Last updated on January 3rd, 2025 at 02:53 pm
Working with a behavioral healthcare provider is usually the best step you can take to manage a behavioral health condition. That said, self-care can be a big help, too. In fact, many behavioral health professionals will recommend self-care practices as part of a treatment plan.
Self-care looks different for everyone. Your doctor or behavioral healthcare provider may have more specific recommendations, but for now, here are some ideas you might find helpful.
How Self-Care Can Help With Common Mental and Behavioral Health Challenges
Depression Disorders
Self-care might feel overwhelming when you have depression, but any healthy behaviors and activities you can do will likely aid your recovery:
- Physical exercise releases natural endorphins, which help stabilize your mood.
- A balanced diet helps you avoid vitamin deficiencies that can contribute to depressive symptoms.
- Good sleep hygiene, including a calming pre-sleep routine, can help you get better sleep than you otherwise would, improving your mood and cognitive function.
- Even if you don’t feel up to interacting with other people, connecting with friends and family for even short moments can give you a helpful sense of emotional support.
- Creative activities like drawing, cooking, or making music are a great outlet for your emotions and also provide a distraction from depressive thoughts.
Anxiety Disorders
While anxiety can affect your sleep, sleep itself also has a big impact on anxiety. Getting better sleep can smooth out your cortisol levels, reducing your sense of stress and overall anxiety levels. Practicing good sleep hygiene to the best of your abilities can help you better manage your anxiety disorder.
Spending time in nature is another especially good self-care activity for anxiety. Research shows that exposure to nature can reduce stress levels.
PTSD
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers advice for coping with PTSD, including some self-care tips. Among other tips, they recommend trying different relaxation techniques like muscle relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, meditation, or prayer. If these types of activities increase stress at first, continuing in small amounts you can handle will likely help you reduce negative reactions.
Speaking with other people about your problems is also a helpful method of self-care. With support from carefully chosen people, you will likely feel less alone.
Substance Use Disorders and Addiction
For many people, recovering from a substance use disorder or addiction is a holistic process that involves far more than just abstaining from the substance. Taking care of yourself and addressing your physical and emotional needs can help you succeed.
Stress likely played a part in developing your past addictive behavior, so you may find self-care activities that reduce stress especially helpful. Activities like working out and engaging in hobbies can help you reduce stress and feel like you have more control over your actions.
General Self-Care Tips For Everyone
Self-care can help everyone with their behavioral, mental, and physical health. Even if you don’t have any significant health conditions, certain forms of self-care can help you reduce your risk of illness, manage stress, and improve your energy.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recommends the following self-care tips to everyone:
- Get regular exercise. Exercise can improve your overall health and mood. If you can do 30 minutes of walking a day, that’s great. If not, whatever you can do is still helpful.
- Eat healthy meals and drink plenty of water. A balanced diet can improve your energy and make it easier to focus.
- Practice sleep hygiene. Getting enough sleep tends to improve all aspects of our health. If you can, stick to a regular sleep schedule. Blue light from phone and computer screens can affect your circadian rhythm, so try to avoid screen time in the hour before bedtime.
- Make time to relax. Listening to music, reading, or another relaxing activity you enjoy can help you reduce stress. You may also want to try a wellness program or meditation app — research shows that meditation has significant health benefits.
- Make time for social connections. Friends, family members, and community members can help you avoid feelings of isolation and give you valuable emotional and practical support.
- Practice gratitude. A simple daily gratitude practice, like writing down three specific things you are grateful for, can have measurable effects on your mental health.
- Practice healthy goal-setting. Setting realistic goals and choosing priorities doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but working on these skills can lead to major benefits for your mental health. You can notice when you’re about to take on too much and say no to additional tasks that will tax your mental or physical health.
- Focus on positivity. Learning to identify and challenge negative, unhelpful thoughts can help you improve your well-being, avoid unhealthy patterns, and reduce internal distractions from your goals. Making a point of appreciating whatever you’ve accomplished at the end of the day is also a good idea.
Behavioral Health Care Options in Washington State
Sunrise Services offers behavioral health services for people in Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties. We offer both individual and group therapy, medication management, chemical dependency treatment, and specialty groups such as art therapy and PTSD support groups.
We believe in an integrated approach to recovery. As your partner, we work with you to build a solution that works for your specific needs. For many people, that solution combines professional health services with guidance on self-care options that help.
As of this writing, Sunrise is accepting new clients at our Everett, Mountlake Terrace, Mount Vernon, Bellingham, and Oak Harbor locations, including in-person and telehealth patients. Contact us today for help with your behavioral health needs.
Contact Us