How to improve your mental wellbeing

Mental wellbeing is feeling positive, satisfied, realising your abilities, being productive, able to cope with daily stresses and survive difficult situations.

Wellbeing is important for health as it can add years to our lives. It is estimated that up to 40% of our wellbeing can be enhanced by getting involved in activities which are meaningful and engaging and build confidence and self-esteem.

A set of five simple actions have been developed to help people identify such activities.

1. Connect with the people around you - Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
2. Be Active  - Being active makes you feel good. Discover an activity you enjoy and one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
3. Take Notice - Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
4. Keep Learning - Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.
5. Give - Seeing yourself and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Protecting your own mental wellbeing

There are simple actions that, if practised regularly, can improve our mental wellbeing. 

Learn about some of these steps on the NHS website.   

Here are some tips to help: 

• Keep active for 30 minutes, five times a week. 
• Eat healthily by consuming five fruit and vegetable portions a day, cutting down on fatty/salty/sugary food and eating less starchy carbohydrates such as bread and potatoes. 
• Only drink alcohol on a maximum of two to three days a week, having no more than two to three units a day if you are female, and three to four units a day if you are male. See your GP if you are having problems with alcohol. 
• Stop smoking with help from your GP, who can refer you to a service for support and advice.

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