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Wellbeing
What is wellbeing?
Wellbeing doesn’t have a specific meaning. The Oxford English dictionary defines it as
“ the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.”
but it is much more diverse than these three words.
Mental health and well-being are often confused, but they are two different things.Mental health refers to our long-term emotional and psychological well-being. It can be affected by a variety of factors, including genetics, environment, and life experiences.Wellbeing is a broader term that encompasses how we feel, function, and manage our lives. It is influenced by our mental health, but it is also affected by our physical health, relationships, and lifestyle choices.
It is possible to have poor mental health but good well-being, and vice versa. For example, someone with a mental health condition, such as depression, may still be able to experience periods of good well-being. This is because well-being is not just about the absence of mental illness. It is also about having a positive sense of self, feeling connected to others, and having a sense of purpose in life.
Wellbeing is important for everyone, and there are many things we can do to improve it. Here are a few tips:
Wellbeing tips
Take care of your physical health
This includes eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep.
Engage in meaningful activities
Find things that you enjoy doing and that gives you a sense of purpose.
Seek professional help if needed
If you are struggling with your mental or emotional health, don't be afraid to reach out for help.
Build strong relationships
Spend time with people who make you feel good and who support you.
Practice relaxation techniques
This can help you to reduce stress and improve your mood.
Improving our well-being is an ongoing process, but it is worth it. By taking care of ourselves and making small changes, we can live happier and healthier lives.
Wellbeing is influenced by lots of different factors; some that are controllable and others that are not. Even if we can’t influence some parts of our wellbeing, (e.g. illness, job, etc.) we can definitely affect our outlook on it, as well as become better at using tools to help it, which work together to build resilience! Improving our wellbeing can help in lots of unexpected ways.
Creating positive methods and outlooks can help to view past experiences in a more realistic light, as well as preparing us mentally to successfully tackle future problems and achieve our goals. Improving our wellbeing can help us right now by changing perspectives on our thoughts and experiences.
By improving our mental and physical wellbeing we can feel healthier and more in charge of our own life. We have the power to impact our own wellbeing. Working on our wellbeing isn’t instant nor is it a key to unlocking ultimate happiness, but it is a step in the right direction. We can all implement small changes to get the best out of our lives. At the end of the day we only get one life so lets make it worth living!
What is stress?
At the most basic level, stress is our body’s response to pressures from a situation or life event.
What contributes to stress can vary hugely from person to person and differs according to our social and economic circumstances, the environment we live in and our genetic makeup. Cortisol is a hormone you may have heard about, or never heard about at all. It is often called the stress hormone and carries out a variety of actions on the rest of your body.
Sometimes this response can be helpful and appropriate to get us through situations. However, ongoing stress can become overwhelming and can have a tiresome effect on the body making us feel unable to cope.
Your immune system can be affected. The system that protects us from the world of bugs can go into excessive inflammation if you have too much cortisol. This means you can get sick easier and heal slower.
A study from King's College London in 2016 showed that inflammation and this idea of chronic inflammation can actually increase symptoms from depression, as well as decrease the efficacy of treatments. Trying to decrease stress may lead to a lot of improvements around the body.
Signs of stress can include
Emotional changes
Depression, anxiety, anger, irritability, feeling overwhelmed
Bodily changes
Headaches, upset stomach, chest pain, trouble sleeping, high blood pressure
Behavioural changes
Changes in appetite, procrastinating, avoiding responsibilities, increased use of alcohol, drugs/cigarettes
Tips to help with stress
There are a few ways in which stressed people can manage their lifestyles for better wellbeing. Follow this toolkit step by step and take your time! Change takes time.
Talk to a friend or colleague about your feelings
Find family or friends who can help advise you on managing your stress. Saying your problems out loud will help you take some control back to improve your life. This will help you acknowledge the causes of your stress and together with a trusted individual you can formulate a plan to find practical solutions, realistic expectations and goals.
Review your lifestyle
The chances are you are taking on too much in your life. By reviewing your lifestyle, there is the possibility to hand some responsibility for things to others, telling the appropriate people you are struggling (e.g. your academic advisor or boss) and prioritising the important things. Organisation skills are key for this. Produce a timetable or a list of things in order of importance for the week so you do one thing at a time.
Build up supportive relationships
If your stress is related to education or work, a good way to alleviate the stress is to build up a support network through a leisurely activity. Joining a leisure centre or volunteering for a charity will help to take your mind off the stress and will improve your mood drastically.
Eat healthily
Healthier eating habits will firstly reduce the risk of certain diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, but there is also evidence that shows healthier eating to be associated with a better general mood. This can help generate positive feelings of wellbeing if we eat healthy foods with the correct vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Cutting down on alcohol and smoking which can cause worsened anxiety and aggression will reduce the tense feelings associated with stress. Don’t forget water as well!
Exercise
If your stress is related to education or work, a good way to alleviate the stress is to build up a support network through a leisurely activity. Joining a leisure centre or volunteering for a charity will help to take your mind off the stress and will improve your mood drastically.
Take Time Out
If your stress is related to education or work, a good way to alleviate the stress is to build up a support network through a leisurely activity. Joining a leisure centre or volunteering for a charity will help to take your mind off the stress and will improve your mood drastically.
Be Mindful
If your stress is related to education or work, a good way to alleviate the stress is to build up a support network through a leisurely activity. Joining a leisure centre or volunteering for a charity will help to take your mind off the stress and will improve your mood drastically.
Sleep
Stressed individuals can have trouble getting to sleep due to symptoms of stress like tension and anxiety. Reducing caffeine intake and avoiding bright lights as you are going to bed may help you fall asleep easier. Most people will be stressed about what they have to do next. To reduce this, writing a list for the next day before you go to sleep may ease anxiousness about getting things done as you have a plan!
Disclosure
Getting to know your own mental health can really help you promote your own wellbeing. You can journal your feelings and reflect on them (or try Noting).
Noting is the act of labelling the thoughts that go through our head. This does not only name what we are feeling and bring the emotion into view, but it also allows us to try to explain why we might feel like this. Using this technique can start the process of understanding our feelings and trying to identify possible causes for them. The aim of "noting" is to reduce the control of the thought or emotion on our minds and increase our objectivity about our experiences. Noting can be done whenever during the day but the effects are most visible when your mind is clear (e.g. meditations) and you have minimal distractions.
This is one Noting technique
This technique can help us see the thoughts we are having through an objective lens and minimise our reaction to them. Being more aware of the flow of our own thoughts can help normalise our mental processes. However, if your negative moods persist or you are finding them too difficult, please contact your GP or mental health professional.
Friends, family and others
Disclosing how we are feeling to a family member, friend or another person can be equally helpful. If there isn't a person that you feel comfortable speaking to that's okay! There are plenty of free support services active in the UK with support workers at the end of the phone waiting for you to call. You don't need to be in a crisis to access them! If there are people you feel comfortable speaking to that is equally as helpful.
One way to start is to create a list of people whom you would consider talking to. Think of what the pros and cons are for speaking with each person as well as, the pros and cons of not speaking with them (this is important too).
If you feel unsure whether you want to speak to someone, watch how they receive different types of news. This can be a great way of determining how they receive information and if they’re the right person for you to talk to. Once you have chosen someone, pick a time that they are free.
Plan what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. You can start with thinking of examples about what you want to speak about and work backwards to think what you want to talk to them about. Try to be honest about what you want to speak about and use examples if that helps.
Remember that you don’t need to share everything all at once! Another good area to touch on is how you want to be supported now and in the future.
