We all have bad habits, it’s just that sometimes we don’t recognise them and sometimes we keep them hiding under the rug, we rarely pay attention to what they might do to us mentally. You probably are already aware of how bad habits can affect your physical health but do you know that some bad habits can sabotage our mental health too?
Here’s a list of 10 bad habits that we all have or had at some point of our life, that are interfering with your mental health.
- Spending too much time on social media: A 2021 observational study has shown that the more time a person spends on social media, the more the chances of developing depression, stress, anxiety increases. Social media brings negative thoughts, you start comparing your life and appearance with others which harms your mental well-being. So, if you spend the majority of your time browsing social media, you need to take a break and see how it changes the way you look at yourself.
- Unhealthy eating: Just as eating unhealthy is harmful to your physical health, it negatively affects your mental health as well. What you eat directly affects the function of your brain and your mood. Your brain is always at work even when you’re asleep. It takes care of everything: your breathing, your thoughts, your heartbeat which means your brain needs a proper healthy diet that contains lots of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants which improves the functioning of your brain and protects it from stress, and depression.
- Procrastination: Procrastination is something we all do from time to time. But why do we procrastinate? Either we don’t want to do the task because it’s boring or frustrating or we feel anxious about completing it which makes us procrastinate. Procrastination is associated with various mental health issues such as depression, higher levels of stress, anxiety and ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). This time when procrastination takes hold, try to develop time management techniques to help you deal with it.
- Lack of any physical activity: Physical activity not only improves your physical well being, it’s also great for your mental health. Being physically active reduces depression, anxiety and stress and improves self esteem and cognitive function. When you perform any physical activity, feel-good hormones ‘Endorphins’ are released which acts as a natural pain reliever and helps the body to react to mental stress. Being physically active means moving your body and muscles by any means be it swimming, jogging, cycling, dancing, exercising whatever you feel like doing.
- Not taking enough sleep: Sleep affects everything: our mood, our work, our thoughts, our movements and our relationships. Sleep is closely associated with mental and emotional health that causes mood disorders such as depression, dysthymia and bipolar disorder. Make sure that you are taking 7-8 hours of restorative sleep every night for the better functioning of the brain.
- Comparison: When everyone shares the highlights of their lives on social media, we tend to compare our life with others all the time which is normal. But you should know where to stop and how to shift your mind away from it. Once comparison fills your head with negative self-talk and negative thoughts, stop. Don’t let them take over your happiness And ruin your mental health. When comparison comes to your mind, count your blessings and just remember nobody has a perfect life. We all have a full plate with problems in life. Comparison is a trap which leads to envious feelings and unhappiness resulting in depression and anxiety.
- Anger: if you are angry all the time and can’t control your rage, you are only inviting negativity, sadness, loneliness, depression in your life. It has a negative impact on our overall physical as well as mental health. We all feel angry at times. It’s normal. Feeling angry sometimes motivates us to make changes, achieve our goals and help us identify problems. Anger becomes a problem when you can’t control it and harms you or people around you. This way anger becomes your go-to emotion and takes away your ability to feel other emotions.
- Living in the clutter: if you’re surrounded by clutter, it is a sign of depression or another mental health issue. It affects your mood and causes more anxiety and stress. Decluttering your space can be a good way of reducing stress. It helps to improve your mental health by making you feel calmer and happier. A tidier place can make for a calm and relaxed mind.
Recognize which of these bad habits are interfering with your mental health and try to become a better version of you. Remember you can’t change your bad habits overnight. Take your time and work on it.
The more you are positive and say, ‘I want to have a good life,’ the more you build that reality for yourself by creating the life that you want.
-Chris Pine
