Looking after your mental health

It’s important to take care of yourself. Many of the suggestions below can be easier said than done. But there are small, simple steps you can take to look after yourself.

Keep in touch and draw support from colleagues, family and friends. Humans are social animals – group life is central to us and is a key source of meaning, purpose and direction. Social groups can be any group of people with whom you identify. It could, for example, your team at work, your organisation, occupation, trade union, gender, sexual orientation, race, the neighbourhood where you live, your hobbies and interests and so on.

Feeling connected to a social group is especially important when it comes to our health. Research shows us that social groups provide people with physiological resources and have been shown to buffer the effects of stress, to help overcome substance misuse, to protect against depression relapse and to cope with the consequences of injury and trauma. This is because belong to a social group contributes to feelings of control and gives us access to social support, as well as a sense of purpose and meaning.

Our sense of identification with multiple social groups is important because being a member of multiple groups appears to be particularly important for health and well-being.

The key is identify which groups provide you with practical and emotional support, are practically and emotionally compatible with other group memberships you hold, but you don’t spend as much time with the group as you could.

Use the Management Standards to think through the pressures you are experiencing

The Health and Safety Executive developed the Management Standards to make it easier to assess and tackle the factors that can cause stress at work. While they are primarily designed as a tool to help assess stress risks in an organisation, they also provide us with a useful framework to think about the stress risks we face as individuals.

The Management Standards are:

  • Demands – this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment
  • Control – how much say the person has in the way they do their work
  • Support – this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues
  • Relationships – this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour
  • Role – whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles
  • Change – how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation

Take your breaks and go home on time – get away from your workstation. Go for a walk and get some fresh air.

Take your leave – poor work/life balance is a key driver of stress, but research suggests that millions miss out on their leave entitlement each year. Plan ahead so you know when you are going to take leave. Try to use it all by the end of the leave year. Do not use it as an opportunity to do work free of distractions.

Create a boundary between work and home – if you can, switch off your mobile phone when you leave work, and turn off your laptop at the end of the working day. If you work at home, create a separate space in which to work, if possible. This needn’t be elaborate or even a separate room – it could just be a corner you use solely for work.

Eat well and keep active – exercise can reduce the emotional intensity you are experiencing. Even short bursts of activity can enhance our mental alertness, energy and positive mood. Participation in regular physical activity can increase our self-esteem and reduce stress and anxiety. Evidence suggests that what we eat may affect the way we feel. Improving your diet may help to improve your mood; give you more energy; and help you think more clearly.

Identify your triggers – working out your personal stress triggers can help you anticipate problems and think of practical solutions. Even if you can’t avoid the situations you identify, being ready can help.

Organise your time – if you can adjust the way you organise your time, you may feel more in control and better able to cope with pressure. Make a to-do list and prioritise.

The Mental Health Foundation has more on how to look after your mental health.