Based on where you live you might have higher exposure to natural disasters like earthquakes, tornados, or tsunami. If you are living in the area where there is a possibility of any catastrophes like this it is very important to be prepared and have a plan on how to survive if any of them happens. However, while people might be preparing for such unfortunate events, many are not aware of how to survive something that is continuously damaging us – stress and anxiety.
While we are living in an era of development and technologies, unfortunately, we are also living in an era of stress and anxiety. According to the research in 2017 13% of the world’s population suffered any mental or substance use disorder. The types of disorders in the research included depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, alcohol use disorder, and drug use disorder. Out of these disorders, the most spread one was anxiety as 3.8% of the population were diagnosed with it. Considering that many people do not report being anxious the number can be even higher, making it the greatest epidemic today.
Why is anxiety so common?
Why do we have so many people (roughly 284 million) with an anxiety disorder? It has several reasons.
There are a lot of distractors
While the internet is a powerful tool it also has some side effects that should not be ignored by the individuals. The Internet gives us the ability to stay connected 24/7. We have everything that we might be interested in one click away, and there are a lot of interesting things on the internet. Reading the news, watching movies, talking with friends or strangers, binge-watching tv series, playing Ruby Slots, posting on Facebook, scrolling Instagram – there’s a lot to do. At the same time, we all got the FOMO that makes us always keep an eye to the screens never to miss anything important. Try to remember the last time you had a walk without looking at your phone, or dinner without watching something, or checking social media every other minute. Today our brain is never in peace, we make it process new and new unnecessary information every nanosecond.
We set higher standards for ourselves
It is not necessarily bad when it is in moderation. Moderation is a key word here. While today we have the possibility to see how other people are living, spending their times, showcasing their wealth or posting pictures from the vacation destinations we dream of, we compare our lives to theirs and in many cases feel bad about ourselves. It is easier than never to feel you have failed or you are not good enough. Take Facebook for example, if you type “Facebook makes me” as a query in Google it automatically suggests endings such as Facebook makes me depressed, angry, sick, and anxious. And it is not the case of Facebook only as the other social media’s have the same result as well.
Things are changing faster
One of the main reason for anxiety is that things are changing faster today and we feel the need to catch up. You might be studying a subject for three years only to find out that this information is no longer relevant. Since things are changing so fast there is no longer safe jobs or stability most of the people are seeking for. As a result, we are always alarmed and therefore anxious.
How to survive?
Anxiety is the most common mental disorder, we know it and yet only a few of us are taking care of our mental well-being and survival. It is important for people to start taking care of their mental health. Moreover, it is not as hard as it might seem. Here are some of the practical tips you can start practicing today in order to have better mental health and thus be happier.
The basics – Food, water, sleep
Our lives depend on food, water, and sleep and it is not surprising that those are the core parts of mental health as well. You are what you eat – this might be a cliche but it really is true. Eating healthy food is not advice only for people who want to get fit, it is for everyone. More and more research emphasizes the link between the gut and mental health. Eating healthy food and getting enough nutrition and vitamins is equally important for your body, brain, and mental health. So is drinking enough water. Try to have approximately 2 liters of water each day and you will see that your mood and effectiveness will get better almost immediately. Apart from those, you need to have enough sleep. As scientists research, 7-8 hours of sleep is necessary for adults. However, it does not mean you can stay awake until 4 AM and sleep until 12 PM. You need to get good night sleep in order to keep your mental health in order.
Stay active, get a hobby and enjoy some ‘me” time
Physical activities are not for our bodies only. Being physically active is one of the best contributors to overall mental health. It does not mean that you need to hit the gym every day or run the marathon. But you absolutely need to get more physically active, especially if you have a sedentary job. Walking an extra one hour or skipping elevators to use stairs can already benefit you a lot.
One of the best ways to cope with mental health issues is to get a hobby you can devote time when you are feeling anxious. It can be anything you enjoy, as long as it is not connected to the stress triggers. The best hobbies for dealing with stress and anxiety is something you do with your hands such as taking care of plants, painting, drawing, crafting, cooking and etc. If you are not interested in any of these, it’s okay you can choose whatever works for you. Make sure that you also have some “me” time for yourself to experience new things. Travel alone, even in your country, take a vacation, go to check out a new movie or eat something new by yourself. Simply said, learn how to spend quality time with yourself and visiting great options like utan omsattningskrav for fun.
Avoid stress and accept negative emotions
This is one of the most important and arguably the hardest part of taking care of your mental health. Today everybody is preaching about being positive and having positive emotions, but we all know that it is impossible to feel good about things and even ourselves all the time. Instead of burying negative emotions understand that they are part of your life and they are natural. Observe what makes you feel stressed if you can – avoid them if not, you will have to deal with them. This will improve your mental health a lot.