Sleep

Without it, you don’t function well, just like a toddler. But you know this already. If you’re getting less than 6 hours of sleep, or having problems with broken sleep or nightmares, head over to our Sleep page. 

Exercise

Your body needs movement in whatever format you can tolerate. Whether that is a walk around the block, chasing after kids, vacuuming the house or joining the crossfit craze, you need to move every day. 

Light

Exposure to sunlight, especially in the morning, is important for regulating your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle. The light sensor in your brain works like the thing that controls auto-headlights on a car. When the sun is bright, your wake cycle is activated, when the environment is dim, your brain prepares for sleep. For more information, check out our page on Sleep and Light. 

Food

Your body needs food for fuel. Duh! But the food choices you make can have an impact on your emotions. Foods with high carbs or sugar will cause glucose spikes and crashes that can cause similar spikes and crashes in your mood. If you’re hankering for a snack, choose a protein option. Read more on our page about Nutritional Psychiatry. 

Clean

Wash your body, brush your teeth and try to run a brush through your hair at least daily. When the grips of melancholy make this feel impossible, go for baby wipes, listerine and dry shampoo. Remember that your skin is an organ and needs cleaning. Your teeth are the only exposed parts of your skeleton and need cleaning. Don’t allow your mood to dictate your choices on this one. Push yourself to do it anyway. 

Avoid your kryptonite

How is your mood when you are hungover? How jittery do you get when you’ve had too much caffeine? What is the crash like when you’ve been using benzos? How do you feel when the sugar wears off? You need to know what your kryptonite is and reduce or avoid it. If you are struggling with mood swings, remember that you feel what you eat and drink. Also remember that sometimes your kryptonite can be your phone, watching TV or spending time with toxic people. So choose what you need to change. 

Routine and rest

Humans need a balance between consistency and novelty. That’s called a dialectic. Ironically, scheduling in time for novelty works well. Maintaining a healthy level of self-care takes effort and discipline. There will be days when you don’t feel like moving or eating well, and those are probably the days when you need it the most. So set yourself a routine for getting these activities done across the week, and make sure your routine includes rest.  Rest is just as important as productivity. Figure out what rest activity feels restorative for you and schedule it into your routine. 

Engage

Humans are social creatures. We don’t survive well in isolation (or lockdown). We need contact with other creatures to maintain our wellbeing. So make time for connection each day, whether that is talking, texting, sharing memes or just cuddling your pet. 

This list might seem a bit hefty if you’re not used to it. But with practise, it will become more automatic. Also remember that you are allowed to have flexibility with this. If you need a rest day, then maybe exercise gets dropped that day, but do your best to pick it up the next day. If you have a treat, pay attention to how it affects your mood a few hours later, then adjust your next food choice accordingly. 

Find the dialectic of balancing self-denial with self-indulgence. Too much of either is bad for you, so aim for the middle ground.