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Effective Mental Health Practices for Your Daily Routine

January 16, 2025

6 min read

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Author : United We Care
Effective Mental Health Practices for Your Daily Routine

The fast pace of modern life can often leave us feeling overwhelmed and stressed. When most of our daily routines are busy, we generally leave our mental health on the back burner which in turn can lead to consequences like stress, anxiety, and burnout. This is exactly why we need to incorporate mental health practices for improving sleep quality, mindfulness, and self-care rituals for a restful evening routine. We need to focus on mental health and including such practices in your daily routine can indeed sound very daunting but here are some very simple practices that can easily fit into your life.

1. Quick and Easy Mental Health Practices for Busy Mornings

“The sun is new each day.” – Heraclitus

The way you start your day can set the tone for the rest of it. Here are some ways you can begin your day positively:

Mindful Breathing: Immediately after you wake up, take five deep breaths. Focus your mind on breathing in and out to get yourself grounded and start off with a clear mind.

Positive Self-Talk:  Start your day with positive self-talk like, “Today, I can handle whatever comes my way.” A few positive words for the self can impact how you see the rest of the day.

Exposure to Sunlight: Take some moments of early morning sunlight. This will help wake up your body and mind and improve your mood and energy for the rest of the day.

Healthy Breakfast: One’s mental and physical health go together so it is absolutely important to have a good, healthy breakfast in order to have enough physical and mental strength to focus on your day. 

Depending on your time, you should at least be able to squeeze two of these into your morning routine.

2. Mindfulness habits for a peaceful workday

Mindfulness can be defined as ‘‘a receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience.” (Brown, et al., 2007). Workdays can be stressful, but mindfulness will help you in staying cool and focused:

Mindful eating: Your lunch time should only be associated with eating food, with no other activities involved, something called mindfulness. Savor your food by feeling the taste, texture, smell, etc. Try to focus on and savor every bite as your food hits just the right spots and fills your appetite.

Scheduled Breaks: Set a timer that reminds you of taking short breaks. Breaks may involve stretching, walking, listening to some music or breathing with focus.

Clean workspace: A clutter-free environment would mean an environment free from all kinds of distractions and disorder. If our surroundings are clutter free it is easier to have clear thoughts. 

Single-Tasking: Try to do only one thing at a time and not several as multitasking will lower your productivity and increase extra mental stress. Instead of focusing on everything at once, focus your complete attention on important things with a single-minded concentration. Who said work is stressful if it is done with attention.

3. Self-care rituals for a restful evening 

It’s always important to unwind at the end of a long day. Here are some self-care rituals for a restful evening to help you do just that:

Evening Meditation and Yoga: Attempt to fit in some meditation, mindfulness or gentle yoga sessions into your evening routine. This may help you release daily stress, and help you relax after a fast-paced day. Slowing down during the evenings away from high stimulations can result in better sleep while benefiting your physical health. 

Aromatherapy: You can try and place calming fragrances like lavender or chamomile in your home. This can include incense sticks or heating aromatic oils and will also help improve sleep quality. 

Reading: You can read through a novel or just listen to an audiobook if you would like to relax. Remember to keep the material light and enjoyable to prevent over-stimulating your brain.

4. Incorporating gratitude and positive affirmations into your day 

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.”– Germany Kent

Gratitude and positive affirmations can greatly impact your mental well-being. Here are two ways to practice it:

Gratitude Journal: Write for five minutes everything you are thankful for within the day. This allows for the simple shifting of focus and can help reduce stress. You can also choose to write five things that you are grateful for which do not have to be anything big. Small moments can bring immense joy and gratitude as well.

Affirmation Cards: Use a set of positive affirmation cards such as “I can do it”, “Today is a great day”, “Nothing can stop me from achieving my goals”, and many more. Read them whenever you need a lift of positivity.

5. Mental health practices for improving sleep quality

A day full of hard work must end with a good night’s sleep. The quality of your sleep significantly impacts your mood and energy and apart from meditation and mindfulness here’s how to improve your sleep:

Consistent Sleep Schedule: Maintaining a regular body-clock is important. The time you sleep and wake up should be the same daily, even on weekends.

Sleep-Inducing Environment: Make sure that your bedroom is cool, quiet, and dark. You may even use a white noise machine or blackout curtains or can use calming music before you hit the bed. Doing this will improve sleep quality and enhance mental health.

Mindful Sleep Preparation: For improving sleep quality, avoid any screen time at least one hour before bedtime, and instead, engage in a soothing and calming activity like reading, listening to soothing music, or even doing some deep breathing exercises.

Mindfulness

The benefits that come with mindfulness are backed by large amounts of research. Mindfulness and its practices can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and other issues, such as psychological distress. Besides, it is positively correlated with improved attention and cognitive flexibility (Moore & Malinowski, 2009).

Conclusion

Prioritizing your mental health does not have to be time consuming or complicated. By starting your morning with positive thoughts, spending your day in a mindful manner, focusing on mental health practices for improving sleep quality and winding down with self-care rituals in the evening, you can significantly improve your mental well-being. Remember, small changes can lead to big results. Integrate these practices into your day consistently to feel a peaceful impact on your life. 

References

APA PsycNet. (n.d.). Psycnet.apa.org. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-17560-001

‌Carmody, James & Baer, Ruth. (2008). Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Journal of behavioral medicine. 31. 23-33. 10.1007/s10865-007-9130-7. 

Moore, A., & Malinowski, P. (2009). Meditation, Mindfulness and Cognitive Flexibility. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(1), 176–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.12.008

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Author : United We Care

Founded in 2020, United We Care (UWC) is providing mental health and wellness services at a global level, UWC utilizes its team of dedicated and focused professionals with expertise in mental healthcare, to solve 2 essential missing components in the market, sustained user engagement and program efficacy/outcomes.

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