Mental hygiene: how to monitor and promote your mental wellbeing during a crisis

We all respond differently given a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of advice and information is on offer from a variety of sources, however, it may well be difficult to judge what's best for you.

In what follows below, consultant psychiatrist, Dr Thomas Dannhauser shares some advice and tools for monitoring and promoting your emotional health - ones he personally uses and recommends to his clients with excellent outcomes.

How do you monitor and promote your mental wellbeing?

I have recently helped people who never previously struggled with emotional problems. At the same time, some of my clients have struggled for a long time and felt a lot better during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Effectively monitoring and promoting your emotional wellbeing is about regularly assessing it and knowing the dangers so that you can avoid them and regularly engage in mental hygiene activities.

Before looking at these, I will briefly explain the problems that I feel are most relevant during this coronavirus crisis.

Which common mental health problems should you look out for?

• Stress

Stress is caused by or directly related to an obvious threat or overload to your system. Being overworked, working long hours or nightshifts, suffering from a physical illness or running a marathon if you are unfit are examples of things that can cause stress. Symptoms of stress include irritability, fatigue, feeling overwhelmed, nausea and dizziness. Ongoing, repeated or severe stress can lead to anxiety which we will look at next.

• Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of fear that you are going to lose something. That something can be real (a loved one, your job, money) or abstract (status, a dream of your future). Anxiety symptoms include a racing heartbeat, fast and shallow breathing, diarrhoea or constipation, a feeling of dread/unease, sweating, nervousness, irritability and all the stress symptoms mentioned above.

• Depression

Depression is the feeling of having lost something or someone. As with anxiety, the loss can be real or abstract. Typical symptoms of depression include low mood, lack of energy or fatigue, lack of enjoyment, poorer sleep, impaired focus and low self-esteem.

• Addictions

An addiction is a dependency on anything to help you cope with feelings of stress, anxiety or depression. Common examples are sugary foods, alcohol, smoking and nowadays smartphones, gaming, social media and/or television. 

To monitor these problems, start by answering yourself these 10 questions once a week:

• Has my sleep become disturbed and do I not feel well-rested?
• Do I wake up feeling anxious or depressed?
• Do I often feel stressed, anxious or depressed during the week?
• Is my self-care not up to my usual standard (personal hygiene, dress, nutrition and exercise)?
• Do I feel tired, lack energy or do less at home or work?
• Do I struggle to focus and concentrate?
• Have I lost self-confidence or is my self-esteem low?
• Has my appetite or weight increased or decreased noticeably?
• Have I thought about hurting myself or wanting to die?
• Am I avoiding spending time with friends and family? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions then see if you can improve them and get them back to normal by taking specific action. If they make you very concerned about your mental health then ask for help from a qualified healthcare professional.

Below I share my list of the tools and solutions that I either regularly use myself or recommend to my clients with very good results.

Please be responsible and consider your own health and circumstance if you try any of them.

Have objectives

Start with being clear about what you want to do with your life and try to figure out both why and how you are going to achieve it.

One of my favourite books that has helped many clients and loved ones is The ONE Thing. It is a non-fiction, self-help book that will teach you to achieve better results in less time, build momentum toward your goals and help you to stay on track.

Get enough sleep

An important rule for me is no screen time for at least one hour before bedtime. Studies have shown the blue light from devices, such as smartphones and tablets, can interfere with sleep by suppressing the production of melatonin.

Useful apps to use at bedtime include Deep Sleep (Free, App), Stress Free (Stream Free, App), Visualise Success (App).

Improve your diet

Your brain and mood benefits from steady energy from a healthy diet.

• Avoid white carbohydrates/sugars such as pasta, rice and bread. Instead, choose your carbohydrates as dark possible, for example, brown rice, rye bread and dark chocolate
• One supplement to try is magnesium - you can find out why, what and how I recommend you take it here

Exercise daily

I try to start every day with some kind of exercise. This can be either cardio or strengths/balance. Cardio requires at least 30 minutes of continuous effort and can be as easy as walking or vacuuming your home. Yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi are good for balance. Here are some online/video exercises I use regularly:

• To maintain a healthy posture whilst doing long hours sitting at a desk
• T25 workouts from the very optimistic Shaun T - these only take 25 minutes to complete
• Yoga once or twice a week

Stay active with loved ones & keep your self-talk positive

We are social animals, so I make time to spend with friends doing an activity such as in sport or entertainment, rather than sitting alone watching television or browsing the internet.

What you say to yourself is also very powerful in determining your mood and behaviour. A good way to learn about it and “keep it clean” is to regularly listen to self-talk.

Dr. Helmstetter’s programme makes it easy to start and is free for the first month. I suggest the Taking Control of Your Life programme to begin with.

Meditation and breathing

There are many mental health benefits from meditation, including better concentration, enhanced self-awareness and self-esteem, lower levels of stress and anxiety and fostering kindness.

• Headspace is an excellent introduction to meditation
• If you don’t want to meditate, then you can still benefit from breathing exercises that can help you to relax. Try The Breathing App

Mental floss - learn to explore your thoughts through writing

There are several terms for daily personal writing to improve your emotional health (stream of consciousness, morning pages, free wiring, journaling). It is a powerful way to check or control your thinking and emotions and organise your thoughts, and only requires your time. I do this regularly and always find it useful.

In my view, the two key questions to think and write about are:

What am I grateful for today? What can I do better today/could I have done better today?

• You can get an introduction from this short video
• You can find Tim Ferris’s approach here

Dr Thomas Dannhauser is a consultant psychiatrist with over 20 years of clinical experience. You can book a session to talk to him through his Top Doctors profile.