4 Simple Steps to Better Mental Health
My wife and I had our fifth child back in February 2021. The birth of a new child inevitably creates some significant anxiety for my wife and me over the first few months of their life. This is because our son Micah (he’s number 3) became extremely ill with RSV when he was 5 weeks old. The short version is he was hospitalized in our local hospital for 3 or 4 days and then sent up to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and was in their NICU for about 2 weeks. It was a terrifying experience. I could share numerous stories of how we saw God’s hand in all of it but it was still the scariest thing that has happened to us. He is completely fine now and is an incredible addition to our family. He is so full of joy and curiosity and excitement. His little 2 year old personality is endlessly entertaining. However, that experience has left a lasting mark on our minds. Both my wife and I have had some anxiety symptoms after the birth of our daughter and our new little fella. So, we were talking the other day and my wife mentioned that she was still feeling anxious and was wondering what a psychiatrist might recommend. We had a brief, professional conversation about that, then I offered her my own “prescription.” I told her that I would prescribe four specific activities/habits to integrate into her life that would likely address 90% of her challenges. Those things are:
1. Regular meditation practice
2. Regular, novel physical activity
3. Review of nutrition and commitment to improved nutrition
4. Regular participation in a community of like minded people
My wife readily agreed that those activities and habits would be effective and since then I have suggested those four things to a host of people. Today, I thought we could take a look at them.
Regular Meditation Practice
We have covered meditation at length on this blog. There are two previous posts about it that you can see here and here. The easiest and quickest way I explain this is with a comparison. Meditation is for your mind what lifting weights is for your muscles. It is ridiculously difficult at the beginning and begins to get moderately easier as you go but reaps unbelievable benefits. I regularly recommend meditation to my clients and suggest apps etc for them to try. They just as regularly ignore me. But recently I have a client who has decided to try it. I suggested meditation and suggested a couple apps for this person to try. They returned two weeks later and said, “So, I’ve been meditating pretty much every day since the last time I was here. It’s changed my life! I’m more focused, happier, feel more rested, and I’m getting along better with my [partner].” This person has continued a regular meditation practice over the past 2 months and by all accounts is has radically changed their life. If you are looking for mindfulness meditation, download Medito in your app store. If you’re looking for Christian based meditation, download Soulspace and pay the $18 for the premium subscription. Meditate every day and you will not regret it.
Regular, Novel Physical Activity
At this point in history, I would feel comfortable saying that we are all aware of the benefits of physical activity. The more physically active we are the healthier we are. Generally speaking, people who are physically active have lower weight, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, decreased chance of diabetes, etc, etc, etc. I suspect that there is little I can say about this that you, my dear reader, have not already heard. However, there are two realities I would like to quickly point out. First, physical activity releases a host of brain chemicals that are absurdly beneficial for mental health. Generally speaking, the more active you are, the more mentally stable you will be. Second, regular, novel physical activity can help regrow a part of your brain. Your memories are stored in the hippocampus. It is a physical structure in the lower center portion of your brain. It is covered in cortisol receptors. What that means is when you become stressed, you body releases cortisol, then your hippocampus sucks it all up. This is a counter productive action because the cortisol slowly destroys your hippocampus and thus your memory. The longer you live with high levels of stress the worse your memory will be. And your hippocampus will actually shrink. BUT. And this is a WILD but. If you initiate a diet high in Omega-3 fatty acids, regularly meditate (see previous paragraph), and engage in regular, novel physical activity, your hippocampus will actually regrow. It will get bigger. And the physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous. Just be physically active and try new ways of being active and that is it. So, get out there. Go for a walk. Check out a new trail. Try a new kind of push up or workout or whatever. It’s good for your body AND good for your brain.
Check Your Nutrition
I am not an expert in the area of nutrition. I’ve been considering becoming one but I haven’t pulled the trigger on that just yet. What I can tell you is this, the better the quality of the food you eat, the better you will feel. There are a HUGE number of resources related to food and mood out there. They cover all manner of details about what you put in and how it affects your mood. I would encourage all of you to do some research. It will be well worth your time. I am currently reading through various studies that have been posted on Green Med Info. The ability to treat a host of mental health challenges with nutrition, herbs, and supplements has been eye opening. Take some time and look at what you’re eating and drinking. Is it mostly food that has come to you in the same form it was grown? Or is it mostly stuff that has come in a bag and was made in a factory? I’m not judging any of this but the closer your food is to the way it was grown, the better you’re probably going to feel. So go ahead and take a close look at your nutrition. See a nutritionist and get some recommendations. Do some research on your own. Put better food in your mouth and it will help you to feel better.
Find a Community
Humans are communal beings. Those of us who ascribe to a Christian worldview believe that God created us to be this way. He created us to be in community with him and with one another. For those who don’t ascribe to that worldview, it is still fairly evident we are communal by nature. Over the course of human history we have consistently arranged ourselves in groups and communities and tribes. This is an innate activity. Because this is so deeply ingrained in our reality, it is unhealthy to eschew a community of like minded people. We are not made to be alone. Over the last year, we have been forced into isolation. We have been forced to be apart because of an illness that we knew (and still know) little about. Anecdotally, I can tell you that this has been unimaginably bad for our communal mental health. I firmly believe that research will confirm my anecdotal experience there. Being apart has been bad for us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We are made to be with one another. So, if you are finding yourself spending a lot of time alone or avoiding social activities, make a different choice. Find a group of like minded people and dive in head first. I have done this in two ways over the last year. The first is that I have continued to be regularly involved in my church. This is probably obvious since I work there. But I have been intentionally reaching out to people to have breakfast or lunch or coffee with them to connect. The second way is that I joined a program called The Strenuous Life. It was started by a guy named Bret McKay. He runs a website called The Art of Manliness. He started The Strenuous Life as a way to challenge men to be disciplined in seeking to do hard things because it is good for us. The program itself has been great but the best part has been a weekly Zoom with other men in NJ that are a part of the program. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to it every week. Find a community and dive in. You won’t regret it.
There you have it. That is my prescription. Meditate, be physically active, eat well, and find a bunch of people like you. The truth is that if you CONSISTENTLY do those four things you will find substantial improvement in your own life. I know that I have.
