Mental Health Awareness Week 2024: 11 simple things I've found helpful for anxiety and depression - Gaby Soutar

Contrary to popular belief, all of us have mental health. Having problems might make you feel like an outlier, but it’s not really the case.

There are those that flounder, a lucky – but small – proportion that coast through their existence, and the remaining stoics are just very talented at pretending there’s absolutely nothing wrong. Life is tough, for everyone.

This week is the Mental Health Foundation’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 (May 13-19), with the annual theme of movement and its benefits.

Indeed, if you’ve suffered from depression or anxiety, it can be a shock to discover there isn’t an easy fix. Any treatment can feel a bit like wee David versus Goliath. However, I’ve found the below can help with improving mental health.

Background of a rear view of a woman with hat in a yellow flowers field. Spring and summer landscape. Pic: Iban Riu/Adobe

Not necessarily a lot, but enough to make a tiny but meaningful difference. And my list does include movement, just not of the twerking variety.

1 Yes to walking. Make yourself leave the house, travel from A to B, then back to A. Personally, I enjoy factoring in a mission, and if that includes visiting a bakery that sells the best pain-au-chocolat in town, so be it. Croissants should be available on prescription.

There’s something about being in-transit that can shift thoughts. It’s like they separate into egg yolks and whites, and the catastrophic notions can easily be separated from the more rational ones. Humans were once nomads, so maybe that’s why walking improves our mindset. Call me a pound shop anthropologist, if you must.

I have transitioned to more frantic activity, like cardio classes, because sometimes it takes a bit more to get the endorphins jumping. Also, hot yoga releases some excellent chemicals, while cycling can link you back to that childhood sense of freedom. Unless an Achilles is snapped, you rarely regret doing exercise.

2 Meditation. To be honest, I’ve never been able to commit to this practice. I have a mental block when it comes to making time to sit down in my dusty living room/office and find Zen. I do feel that it’s more convenient to partake in a bit of walking mindfulness, which is meditation for those with itchy hooves. When strolling, try to focus on the sensation of your feet on the ground, the breeze and the noises that surround you. It’s easier to do this at this time of year, because the birds are hyper, and there are beaked rappers, contraltos and wannabe Taylor Swifts in the shrubbery. Tune in to their cacophony and give yourself a break from incessant thoughts.

3 Be in nature. See above, but also, discover your soul’s favourite landscape – is it pine forests, woodland, moors or munros? I’m a seaside person. If I’m on the beach, it feels as if gravity has lost 30 per cent of its pull. It’s no wonder the Victorians liked to convalesce by the ocean. Next time, I will take my knitted swimsuit and parasol.

4 If you’re struggling to cope, see your GP. Things have changed a lot. I remember going to my doctor with anxiety, decades ago, and the pitiful advice was to ‘breathe into a paper bag’ when having a panic attack. My goodness, they were so dismissive. Now, in my experience, mental health problems are taken much more seriously and there is greater understanding of their impact.

5 Try all the things. Give medication a whirl, if it’s offered. There are so many varieties, and it may be a case of trial and error to find the right dose. They can be a life saver. Accept the referral for talk therapy or CBT. You might be on the list for aeons, but you’ll get there in the end. Do hypnotherapy, get a massage, a haircut, try cold water swimming. Anything that gives you pleasure or hope is worth a shot, even just once. I’m even an advocate for retail therapy, though my bank account is less enthusiastic.

6 Treat yourself like a small child. You sort of are. They’re still in there, somewhere. Stop the internal critical self talk. Get yourself to bed early, soothe yourself, eat healthily, but also enjoy a few soor plums, be silly, don’t beat yourself up. You wouldn’t do that to a six-year-old, so don’t self flagellate. Watch your blood sugar, if you’re hangry, eat a banana. Also, have a routine and stick to it. Structure is a liferaft for an anxious brain.

7 Have something to look forward to, like a meal or a mini break. Rather than having one big fortnight-long summer holiday, and splurging all your annual leave, I prefer long weekends throughout the year. Then there’s always something in the diary to be excited about and the post-vacation blues never hit quite so hard.

8 Try not to avoid situations too often. It’s easy to cancel all plans, when you feel the panic rising, or depression makes you want to moulder indoors, but that can draw your walls closer. Push through, if you can. Float and let time pass.

9 Sleep. Easy to say, harder to do. If you can’t, accept it, and get up, do something non-stimulating, like reading, then go back to bed.

10 Coffee. I feel at my very best after caffeine. It is my poison and always something to look forward to. Just don’t have it after 3pm or it’ll disrupt number nine. Find your pleasure, then make plans around it.

11 Don’t feel alone, because you’re not. We’re all a bit broken, but there’s always hope. Things WILL get better.

www.mentalhealth.org