This is not meant to be advice or to provide information on specific psychological and mental illnesses. The focus is to show how exercise and nutrition choices can assist in positive mental health and general recommendations. Resources are at the bottom of the post for related resources with York University.
When we are talking about mental health, we are referring to the general state where one can optimize their physical health, enjoy life, cope with daily stresses, and so much more. When wanting to improve one’s mental health through lifestyle changes, we like to remind folks that it will not be a straight and easy road. With any changes you have going on, you won’t get it right the first time; there will be times that you think you are getting the hang of things, suddenly something causes you to fall off your groove and you are back at where you started. Even after that first roadblock, more can happen later down the path.
Physical Activity Helping Improve Mental Health
When we talk about physical activity, we are not talking about intense workouts. We want to highlight that physical activity to assist in leading to positive mental health can be any movement that you enjoy doing. It can be as simple as a walk around your neighborhood, a bike on a trail, a snowy hike, or a workout. The important thing is that you get moving and if you can be active outside, even better!
The reason why physical activity can be so helpful in maintaining or working towards positive mental health is that the brain releases dopamine and other feel-good hormones which increase self-esteem, lessens tension and stress and decreases feelings of anger, frustration, and mental fatigue. Especially when it is a type of physical activity that you enjoy doing. The reason physical activity assists with improving mental health is that, after a bout of at least 10 minutes, individuals have a high sense of achievement and are more motivated and focused.
Mental health can also change based on pain. Individuals who are dealing with acute or chronic pain can have ups and downs in their mental health due to the degree of pain and potential frustrations related to their pain. A great thing is that, at times, physical activity can assist in managing acute or chronic pain by doing exercises or movement that lowers and stops pain from increasing. Additionally, individuals could use physical activity to assist with dealing with high pain days with very low impact movements.
Nutrition Helping Improve Mental Health
As odd as it may sound, there are a few ways what you consume can affect your mental health. One of the ways is through the general health of your digestive system. This is because your gut plays a very small role in helping your body produce serotonin, which regulates mood. If you have an issue with your gut health, which could be one of many reasons, such as poor nutrition or you are eating foods that you have even the slightest intolerance to, it could affect your serotonin production. Interestingly enough, low serotonin also reduces your motor skills and can affect day-to-day activities or general exercise.
With nutrition, like exercise, you should eat things that make you feel good, which is different from person to person. Some people don’t like eating bread because it makes them feel heavy or lethargic, while others get bloating and uncomfortable with cauliflower or peppers. If you notice these things, you may want to consider limiting foods that cause negative reactions because it can affect your mental health. However, the only food that makes us feel good, but we should limit is high sugar foods because they can make people crash as your body burns through the simple sugars quickly. After that, you need a quick fix since your body thinks you are low on glucose. High sugar foods are also well documented to cause brain fog, which can negatively impact mental health.
Changes to Consider Improving Mental Health
So, we talked about how physical activity and nutrition assist with improving mental health, but what changes could be started today. Well, it all depends on where you are starting, and we understand that some people get anxious around talking about increasing exercise or changing your eating. That’s alright, make those changes when you are ready or skip to the next section.
For physical activity, something like going for walks with family, friends, or pets is an easy way. If your weekends are always free, take one day to go on a hike. Losing focus while you are studying? Have a dance break or pace while you are reading if you can.
For nutrition, focus on things like whole foods (think less packaging the better), limit sugary foods, and don’t forget about water consumption. If you are not sure what you need to change, something like a food journal could be helpful in highlighting a small change you can make. Food journals can also help you find common negative reactions to foods if you write how you feel after meals.
Set Boundaries Regarding These Conversations
As mentioned above, having conversations about physical activity and food can negatively impact some individuals’ mental health because of standards set through different outlines that seem very unattainable and almost impossible to get to. If you are talking to someone about these items like family, friends, or co-workers and the conversation starts to go in a direction that is making you anxious or uncomfortable, set a boundary.
It’s okay to ask to stop talking about a topic that you brought up because it moved in a way you were not expecting it to. Or maybe someone else brings up these topics, it is okay to ask them not to speak about these topics around you. That is all you need to say; you don’t have to give a reason and you don’t owe them to give you a reason. Setting boundaries to keep your mental health as positive as possible is important.
As we start getting closer to exams (wow they are next month!), we hope these ideas help you keep your mental health a priority!
Students: If you are looking for a same-day consultation or participate in short-term therapy, please contact: 416-736-5297
Hours of operation: 9 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday
Have bi-weekly support groups for students who identify as LGBTQ+ and/or Racialized Students.
LGBTQ+ Help Group: contact counselling@glendon.yorku.ca
Racialized Student Help Group: contact Tara Pouyat tpouyat@yorku.ca or Sawan Sengupta sawans@yorku.ca
Good2Talk – service specifically for Ontario post-secondary students where you can receive information, referrals, and more. Open 24/7
Phone: 1-866-925-5454
TEXT: GOOD2TALKON to 686868
Community Members: York University Psychology Clinic can make appointments or schedule assessments at yupc@yorku.ca
We hope this information helps you learn more about mental health practices! Message us with topics that you would like covered.