Why is Mental Health Self Care So Important?

The importance of mental health self care

We all know the importance of taking care of our bodies. When we neglect them, we become ill. Eating right, getting adequate rest and exercise, managing any chronic conditions — these are critical to maintaining good physical health.

But what about mental health?

Studies show that mental health is just as important as physical health. And little things like taking time for self care can make a huge impact.

So why do so many of us neglect this aspect of our wellbeing?

We asked Achievement users how often they made time for mental health self care, what types of activities they typically did, and what keeps them from practicing self care as often as they’d like.

What did we learn? That while many of our users do practice regular self care, the majority of them don’t do it as often as they’d like.

Why?

The most common responses (in order) were:

• Not enough time
• Pressures of daily life
• Financial burdens

We also discovered that while many of those who responded said that self care was very important to them (almost 75%), and almost 70% said they would like to practice self care daily, only 27% do.

So, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’d like to share some quick, easy, free ways to practice regular mental health self care!

10 tips for working mental health self care into your daily routine

1. Take a quick (5–10 minute) walk or bike ride
2. Download a free meditation app — most have practices as quick as 1–2 minutes!
3. Look in the mirror and tell yourself one thing you like about yourself
4. Reach out to someone who helps you feel good about yourself
5. Sing your favorite song
6. Draw or color something
7. Go to bed 10 minutes earlier than usual
8. Close your eyes and focus on your breath for 1 minute
9. Hug someone
10. Write down 5 things you are grateful for

These are just examples of some of the ways you can practice mental health self care daily. We encourage you to find ways that work for YOU!

Mental Health Resources

While taking the time for mental health self care can improve overall wellbeing and keep us feeling good, sometimes we need more.

The following resources are available to you or anyone you know who may be struggling.

Crisis Resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Veteran’s Crisis Line

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline

OK2Talk Helpline Teen Helpline

Crisis Text Line

The Jed Foundation

Help Finding Treatment

American Psychological Association

SAMSHA’s Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

American Psychiatric Association Foundation

LGBT National Health Center

The Trevor Project

Office of Minority Health

Additional Resources

Mentalhealth.gov

Nami

Mentalhealthfirstaid.org

We know that the last few months have put everyone into a new funk. Work, lifestyles, and exercise are all uniquely different than they may have been back when 2020 started.

That’s why we decided to look at how Evidation Members were resting and perhaps coping with some of these changes. To better understand our community, we decided to look at members who logged fitbit data in 2019 and 2020 between January and April to see if the pandemic was causing people to change up their nap schedule (hopefully for the better). Total number of naps per user per day were counted and the average nap count per day was calculated across our Evidation population. See the figure below:

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It appears that members are indeed napping far more than they were in 2019, beginning at about the time shelter in place orders began (which was around March 15, 2020, see grey in graph). On average, after shelter in place began, Evidation Members napped 14.37% more compared to the previous year during this time period. That’s many more naps! And hopefully, people are using this time to rest and recuperate.

We know that being mindful of sleep is one way people can take care of their health. However, we also observed in the news that fostering dogs has been at an all time high. It has become so popular that there’s even a waitlist.

So, in addition to users napping far more compared to last year, we delved more into what other things users are doing differently during this uncertain time. We released a survey a few weeks ago asking our members about their dogs, what type of relationship they have with their pets, and their activity habits with their pets. We received over 35,000 responses!

The first thing we wanted to know about our members and their pets was whether they had recently fostered a dog. It turns out that many people have begun to foster dogs, likely due to the pandemic. In total, 1,500+ Achievers indicated that they fostered their dog in between February and April of this year. Compare that to only 450+ Achievers during that time period last year. It definitely appears that the pandemic is causing people to go out and lend a helping hand to a homeless dog.

Of the people who recently fostered a dog, 55% indicated that they are now working from home due to the coronavirus. 39% said that they are still going into work, and 5% indicated that they had worked at home prior to the pandemic. These newly remote workers appear to be helping keep these shelters empty.

You may be wondering, can owning a dog help you live a bit healthier? It turns out that new dog owners in general are a promising sign of better health! For those that got their dog in 2019 or 2020, we found that members walk on average about 350 steps more per day, comparing the 30 days prior to getting a dog with the 30 days post getting a dog. Even in pandemic times (though members are walking far less than their 2019 dog owner counterparts, by about 1000 steps per day for those that got their dogs in March and April), members with new dogs are getting a 200 step increase in steps pre vs post dog ownership! Of course, this is expected, and we’re happy to report that dogs can help you get more steps. This trend turned out to be especially true for the older folks in our population. The 50+ population increased their steps by about 500 steps on average, compared to the ~200 step increase for those who are less than 50. Take a look:

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Another interesting question we asked our members was whether or not they sleep with their pets and how often per week they sleep with their pets. While we didn’t see a necessary difference in sleep quality or total time when our members had their dog buddies snoozing with them, we did see many people report that they sleep next to their dogs. In fact, 73% of Evidation Members said they nap or sleep next to their dog, at least once per week. For members who said they nap or sleep next to their dog, over 19,000 reported to nap or sleep next to their dog at least 4 times a week! This may sound surprising for the folks who may not have furry pals, but many can attest that sleeping next to their dogs can be a comforting ritual.

The last thing we wanted to explore was whether we could learn anything about our members who had reported that having a dog had helped them manage with their health-condition (heart condition, limited mobility, etc). We found that 1000+ members agreed that having a dog helped. It seemed as though having a furry friend was very helpful for emotional support and well being. We did not find any concrete information around managing conditions, but were glad to hear that those who had self reported with many conditions (specifically anxiety, asthma, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and migraines) and who had a higher resting heart rate found having a pet to be supportive.

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Given how tumultuous a time it has been for all, we found this podcast with episodes that will lift your spirits. The Happiness Lab podcast is narrated by Dr. Laurie Santos who is a Yale professor who teaches a class called “Psychology and the Good Life.” Through various episodes, Dr. Santos references the latest, relevant scientific research and relates them to everyday experiences and some unusual moments.

In this specific series, she’s curated a variety of content related to coping with the coronavirus. We found a lot of the commentary relatable and useful.

The content specific to coronavirus includes the following:

1. Beat Your Isolation Loneliness
2. Coach Yourself Through a Crisis
3. Rising to a Challenge
4. Calm Can Be Contagious
5. Help Others to Help Yourself
6. Keep Your Relationship Happy
7. Checking in with Susan David
   Susan David is a Psychologist at Harvard Medical School who offers ways to manage fear and panic through healthy strategies that anyone can adopt.
8. Laurie’s Personal Tips

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We know that this particular time is unnerving and challenging during the coronavirus, so we wanted to share some tips and tricks from our team to help you find some calm throughout your day.

• Connect with your friends and family through virtual lunches or even a happy hour! Regularly check in with your loved ones to see how they’re doing. Video chat can help you feel more connected.
• Download a mindfulness app to get a daily or weekly moment of meditation in! Don’t forget that Stop, Breathe, Think connects to Achievement, so you can continue to track your progress! We were also glad to hear that Headspace has unlocked a series of specially curated content for consumers who have an account called Weathering the Storm. You can preview content here. Mindfulness app Calm has an online portal available that you can check out as well!
• Stuck inside most of the day? Schedule a quick walk or grab some time to be amidst nature. Be careful to maintain social distancing during this break. Don’t forget that if you have a backyard, it can be a quick escape during the day. One of our team members played “I Spy” with her little ones when they did a walk around the neighborhood.
• Take a virtual tour of a museum while you’re staying in. Read about how these 12 famous museums offer tours that you can take from the comfort of your couch.
• Give Bullet Journaling a try to help organize thoughts. Follow this Pinterest board for ideas or prompts. Journaling can be a relaxing way to express how you’re feeling and prompts can help you take the time to reflect.
• Take breaks from reading and viewing the news and grab your favorite book or listen to a good podcast. Check out this list of podcasts for book lovers.
• Livestream music from famous venues like the Metropolitan Opera and keep an eye on Global Citizen on Instagram to hear about live concerts that famous musicians are live streaming for fans.
• Tune in to an online workout! Check out 15 Minute Relaxing Yoga for Anxiety and Stress Relief, 5 Best Chair Cardio Exercises, or this 7 Minute Ab Workout to catch a good healthy break when you’re indoors.

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