Caring For Your Mental Health

Mental health is emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health is not only about how you feel, think, and act. It's also an important part of the health of your whole body.

Some signs of good mental health are:

You believe your life has purpose.
You feel good about yourself.
You have strong and healthy relationships with others.
You can find healthy ways to cope and stay calm when things get tough or stressful. This is called having resilience.
You're able to have fun. This can include doing the things you like to do, such as hobbies or spending time with friends.
You don't feel bad if you need to ask for help. You know it's okay to reach out to others when you need support.

Why is caring for your mental health important?

Caring for your mental health is important because:

It helps you to stay mentally and physically healthy.
It makes you feel good about yourself and about life.
You can enjoy life.
You can deal with stress better.

How to take care of your mental health

A plate with examples of foods in a healthy diet.

There are many ways you can care for your mental health. Sometimes, you might need to try different things to see what works best for you. Try these things:

Eat a healthy diet. Make sure to drink enough water.
Exercise. Try to walk for 30 minutes every day. If you can't do it all at once, that's okay. Even a little bit of exercise is good.
Get enough sleep every night. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
Relax and have fun. For example:
- Listen to music.
- Read.
- Enjoy the outdoors.
- Do meditation.
- Talk to family and friends, or hang out with them.
Set goals. For example, think about what you need to do today and what can wait. It's okay to say "no" if you feel too busy.
Try to focus on positive thoughts:
- Every day, try to think of things you're thankful for.
- If you have negative or unhelpful thoughts, try to change them to something positive.

Where to find more information

To learn more, go to:

National Institute of Mental Health, www.nimh.nih.gov
1. Enter "caring for your mental health" in the search box.
2. Select from the results that come up.
Centers for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov
1. Enter "about emotional well-being" in the search box.
2. Select from the results that come up.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), www.nami.org
1. Enter "managing stress" in the search box.
2. Select from the results that come up.

Contact a health care provider if:

You want to know more about what you should do to care for your mental health.
You've had very bad symptoms or symptoms that worry you for 2 weeks or longer. These include:
- Not enjoying the things you used to enjoy.
- Eating a lot more or a lot less than usual.
- Feeling cranky, frustrated, or restless.
- Having trouble:
  - Sleeping at night.
  - Getting out of bed because of how you feel, like feeling sad or really worried.
  - Doing your work or other usual activities.
  - Focusing or paying attention.

Get help right away if:

You feel like you may hurt yourself or others.
You have thoughts about taking your own life.
You have other thoughts or feelings that worry you.

These symptoms may be an emergency. Take one of these steps right away: