Most of us grew up with the belief that you either have mental health issues or you don’t. 

However, as we got older, we realized that with the challenges that life throws at us sometimes, mental health issues like anxiety and depression sporadically rear their ugly heads.

These mental health issues fall on a scale of – none, mild, moderate, and severe – and we all experience them to varying degrees.

If you are the kind of person that is proactive and notice when your mental health starts to decline, you will seek out information on what to do to improve it.

As you might know by now, most of the advice available on this topic includes suggestions like exercising, eating a healthy diet, spending time in nature, or seeing someone about it – Like a therapist.

aargh! the dread. Right?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m here for these propositions.

The only problem I have with them is that they are big changes that might require a lot of willpower and can also feel overwhelming when you are drowning in anxiety and depression.

I believe that a more sustainable strategy to improve your mental health is to incorporate tiny yet powerful habits into your daily routine.

In this blog, I will discuss 5 of my favorite tiny habits that have helped improve my mental health and I believe they can help you too.

But before I continue, it is important to take note of the following principles of change if you want any tiny change to become a habit.

1. Begin with one easy tiny habit at a time

It is crucial that you begin with the change that requires the least amount of energy and that is enjoyable for you – the low-hanging fruit.

This is important because you will most likely stick to this change – and the more consistent you are with it, the quicker it will turn into a habit.

So, if you like to exercise, start with that. If you hate to exercise, maybe start with a 5-minute guided meditation.

Starting with the easiest tiny habit will give you the energy and motivation to explore other habits in the long run.

2. Create a system for your tiny habit

When you decide to cultivate a habit, it’s like setting a goal right?

After deciding on the new habit, work on creating a system that will make this tiny habit easier over time and not harder.

This is something I learned from James Clear’s book: Atomic Habits

For example, I love to read to calm my mind.

To make it easy for me, I put books in different parts of my house to make them accessible whenever I need to read a page or two.

If you like to do yoga to calm your mind, you could place your yoga mat where you can easily access it and not have it shoved somewhere in your closet, where you can’t even see it.

3. Create a habit tracker

Tracking your habits will give you a visual indication of how you are performing.

If you have been on track with your habits and have been knocking them out of the park, this will give you a dopamine boost that will help keep you motivated and going.

I usually like to plan out my week in my planner.

On the personal development page, I indicate which days of the week I will be reading, meditating, and exercising.

This enables me to track how I performed at the end of the week.

Having a planner is an easy way to track your habits and I highly recommend it.

There are also free habit-tracking apps online that you can use. For those that like everything digital.

Now…. Let’s get into this list.

Here are 5 tiny habits that will improve your mental health.

1. Wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day

The reason why I’m beginning with this is that getting a good night’s sleep plays an essential role in mental health.

When you are sleep deprived you become hyper-sensitive to threats which makes you less resilient in the face of challenges.

However, when you are well-rested, you will have more energy to rationally handle any difficulties that might present themselves.

This will help reduce any anxieties or depression that you have massively.

2. Check your phone for five minutes only after every two hours and turn off notifications when working

I can’t begin to tell you how effective this small habit is in improving your mental help.

Firstly, it will allow you to enter a flow state when you are working.

This will enable you to hit your work targets for each day and reduce any stresses and anxieties you have around unaccomplished tasks.

Secondly, consuming information about other people’s lives on social media may cause you to compare yourself with these people.

This can promote feelings of low self-worth which increases feelings of anxiety and depression.

3. Move your body when you catch yourself having negative thoughts

Moving your body helps to release negative pent-up energy.

If this energy is not released, it will be fed back to your mind to create more negative thoughts and ultimately form a negative thinking loop.

This negative thinking loop will create a spike in your emotions which will make your anxiety worse.

For example, instead of ruminating, you can take a walk and get some sun in or do some stretching exercises.

Funny story: When I have had a particularly rough day or encountered a person who managed to ruin my mood, when I get back home, instead of wallowing in what happened, I like to play music I can dance to and that uplifts my spirits.

It’s very cathartic. Try it out!

4. Meditation

The reason why this is one of my favorite go-to practices for mental health is that meditation can help you learn to stay calm and keep your inner peace.

This leads to a decline in any anxieties and depression that you might have.

Meditation is an umbrella term for the many ways to achieve a relaxed state of being.

The ways to meditate can include:

• Guided meditation: Here you are focusing your attention on a mental image of places or situations you find relaxing while listening to a recorded guided meditation.
• Mantra meditation: Here you repeat a calming word, thought, or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts. When I am anxious about money, my go-to mantra is: My supply precedes me.
• Mindfulness: Here you have an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment. You focus on what you experience during the meditation such as the flow of your breath. You can also observe your thoughts and let them pass without judgment.

I used to be so identified with my mind and so reactive. Meditation gave me the tool I needed to practice self-regulation. 

If you are facing the same challenge, experiment with the different types of meditation I have mentioned and see what works for you.

5. Keeping a gratitude journal.

Having a gratitude journal where you jot down the things that you are grateful for might seem like the easiest of all the five tiny habits, but, believe me, it is the most effective one.

This is because it shifts your perspective on how your life is going.

Sometimes when we are faced with a difficult situation, whether in our professional or personal lives, it’s easy to brush off what could be going well elsewhere.

Writing down what you are grateful for will make you realize that it’s not all bad.

As you continue down the list, you will start to notice a change in your mood; a spark of appreciation and optimism will be ignited.

I believe that being grateful is part of the foundational work required for a positive paradigm shift.

Also, a nice tidbit is that gratitude is the universal law of increase.

Conclusion

Mental health determines how you handle stress, relate to others, and make choices; all of which impact your life greatly.

Granted, many factors play a part in your mental health, some of which you don’t have control over, such as genetics, life experiences, and family history.

However, you have the ability to influence your mental health one tiny change at a time.

Let me know in the comments below if this article was helpful and some of the ways you handle mental health issues like anxiety and depression when they arise.