psychological problems. If on the other hand we are not so lucky we can resort to the alternative of a walk in a park or a green area, a visit to a botanical garden or a natural museum..

10. Taking care of relationships

Taking care of personal relationships on a daily basis is something that few know how to value, but that we should all take into account. We may take it for granted that our friends, family and partner will always be there, even if months go by without us speaking to each other due to simple carelessness and neglect. Big mistake. While with family this does not happen so much, the truth is that with friends there is a real risk of it happening, and a relationship that was once as if it was as good as new can be lost. a relationship that before was as if we were siblings becomes that of two people practically unknown to each other..

For this reason, we must dedicate a minimum of time every day to revive our social relationships, especially if we do not live close to our loved ones. We don't need to talk to everyone every day, but we do need to devote a minimum of regular attention to each of the people on our personal contact list. regular attention to each of the people on our personal contact list.. For example, we can start Monday talking to a friend, Tuesday with our brother, Wednesday with our parents ....

Although the ideal is to meet in person and do something together, distance can make this task difficult. Fortunately, new technologies keep us connected and bring us closer to those who are far away from us, so we can make video calls or simply chat to remind those people who are still our loved ones that we do not forget them and that we want to keep the flame of affection and friendship alive.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Organización Mundial de la Salud (2013). Salud mental: un estado de bienestar. [Online]. Disponible en: https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/es/.
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• Chekroud, S.R., Gueorguieva, R., Zheutlin, A.B., Paulus, M., Krumholz, H.M., Krystal, J.H. & Chekroud, A.M. (2018). Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1-,2 million individuals in the USA between 2011-2015: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet Psychiatry.
• Aranda, C., Pando, M. y Aldrete, M. G. (2002). Jubilación, trastornos psicológicos y redes sociales de apoyo en el adulto mayor jubilado. Revista de psiquiatría de la Facultad de Medicina, 29, 169 - 174.
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