With the beginning of the lunar year at our doorstep, and spring just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to invest a bit of time in hygiene and maintenance of all kinds. Plenty of people don’t even realize that you can feel much better, both physically and mentally if you clean out both your home and your body. We often concentrate solely on decluttering and cleaning our homes but our bodies could do with some internal cleaning and decluttering too. Much has been said the past few years about the beneficial impact of detoxing on our physical health. But few people realize that the process has just as much of an effect on our mental well-being too. Here are some tried and true ways to detox in order to boost our mental health.
Don’t skip exercise
If there’s one thing you decide to do for your health, you should adopt an exercise regimen. Working out reduces stress because it boosts the production of norepinephrine – a hormone and neurotransmitter which helps us deal with stress and tension. Then, there are the well-known endorphins, which cause a happy, and even euphoric feeling, sometimes known as a runner’s high. Of course, we don’t produce all of these beneficial chemicals only when we’re running. Find an activity that you enjoy – one that you will show up for regularly – and your mind and body will help you.
The diet detox
A healthy diet is one of the key factors for mental health. If you feel like you can take it, you can try to boost your system with a juice cleanse. However, that is not the only way. For a start, base your diet on fresh, unprocessed, locally grown ingredients. If possible, use mainly organic produce. Cut out meat, especially red meat, at least for a while. Remember to hydrate properly – on average, you should drink 1.5 to 2 liters of water per day. As far as supplements are concerned, you can skip multivitamins. Rather focus on nutrients that are difficult to get from food. Omega-3 fatty acids are great for your cardiovascular system, vitamin D boosts the immune system, promotes bone health, and protects you from all kinds of cancer, while CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant crucial for the well-being of every single cell in your body, and is essential for the protection against heart failure and cancer. All three of these nutrients are crucial for the proper functioning of the nervous system, and are essential in the fight against depression and anxiety.
Avoid added sugar
Do you know how obvious it can be when a child has had too much sugar? Well then, it’s quite clear that we as adults shouldn’t be consuming it either. Evolutionary speaking, we as a species have been consuming refined sugars for a relatively short time period. That means that our bodies just aren’t equipped to deal with excess quantities we are now consuming on a daily basis. This can wreak havoc on our entire bodies, leading to or exacerbating a myriad of issues – mental health among them. Data shows a firm link between added sugar and depression.
Related reading: The Sugar Detox Diet: The Brilliant Way To Lose Weight and Feel Great
Reevaluate your tempo
Without a doubt, we are all very busy and daily life can turn into a blur of activities, jobs, chores and to-do lists. Well, maybe it’s time to reassess that list. A lot of us make lists or write in journals, but we fail to take the time to distinguish between these tasks in terms of their importance. Without setting priorities, a to-do list can seem like a scary, stressful and overwhelming avalanche of tasks that can’t possibly fit into a single day. If you take just a few minutes to re-evaluate your list, you will probably find that only a fraction of these things actually has to be done. Others might not be important at all, or at least they can wait.
Don’t neglect sleep
With work, entertainment, working out, and socializing, healthy sleep is often bumped all the way down on our list of priorities. Unfortunately, although sleep is a basic need of every human being, it is also among the first things we sacrifice when we are overwhelmed by the demands of our daily lives. Research shows that instead of just being a symptom, as previously believed, lack of sleep can be one of the causes of mental health issues. While we sleep, our body uses the time to repair and replenish. Our brain regulates hormone levels, and does important work including the organization of impressions and committing data to long-term memory. Those eight hours are not just a myth – you need them to be able to function properly.
Related reading: More Sleep Is Critical For Brain Detoxification
Detoxing is a powerful tool that we can use to keep ourselves healthy – body, mind and soul. It is simple, anyone can do it, and it will surely yield visible results.
Author bio: Scarlet is a passionate writer and regular contributor at highstylife.com interested in fashion, lifestyle, and health. She loves travelling, you could say that she is a real travel addict, especially when she has a chance to visit some exotic destinations. She would tell you that inspiration can be found in the most unexpected places.
Anxiety prevents sleep so the advice for sleep does not fit the anxious state of being