Category: mental health

Easier said than done, but in the current day and age keeping yourself in a positive and healthy mindset is key. Especially with all the negative and stressful situations surrounding all of us. One stop safety training solution want to give you some advice, tips, and steps to take to a healthy and happy mind.

Most importantly, prioritise sleep!  Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia. You know that cranky feeling after a restless night? That’s thanks to not getting enough sleep! Too little sleep can take a toll on your mental and emotional state, making you more susceptible to mood swings and paranoia.

Keep active. Doing a little exercise every day has several benefits: both mental and physical. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which can greatly improve your mood. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and join a gym to do some exercise; walking or cycling to your destination, cleaning the house while listening to music and gardening are all easy ways to get the blood pumping. After a while you’ll start to find doing tasks easier as well looking better, which in turn will also make you feel better about yourself. It will also boost your self-esteem, having high self-esteem is key to positive mental health and well-being. High self-esteem matters because it helps you develop coping skills, handle adversity, and put the negative into perspective. You are more likely to have a positive attitude and outlook on life even when you face a tough time.

Get socialising, it’s a good idea to find a healthy balance of alone time and socialising. Doing too much of either can be unhealthy. As humans we need both to socialise and spend quality time with ourselves. Balance is key to a healthy and happy mind and body. Social interaction helps ward off depression and stress, both of which can contribute to memory loss. Look for opportunities to connect with loved ones, friends, and others, especially if you live alone. There is research that links solitary confinement to brain atrophy, so remaining socially active may have the opposite effect and strengthen the health of your brain.

Write a letter to yourself, when you’re feeling good, think about what you will want to tell your future self if things get harder and you find you need more support. Reminding yourself of what’s keeping you feeling positive right now can help you through those more difficult times in the future.

People eat well to prevent diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and improve heart health. Yet, a well-balanced diet is essential for a healthy mind. Changing your diet can protect you from mental health problems. It can reduce symptoms of depression, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, and stress, for instance. It can also improve your concentration and memory. you should take care of your gut by eating the right food. Your food should be low in cholesterol, low in fat and high in antioxidants. It should also be rich in omega-3-fatty acids.

Nearly 3000 people on average commit suicide daily, according to Who. For every person who completes a suicide, 20 or more may attempt to end their lives. About one million people die by suicide each year. Suicide is a major preventable cause of premature death which is influenced by psycho-social, cultural, and environmental risk factors that can be prevented through worldwide responses. World Suicide Prevention Day, which first started in 2003, is annually held on September 10 each year. Raise awareness that suicide is preventable, improve education about suicide, spread information about suicide awareness and Decrease stigmatization regarding suicide. With the on increasing stress and struggles of everyday life, it’s important to look out for one another.

Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the country, but suicides among teenage girls and young women have almost doubled in recent years. It can affect anyone at any time. Men tend to choose more lethal methods compared to women. Social expectations of masculinity may mean that men are less likely to seek help for suicidal thoughts compared to women There is no single reason why people die by suicide. People think of suicide for many different reasons. Sociological, economical, psychological, and genetic factors can contribute to a person being at greater risk of suicide.

Some risk factors you can be aware of:

. difficult life events. Such as a traumatic childhood or experiencing

physical or emotional abuse,

. something upsetting or life changing such as a relationship ending

or a loved one dying,

. misusing drugs or alcohol,

. living alone or having little social contact with other people,

. having a mental health condition such as depression

. self-harming,

. having a physical health condition, especially if this causes pain or

. serious disability or health issues

. problems with work or money,

. losing or having no job

. being a young person, or being a middle-aged man

. an accident causing you to fall ill

Different people have different experiences of suicidal feelings. You might feel unable to cope with the difficult feelings you are experiencing. You may feel less like you want to die and more like you cannot go on living the life you have.  These feelings may build over time or might change from moment to moment. And it’s common to not understand why you feel this way.

The earlier you let someone know how you’re feeling, the quicker you’ll be able to get support to overcome these feelings. But it can feel difficult to open to people. You may want others to understand what you’re going through, but you might feel: unable to tell someone, unsure of who to tell, concerned that they won’t understand, fearful of being judged or worried you’ll upset them.

Suicide prevention day is to help spread awareness that this does happen and could affect you or someone you love, it’s important that we are all there to help each other during difficult times in one’s life.

If you want more information on this subject, please check out our other bog on this topic on our website,

For help on this matter, these are some places you can contact:

Samaritans 116123

Papyrus 0800 068 4141

Calm helpline 0800 58 58 58

The sliver line 0800 4 70 80 90

Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline 0300 330 0630

Thank you for reading & stay safe

an estimated 29.2 million people are drinking alcohol weekly and an estimated 313,971 drug users (aged 15 to 64) across the UK, millions of lives are changed by dependency of alcohol and drugs. The mental effects spread like the plague, not just affecting the dependent individual but family, friends, work and health services. Poor mental health is on the rise in the UK,  many people turn to drugs or alcohol as an escape. There are an estimated 589,000 people who are dependent on alcohol in England and about a quarter of them are likely to be receiving mental health medication; mostly for anxiety and depression, but also for sleep problems, psychosis and bipolar disorder.When you have both a substance abuse problem and a mental health issue such as depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety, it is called a co-occurring disorder or dual diagnosis. Dealing with substance abuse, alcoholism, or drug addiction is never easy, and it’s even more difficult when you’re also struggling with mental health problems.

In England around 3 million people take drugs and drug deaths are the highest on record at nearly 3,000 a year. In the last decade, heroin-related deaths have more than doubled and cocaine-related deaths have grown fivefold. The situation in Scotland is even worse and is now known as the drug death capital of Europe. Why do people take drugs? Drugs can act as a temporary coping mechanism to get you through difficult times. However, drugs can make these feelings and emotions even worse. And in the long term, any feelings of relief won’t last. You may find yourself using more and more drugs to deal with your problems and risk becoming dependent on them which can create new problems for you. Regular cannabis use can increase your risk of anxiety or depression. There’s also a link between using stronger cannabis and developing psychosis or schizophrenia.  Stimulant drugs can make you feel depressed, anxious and paranoid. Cocaine, a type of stimulant, can make previous mental health problems recur and trigger psychosis and schizophrenia. Ecstasy users can experience memory problems. Hallucinogenic drugs such as magic mushrooms can make any mental health issues worse. They can make you feel detached from your surroundings and cause flashbacks, which can be frightening or distressing.

Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it can disrupt the balance of chemical messengers in your brain and affect your feelings, thoughts and behaviour. Alcohol affects the part of your brain that controls inhibition, so after a drink or two, you may feel relaxed, less anxious and more confident. But these effects quickly wear off. The chemical changes in your brain can soon lead to more negative feelings such as anger, depression or anxiety taking over, regardless of the mood you’re in.

For the families and friends of someone suffering with dependency it can be a very difficult time, To remain patient and understanding can be hard. You can become frustrated as you watch them and the physical and mental health deteriorate. You want to help, but the individual must help themselves. Looking after one’s mental health would be a good first step, Fix the cause of the problem.

According to the 2019 World Happiness Report, negative feelings are rising around the world. Everyday life is becoming more mentally challenging in ways it never has before. From lockdowns, addictions, mental health, unsatisfied job, social media, money worries and so many more factors. British people are among the most depressed people in the Western world, according to new data. Unhappiness is lethal to everyone around you, just like second-hand smoke. Your mood can affect everyone around you, unhappiness can spread like a disease. s 10 years since the UK government began to measure happiness. As part of its annual population survey, the official statistics body now asks interviewer questions about their satisfaction, mood and sense of life being “worthwhile”. Not surprisingly, given present circumstances, the news at the moment is not good. While there isn’t a full decade’s worth of data yet, the most recent findings were on the gloomy side: measures of personal well being worse in 2020, while anxiety reached record highs. But what do you expect in a global pandemic, for sure not for happiness to improve.

“Chronic Unhappiness syndrome” Persistent depressive disorder, also called dysthymia, is a continuous long-term (chronic) form of depression. You may lose interest in normal daily activities, feel hopeless, lack productivity, and have low self-esteem and an overall feeling of inadequacy. Some signs someone is chronically unhappy: you focus on material items, your favourite conversation is gossip, act defensive, hold on to sad thoughts for a long period of time and take themselves too seriously.

Many of us experience unhappiness at some points in our lives, happiness isn’t an end goal, it’s a feeling and can come and go. Different circumstances and events in someone’s life can have a huge impact on someone’s mood and mental health. There’s a lot of simple things you can do to boost your mood:

Mood boosters

.walks

.keep your space tidy

.smile at strangers

.listen to music

.relax (burn candle and have a bath)

. eat minimum 1 healthy meal a day

. priorities sleep

. exercise

. see family and friends

. speak to someone new

. make plans to look forward to

. look at old photographs

. write down your thoughts

. find something new you enjoy

.play games with friends

Trying to find the work/life balance can be really hard, people spend so much of their day putting all of their effort into the work they do and spend very little time on themselves. Looking after yourself is extremely important and will improve every part of your life. This will even improve your performance at work as when you are in a good mood you are more motivated. Many people are either exhausted from a lack of sleep, frustrated for not getting everything done that they wanted to, or depressed because I don’t do enough to make myself feel taken care of and when a parent has to look after children as well as everything else. Leaving no time for them. We all need a little help sometimes… whether it’s a pep talk from a trusted friend, reading just the thing you needed to on a motivational blog post, praying or meditating on life.  But there are also simpler things you can do to help yourself that are quick and easy fixes for your mood.

Any one of these mood boosting activities is sure to help you move in a positive direction, be it short term or long, provided you engage in them regularly whenever needed.

Hope this has helped you:)

When does having a bad couple of days or  feeling down become depression? Depression interferes with normal day life, your mood makes everyday functioning become extremely difficult for a long period of time. Some feelings you may experience when dealing with depression:

Feeling sad or anxious often or all the time, Not wanting to do activities that used to be fun, Feeling irritable‚ easily frustrated‚ or restless, Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, Waking up too early or sleeping too much, Eating more or less than usual or having no appetite, Experiencing aches, pains, headaches, or stomach problems that do not improve with treatment, Having trouble concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions, Feeling tired‚ even after sleeping well, Feeling guilty, worthless, or helpless, Thinking about suicide or hurting yourself

What causes depression and how can you try to decrease your risk of development,

The use of drugs and alcohol in our society are one of the main causes of depression. “Estimated ⅓ of people with depression have an issue with substance abuse”, Drugs and alcohol may seem like a quick and easy solution to their current feelings. In the long run, in most cases it will cause their situation to worsen. Addiction can cause devastating consequences in people’s lives such as loss of jobs and relationships, guilt, shame, family strain, financial hardship, and other severe stressors that are not easily resolved and understandably lead to extended periods of difficult emotions. Substances such as drugs and alcohol are highly addictive because they trigger artificially high levels of neurotransmitter release in the brain, which leads to artificially inflated “feel good” feelings. Not only are these “highs” unattainable through normally pleasant stimulus and neurotransmitter release. You can only describe it as a vicious cycle.

People who suffer from obesity are 55% more likely to develop depression throughout their life. “These findings align with what I see in the clinic. When patients have obesity, a lot of their value and self-worth is determined by their weight status. This can start really early in life — as young as 3 years old,” says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, “When one looks at how obesity causes depression, immediately what jumps out is social and environmental determinants. For example, if a person has insufficient access to healthy food due to economic insecurity, that would be a factor related to both obesity and depression,”

 inflammation may also contribute to mood disorders, Many people with obesity have an elevated state of inflammation, and that may impact the brain’s process in a way that puts a person at higher risk of depression. Low self esteem, isolation and lack of motivation can happen when someone is obease. These feelings can lower moods and eventually a person may become depressed. This in fact can make that person’s weight increase even more.

Self care tips and tricks:

. Be active

.Read books

.Sleep well

. balanced diet

.Hobbies

.Be around positive people

.Good hygiene

.relax

.listen to music

.walks

.have something you enjoy to look forward to

.spend time with friends