Safety Guidelines for your Mental Health

Safety Guideline for your Mental Health - Three-Tier Lockdown System

We're given the guidelines on how to stay safe physically, but how are you coping mentally?

Exercise can help you to put some safety guidelines in place for your own mental health.

Exercise - (both physical or meditative) release those "feel good" hormones like Serotonin, Oxytocin and Dopamine. Serotonin is responsible for maintaining mood balance/mood stabiliser and happiness, whilst Oxytocin is responsible for bonding/trust and creating those happy type feelings, whilst as a bonus, it also helps to regulate the immune system. Then we have Dopamine which is the feel-good/reward hormone which plays a big part of our unique human ability to think and plan. It helps us strive, focus, and find things interesting.

So how do we start to exercise? As with anything new, or trying to create a new habit forming type of behaviour, taking the first step can be the most difficult, so the simpler you can make this the more likely it will be achievable in the short and long term practice. Start with something simple, like a walk, a jog, dancing or skipping. Give yourself some allocated time each day to spend time on you and your self-care.

How to keep it up?

1) Make yourself accountable to friends and family. Perhaps put up a post on social media and let people know that you are starting a new mental health or exercise challenge.

2) Do it with someone else – encourage a friend or partner to do it with you, even a child.

3) Write a diary or journal, track your progress.

4) Consider getting a smart watch to monitor your progress, steps made, distance, effort.

I am running FREE CLASSES to help!

Find the latest schedule on my Instagram page www.Instagram.com/thisfitmum

Love the skin you're in - healthy mind, healthy body!