In case you missed it, earlier this year we introduced ‘Wellbeing Wednesday's’ – the day of the week where we bring to you our weekly tip on improving your wellbeing; be helping improving sleep, coping with stress, or a couple of mindfulness tips to help you look for the positives throughout the day.
It’s last day of February today, so here’s a summary of our tips to date:
Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Mindfulness is a skill. It requires work like any therapy and practice like any skill. You can find out more on the MIND website here.
What was good about your day?
Finding the good on the bad days can be hard. Trying to find 3 things may seem harder!
It could be a smile shared with a stranger, going for a walk, anything big or small that made a difference to your day.
Action for happiness share tips on how to incorporate this into your everyday to help improve your wellbeing and how it can help.
Time to change:
It's hard enough to experience mental health problems, without having to face the judgement, shame and isolation that often surrounds them. That's why we want to end mental health discrimination.
Time to Change is a growing social movement working to change the way we all think and act about mental health problems.
Stress:
What could help me cope with stress?
Stress is something we all experience and can feel overwhelming.
The ‘stress container’ is a tool we can use to help us understand how we experience and cope with stress. You can use this ‘stress container exercise’ to think about things that’re causing you stress and how you can manage it.
Wellbeing diary:
Finding the cause of our stress and low moods can be difficult. Keeping a daily diary of when you don’t feel like you may help identify what the triggers are and what helped you.
The NHS Moodzone site has a list of apps that can help to manage and improve wellbeing. Or you can try it yourself by writing a daily diary or start a blog.
Breathing:
Mindful breathing is a technique used to help relax the body, by focusing on your breathing.
5 minutes each day can improve your wellbeing, you can try it on the way to hospital, on the way to work or anywhere!
Try it yourself today, find a quiet place, breath in (count to 3), hold (count to 2), breath out (count to 4), and repeat – or watch this video.
Sleep:
Are you getting a good night sleep? Getting a good night sleep can be difficult and frustrating. The Sleep Council offers advice, tips and tools that may help you to get better night’s sleep to help improve your wellbeing.
There are plenty of practical ways to improve your sleeping habits; here are seven steps to a better night’s sleep.
If there’s anything in particular you’d like the Community to focus or provide guidance on when it comes to our ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ tips, let us know in the comments section below.
