Five ways to wellbeing
The five ways to wellbeing are daily acts that can benefits our mental health and wellbeing, we can all adopt them to our circumstances, especially for those of us who may be self-isolating.
Connect
Having a strong support network can help you through difficult times in life and can combat feelings of loneliness or isolation.
It’s important to keep in touch with family and friends and you can do this through telephoning them or using apps such as Skype where you can see the person that you are talking to, and you can add people on the call. This can help you to feel close to them even if you can’t be with them.
If you are working from home – check in with your colleagues regularly to see how they are doing.
Be Active
Being physically active is an excellent way of developing our mental wellbeing and can be something we can do to boost our mood even when self-isolating.
There are plenty of things you can do from doing an online workout, the NHS fitness studio has some good ones that ranges from aerobics to yoga and everything in between!
Don’t forget anything that makes you slightly breathless counts so you could clean the house or car or wash windows – it all counts!
Check out Active Leicester on Facebook and X for more exercise at home ideas.
Take notice
Taking notice reminds us to look at the small things in life, proven to improve our mental wellbeing.
This may feel like a difficult task if you are isolated and have been for a long time; but you could try practicing mindfulness – this is where you become more aware of what you are feeling and doing at that moment in time and it can give you more of an appreciation for things you have previously taken for granted. You could make a list of things you are thankful for each day, no matter how small.
Be mindful in watching the news – if constant updates are making you feel more anxious, take time away from social media or TV. Turn off notifications if you have to.
You can find out about mindfulness on the NHS website.
Learn
Learning new things throughout our lives, no matter how old we are, is great for improving our self-esteem.
You could do something different, learn a new skill, read a new genre of book or become a crossword ace!
There are lots of online resources that can help you – try the Open University website for free online courses.
Give
We know that people who volunteer their time in some ways are much more likely to rate themselves as happy and feel more connected to their community. Now more than ever, acts of kindness can go a long way, in helping ourselves and others.
We are working with Leicestershire Partnership Trust to provide a library of useful resources for you to use to help support your mental health. You can find them here:
Time to change booklet – https://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/184334/time-to-change-booklet-2018.pdf