A Wholesome New Year: Integrating Physical and Mental Health
It’s New Years resolution time, and it seems like everyone starts to think about their health differently, which for me, is a great thing. But I want to take a moment to pause and talk about specifically how physical health, mental health, and mindfulness are interconnected, and how it shows up in my work with clients.
Back to Basics: Sleep, Diet, and Exercise
When a client comes to me and begins speaking about their depression, anxiety, or any other struggles that they are dealing with concerning their mental health, I want to ensure that folks are focusing on the basic components to anyone’s health: diet, sleep, and exercise.
A lot of therapists think we are really cool and that therapy is the end all, be all. The truth is, if you’re not sleeping well, eating a balanced diet, or taking care of your body, how do you expect to feel motivated to do anything?
You’re coming in to see me because of “depression”, or you’re “not feeling yourself,” but it’s no wonder you aren’t feeling yourself because you aren’t nourishing your body. There’s not a whole lot that I or any therapist can do if you aren’t taking the time to work on these basics.
Sleep
I hear this a lot from those who are parents: you know when you have that newborn home and you’re not sleeping throughout the night, you literally feel like a zombie. It becomes more difficult to not blow up or cry, you feel more stressed, and it’s more difficult to be intentional about what you eat, or to exercise because you don’t have energy. People who are sleep-deprived are not going to be able to make intentional decisions about their food or exercise choices, let alone have a productive and vulnerable therapy session. Sleep also does not only refer to a basic number of hours, but the quality of those hours. Many Americans snore and struggle with sleep apnea, sometimes getting 10-12 hours of sleep a night but never feeling fully rested. If you feel like you just can never get enough sleep, I encourage you to consult with a sleep doctor in pulmonary medicine. The long-term effects of not getting enough sleep from sleep apnea are detrimental not only to your mental health, but your wellness as a whole. In contrast, getting a good night’s sleep will enable you to make more intentional choices about how you spend your time and your money. You will be more able to face life’s challenges and reach the depths of conversation needed in the therapy room in order to work on any underlying mental health concerns.
Diet
When I say “diet” I am not referring to cutting calories, carbs, or putting yourself in a state of restriction. I am referring instead to seeing food not as something to feel guilty about or control, but rather as fueling your body to perform. When I say “perform,” I mean how you focus throughout the day, your energy levels throughout the day, and your ability to function overall. For instance, eating lots of greasy or carb-heavy foods can make you feel sluggish, and therefore less able to focus or do as much as you like, which oftentimes negatively reinforces beliefs about ourselves, such as “I’m not good enough.” If you already feel bad about yourself, and you eat food that prevents you from being your best self (or makes you feel more shame about yourself), of course this will provide negative reinforcement to your already low self esteem. In contrast, when you fuel your body with nutritional food that does not cause you to feel shame, you start to feel more energy and also more confidence in your ability to perform. I encourage clients to take a balanced approach to food: not restriction, but an increase in intentionality of what you put in your body.
Exercise
We all know that exercise generally makes us feel better because of the endorphins it releases while or after we do it, but it can be difficult to motivate ourselves to get started. Some of the same neuron receptors that are activated while drinking alcohol or doing drugs can be activated while exercising — in other words, producing the same “high” effect that drugs or alcohol can. Now, can you exercise in excess, just like any other drug? Yes, but in general, exercising, moving the body, and blood flow will regulate the body, and decrease levels of depression. Not exercising can decrease your energy levels and overall feelings of self confidence, and the lack of blood flow from getting your heart pumping can also make you feel sluggish and unable to be fully present during a therapy session. If you want to work on your depression, but we aren’t addressing basic health concerns like exercising which can directly help your depression, there isn’t a whole lot that therapy alone can do.
Stress Busters
So far, this blog post may seem pretty obvious: diet, exercise, and sleep can help increase your mood and fight depression. This doesn’t seem super ground-breaking on the surface. However, there’s more to “going back to basics” than just these three tenets.
In a study by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, in partnership with Kaiser and the state of California, they found that treating mental health through a preventative care lens, as we do with physical health, can actually reduce depression and anxiety for everyone. For example, as part of our health care, we brush our teeth, or floss, or go to annual physical check ups with doctors as preventative care to avoid other physical problems and check in with ourselves consistently. Similarly, Dr. Burke Harris found that there are seven evidence-based buffering interventions which can help prevent depression and anxiety:
Quality sleep
Balanced nutrition
Physical activity
Mindfulness practices
Access to nature
Mental health care
Supportive relationships
Notice that mental health care is only one preventative measure that people can take to avoid depression and anxiety. The first three, which I have bolded and focused on in this blog post, are significant in that they affect your ability to experience the other tenets as meaningfully. If you are suffering from lack of sleep, you won’t want to meditate or go for a hike in nature, let alone go to therapy or spend time cooking a nutritious meal for yourself. In this way, I personally feel that the “basics” are: sleep, diet, and exercise.
Mindfulness, Nature, and Supportive Relationships
While you can be responsible for your own sleep, diet, and exercise, one thing that I bring to therapy is an awareness-building with training you to create a new culture of what wellness looks like for yourself. Specifically, in terms of mindfulness, I can teach you meditation or self-examination techniques that can help you understand how and why you may struggle to care for yourself in the “basics” categories like sleep, diet, and exercise. We can build a culture together of what your life can look like with slower living and more intentionality in terms of how often you access nature to help yourself unwind. Finally, as a therapist, I can help you repair and maintain supportive relationships that may be in trouble, or may have fallen into disrepair over time.
Either way, even if you are struggling to sleep, eat well, or exercise, these are probably signs that it’s time to see a therapist like myself. Though you don’t need to have all of these worked out before you reach out, just know that before we can dive in to your depression, we will first need to work on getting you quality sleep, nutritious food, and some kind of regular activity to help prepare you to dive deeper into your innermost thoughts and feelings. However, some people may need an external motivator to help with getting your basics back on track, and that’s why I’m here.
Starting this Journey: Baby Steps
I know it’s tempting to try to make large, sweeping changes to address all seven of the tenets I have laid out for you. However, depending on which tenets you are struggling with most, it’s best to take baby steps (like in one of my favorite movies, What About Bob?) which can allow you to sustain these changes over time.
The book Mini Habits by Stephen Guise outlines the best way to start new habits, which is to start small and work your way up. First, it’s best to work on getting your sleep figured out, as poor sleep can negatively affect all other aspects of your life. Seeing a doctor or creating a bedtime or reducing screen time before bed can all help you get more quality sleep in your life. If you haven’t exercised consistently in your whole life, or maybe even lately, don’t start by trying to train for an ultramarathon. Instead, commit to 15 minutes of activity per day. Once you have mastered that, commit to 20 or 30, or sign up for a newer challenge to boost your motivation. As for eating balanced meals, start by eating slowly, and enjoying your food, or committing to cooking more at home or eating out less.
If you have been trying to get started for some time and the depression or anxiety is too great, then you should make an appointment.
Even if you have successfully started and you’re feeling better, you might still want to check in with a therapist like myself to ensure that you stay on track and address the underlying causes of your depression or other struggles.
In this new year, I encourage you to go back to basics and, if nothing else, incorporate more intentionality into your life. Make choices that align with your values, and above all, prioritize yourself!
