6 Foundational Things That Will Improve Your Mental Health

mental health is not the mystery
that it once was

although there's a lot of things we
don't know about how the brain works

or why people feel certain things
or what makes it better,

there also is a lot that we have
figured out since the days

of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung
and those early pioneers of psychology.

There are many things that we can
definitively say:

"If you do this thing you will see
some amount of improvement ."

The problem is that a lot
of these proven strategies

for improving mental health are difficult,

uncomfortable or unpleasant to implement;

and a trap I see people get sucked into
all the time is they keep looking

for new solutions, new answers, new ideas,

not because they don't have any solutions

but because they don't like
the solutions they have.

They don't want to implement the things
that they already know

and so they spend hours and hours
reading books listening to podcasts

watching YouTube videos to try to find
an easier faster or more convenient way

to make the changes they already know
they should be making.

The thing about this is it's at best
this is procrastination

at worst it's avoidance.

Sometimes we need to stop acquiring
new information and focus

on applying the information
we already have.

And rather than looking
for that magic bullet, so to speak,

work on creating a foundation
combined with all of the things

we already know are definitely going
to help us if we could get them going.

When I hear somebody in therapy say:
"I've tried everything",

what they usually mean is:
I've tried everything that I want to try".

So that's why today instead of presenting
a new concept,

I'm going to review some things
that you probably already know,

but what I am hoping to do is maybe
present them in a new or novel way

that will make them feel more accessible,
more attainable

or more applicable
than they previously did.

So, without further ado
here are seven things

that you probably already know
you should be doing

but might be struggling to implement
into your life.

And the first is doing things
that you are scared to do,

in other words exposure therapy,
facing your fears.

Your comfort zone only grows
when you are not in it.

This is critical for you to understand.

And engaging in activities that cause you
anxiety or that cause you discomfort

is a lot ... it's kind of like stretching
your emotional range

in the same way that something
like yoga or calisthenics

is like stretching your movement range.

It doesn't necessarily feel great
while you are doing it.

In fact it can often be an unpleasant
experience while you're doing it.

But if you do it regularly,
navigating the world

becomes more enjoyable and less painful.

And you're less likely to get hurt:

if you stretch regularly,
you are less likely to hurt your body

when you're out and about
moving around

and there's fewer situations that you're
unable to physically navigate, right?

When you practice regular exposure therapy
and work on

in a sort of a planned strategic manner

facing, and hopefully eventually
conquering the things you are afraid of,

the world starts to open up to you. ////

It becomes more accessible and less scary

because there are fewer situations you

can imagine that you would find yourself

in that overwhelm your anxiety this is a

huge part of why I used to be so

isolated when I was younger it's because

I was terrified of doing literally

everything other than playing video

games in my room to be honest with you

and so I avoided people I avoided

opportunity I avoided school I avoided

work because I felt like I had so few

skills and so little coping ability that

it was only a matter of time before I'd

encounter a situation that would

completely overwhelm me so I didn't

enter situations like literally I just

didn't the more confidence you have

about your ability to navigate these

stressful situations the less scary life

becomes and the more opportunities you

have the second thing that you probably

already know you should be doing but

might be struggling to do is taking good

care of your living space unless you are

an absurdly wealthy person you are going

to spend the vast majority of your life

in two environments the place that you

work and the place that you live now the

place you live you might own your entire

home you might rent you might have a

room you might have a condo whatever you

have you have an environment that you

call home and so these two environments

your work and your home they have a

tremendous impact on your mental health

if for no reason no other reason I

should say than volume they're where you

spend the majority of your time and so

the way they look the way they feel the

way they function is critical to your

emotional well-being we know that the

environments that you spend your time in

have a huge impact on your mental health

and basically what it comes down to for

me my phrasing is if you're your home

doesn't feel comfortable to you you

basically never feel like your home it's

like you don't have a home you don't

have a space you have a home but what

you don't have is a space in this world

that feels right to you that's what

you're missing and we all need that and

I believe we all deserve that but you

will not have one unless you make one

you're the one that has to create and

maintain it and I don't always like that

either but I don't make the rules I just

report on them and this is the way we

work taking good care of your

environment can be a very timec

consuming task especially if you've

neglected it for a long time but

remember that you don't have to do it

all at once right start small do a

little bit each day and before you know

it maybe your heart will have a home

again and that's something that can be

invaluable for our mental health

Journeys the third thing you probably

already know you should be doing but

might be struggling to do is to actually

Implement sleep hygiene techniques there

there are two types of insomnia there's

clinical insomnia and there's behavioral

insomnia clinical insomnia is when for

the most part you are doing things right

your day is structured in a way that

should allow you to fall asleep and stay

asleep reasonably well but you are

unable to do so and it takes hours to

fall asleep behavioral insomnia is when

you have a double shot at 300 p.m. you

get into bed at 11:00 p.m. you scroll on

your phone till midnight then you toss

and turn until 3: in the morning in

other words you have insomnia but it's

because of choices you're making it's

not because your brain doesn't know how

to go to sleep it's because you're not

letting it go to sleep and you've set up

your life in a way that simply does not

support sleep most people who struggle

with sleep have behavioral insomnia not

clinical insomnia clinical insomnia is

actually relatively rare and it's

usually a matter of lifestyle and habits

that are primarily facilitating the the

experience of insomnia so my question to

you would be are you actually practicing

sleep hygiene and and suffering clinical

insomnia as a result or are you

self-sabotaging and then complaining

about it because not to put too fine a

point on it but that's basically what

behavioral insomnia is you are

unintentionally I know I'm I'm

oversimplifying things a little bit

you're making it as difficult as

possible for your brain to fall asleep

and then being like brain why didn't you

fall asleep I mean you're you're kind of

gaslighting your sleep cycle in a sense

it's a weird way to think of it I know

but that's kind of what you're doing if

you struggle with insomnia take a take a

real honest inventory of your nighttime

routine and ask yourself do I think it's

reasonable that I should be able to fall

asleep pretty quickly or am I basically

taking everything I know about sleep

throwing it out the window and thinking

that's still going to work because it it

won't you're you have a brain and you

have a nervous system and we know a lot

about how these factors affect our

ability to fall asleep and stay asleep

and so if sleep is not really a my

it's just that most people aren't doing

it right and and that's really what I

want you to consider if you're

struggling with insomnia am I am I doing

it right or am I just gaslighting my own

sleep cycle the fourth thing that you

probably already know you should be

doing but might be having trouble with

is minimizing or eliminating drug and

alcohol use now this one's a little bit

different I know because this one is

harder for a person to control directly

than some of the other topics we're

going to discuss here and I I believe me

I am understanding of that most people

who use drugs and alcohol use them

because they want to feel anything other

than what it is like to be themselves um

and it seems like nothing could possibly

worse than just waking up today and

feeling like me and and frankly I know

what that feeling is like substances put

you on a physical and mental roller

coaster though where instead of changing

what it feels like to be you which is

ultimately the reality that you are

struggling with you are temporarily

escaping what it feels like to be you

and when the Escape wears up off you

often feel even worse than before and

therefore you feel an even stronger

desire to escape from yourself which

manifests as increased substance use and

creates a downward spiral that the

longer it goes on becomes harder and

harder to extricate yourself from so if

this is you I have a little bit of a

different idea for you here because

everything else in this video has been

all about here's what you can do if

you're struggling with drug and alcohol

use and the pattern I just describ kind

of sounds like you maybe it's time to

admit that you cannot do this alone and

that you need some help with this

problem substance misuse is probably the

hardest mental health condition to treat

without support maybe tied with eating

disorders because they're very similar

neurologically and I think that's mainly

because it's so easy to lie to yourself

and you know most people aren't

deceiving themselves about their

depression or their anxiety so like well

it's not that bad like usually you face

those things pretty head on you're like

no this is awful and I need help but

when it comes to that produce a

momentary sense of reward like eating

disorders and substance misuse you tend

to rationalize you tend to explain you

tend to minimize you tend to make

excuses and if you've had several

unsuccessful attempts at changing those

habits for yourself maybe it's time to

stop putting so much pressure on

yourself to accept some help and to

accept some support in this domain there

is no shame in that this is typically

not a solo Endeavor and it might be time

to think about asking for for help the

fifth thing that you probably already

know you should be doing but might be

having a hard time doing is being

Physically Active every day so I mean

this one is no mystery right you

probably had a million people tell you

this already including your doctor every

time you see them and every other

Medical Professional you interact with

you've probably heard it so many times

that you're sick of hearing it and you

have an innate automatic defensive

response when someone says this to you

so sorry about that because I probably

just triggered it but here's the thing

your brain needs blood your brain does

not work very well if it does not have

healthy accessible blood flow it's

literally one of the resources your

brain runs on it's like gasoline for

your brain and most of us have very

sedentary Lifestyles which negatively

impact our cardiovascular health I mean

that's that's just the way Society has

it's not your fault that's the way

Society has gone most jobs don't use our

bodies if you have a very Physically

Active job you probably don't need to

worry about this because you are

Physically Active every day it doesn't

have to be extra right it doesn't have

to be prescribed exercise if you get

this in from your job or from your kids

or whatever fine but if you're like me

and you literally just sit on your butt

for nine hours a day at work you need to

add this in your predefined life doesn't

have enough of it it's I'm not a fan of

how Society has made us so sedentary but

it is what it is since your brain needs

blood to work right cardiovascular

health is brain health if you constantly

feel foggy forgetful distracted or Moody

it might be because your brain doesn't

have enough blood flow it might be

because your brain doesn't have one of

the resources that needs to keep your

prefrontal cortex powered on because all

the things that I just said live there

and when your brain is lacking in any

essential resource blood oxygen rest or

caloric energy it enters a low power

mode much like what's on your phone or

your tablet or your laptop and certain

processes don't work as well as they

normally do the first part of the brain

that takes the hit when we're low on

resources is the prefrontal cortex it's

executive functioning its emotion

regulation it's social engagement so if

those are things you're struggling with

it's probably because your brain doesn't

have all the resources it needs to do

its job properly the one thing I always

try to emphasize with physical activity

too is like the way you do it really

doesn't matter if you want to lift

weights lift weights if you want to run

run if you want to do team sports do

team sports like if you hate some

certain type of exercise don't do it

it's not it's not huge

critical how you do it it's just

critical that you do it so find

something that you either like ideally

if there's nothing like literally

nothing find the thing you hate the

least it can be some weird obscure thing

maybe you want to get into hobby horsing

and if you don't know what that is you

should look it up on social media it's a

fascinating world if you do know what it

is I appreciate the people who

understand my obscure references because

there are many of them just do something

to get that that blood going to your

brain you might be amazed how much it

helps you really might be amazed the

sixth and final thing that you probably

asteris did this one probably know you

should be doing but are probably having

trouble doing is to stop beating

yourself up about how long it is taking

to get your life in order now I realize

that you might have been doing that

throughout this video already because as

I'm saying things that you probably

already knew you should be doing you

might have been beating yourself up

guilt tripping yourself shaming yourself

and if you were knock it off right now

sorry I had to say it that way but

seriously you're not doing yourself any

favors we all have enough pressure on us

already probably more than enough

pressure probably a maladaptive amount

of pressure and changes hard our brains

actively resist it because they're wired

for homeostasis we associate familiarity

with safety and with security and on a

very basic survival level we fight back

against our own attempts change putting

too much pressure on yourself tends to

keep you stuck so try patience and

gentleness instead and see what happens

it is amazing what people can do when

they finally feel understood and are

treated with respect and compassion and

it is very possible that the person most

standing in your way of feeling those

things and experiencing those things is

you