Your mental health affects everything you do, including how you handle stress in the workplace. When work stress can cause anything from lacking a work-life balance, burning out, nervous breakdowns, or something much more serious, it’s important for everyone to take care of their mental health in the workplace. Your work will only be as good as you can do, which depends on how you’re doing. Improving your mental health in the workplace doesn’t need to be giant steps and can pay off quickly.
Stay As Physically Comfortable As Possible
If you’re working in a cold office or a hot warehouse, there are some things you can do to make yourself more comfortable. Investing in good clothing layers for your environment makes all the difference. If it’s too hot, be sure to look into cotton clothing instead of polyester. Too cold? Layers make all the difference, with a base of merino wool the most likely to keep you warm while wicking away any sweat.
Get In Touch With Nature
For those who are sitting in one place indoors all day, having a small plant or even a computer background of nature can make all the difference. Growing an indoor garden, even a small couple of pots on a counter will make an enormous health difference for both your air quality and mental health. Growing herbs or vegetables could improve your health physically.
If you’re one of the many people working in a warehouse or in a specific position that doesn’t allow you to sit or have your own spot, then it’s crucial that you get outside during your time off or lunch break. Even it’s only fifteen minutes of time outside in nature, soaking up sunshine can make a difference to your physical and mental health. After all, getting your vitamin D is crucial.
Plenty of people go untreated from SAD or Seasonal Affected Disorder, which is a form of seasonal depression. A short walk in the sunshine or just eating outdoors can help you feel more optimistic and better physically, as well as rejuvenating for your break. Those who are working night positions or unable to see the sun for whatever reason should consider getting a SAD light or lightbulb. Living without sunlight isn’t natural for the human body.
Plan Events To Build Anticipation
If the stress of every day has gotten to you, it might be time to plan a treat for yourself. When you’re feeling overwhelmed and unable to focus on anything besides your work, planning something that you find personally rewarding can not only give you something to look forward to, but also show you why you work in the first place. It’s a common practice in complaint call centers, where people sit at individual computers, often without windows, to put up pictures of their kids or plans for future vacations. Reminding yourself why you keep working helps you keep going, and planning something you’ll enjoy helps you go further when nothing else will.
Eat Better Foods
It’s extremely easy after binging on comfort food to find that your weight has changed for the worse, but that sluggish food makes your mind and mood sluggish as well. Mixing it up and having something healthier will help your body and mind work at their peak performance.
Get Moving
While driving past the gym might feel like it counted as going to the gym, (isn’t all that traffic an exercise in patience?) we all know it doesn’t have the same effect. If weights and treadmills aren’t your things, try a walk around the neighborhood or when watching TV at home, see how many sit-ups you can do during the commercial break.
You don’t have to be training for the Olympics in order to see great results. Changing your mental outlook can be a matter of small steps, and your outlook impacts your mental health. Just because something terrible happens, it doesn’t have to ruin your whole day. Never let a bad five minutes ruin your whole day. All your decisions create a long-term effect.
Taking care of yourself is the ultimate investment because you’re stuck with yourself your whole life. Improving your mental health can make all the difference long term. While each of these steps may feel small and insignificant, changing habits in even a small way can make you healthier and happier. Improving your mental health in the workplace can be done and you can start today.
If you’re in need of more resources, we recommend contacting experts in the field: U.S. Department of Labor’s Mental Health at Work.
Have you actually burned out? We’ve covered that as well:
6 Signs You’re Burning Out at Work
If your job is still too much for you to handle or you’re looking for a complete change, we are hiring for a wide variety of positions across the United States. Apply Now