hey psych2goers welcome back thank you for being here when you think of the phrase creating healthy habits for yourself you probably think of eating healthy exercising and getting to bed on time these are all great things to do for your physical health but what about creating healthy habits for your mental health keeping a healthy mind is just as important as keeping a healthy body because one can easily influence the other if you want to know more about good mental health habits here are six surprising habits that make you mentally strong number one you are in
control of your emotions did a recent argument with a friend leave you feeling hurt or upset because of what they said have your parents ever told you that you need to do a better job on your chores when you thought you were doing a good job already in both of these situations it's understandable that you may feel upset anxious annoyed or even outright angry and that's okay feeling these kinds of emotions doesn't make you weak it's perfectly normal it's when you don't allow those negative emotions to take control of you that makes you mentally strong
for example while arguing with your friend you didn't take your anger out on them and chose to keep calm even though you were upset at the time or maybe when you're sad you don't let that heaviness drag you down and keep you from moving forward you try to move past your emotional hurdles you recognize these negative emotions and choose to acknowledge them in doing so you're able to calmly process them and work through them leaving you with the ability to respond to most situations with a clear head number two you question your thoughts and beliefs
how does questioning thoughts and beliefs make you mentally strong though when you think critically about your thoughts and beliefs you're challenging yourself with the internet at our fingertips there is so much information to take in and explore this can be overwhelming when you're trying to keep up with what's true and what's lies or what's just a rumor it can be really easy to blindly accept everything you hear as truth mentally strong people make a habit of questioning or thinking critically about things they come across whether it's something a close family member told them or a
news article they saw questioning things that you read or hear gives you a reason to dig deeper allowing you to learn more and gives you the opportunity to learn about different people's perspectives by doing this it gives you control over how the information affects you have you ever wanted to increase your own level of happiness would you like to do something in particular to help raise your joy and well-being or maybe you've always wanted to experience an ivy league education without the commitment yale university is offering an online course called the science of well-being where
dr santos reveals certain misconceptions about happiness and recommends tips for increasing happiness such as savoring our everyday experiences and appreciating them while they happen as well as encouraging random acts of kindness these are all just small snippets of what the course has to offer if you like the tips from this video and want to learn more about how to increase your own well-being and productivity then you should check out the science of well-being did we also mention that over 3 million people have enrolled and it's the online equivalent to their most popular on-campus course the
course is completely online self-paced and the best part yet you can earn a certificate from yale upon completion so make sure you click the description box below to check out the course number three you have healthy boundaries in place for yourself do you feel like a doormat for people to walk all over do you drop everything you're doing to help out a friend or family member when they need a favor creating healthy boundaries for the people in your life is a good habit for mental strength according to an article from psych central boundaries are a
measure of your self-esteem when you create healthy boundaries you're letting others know how to treat you while allowing you to be your best self when you don't have boundaries it's easier to always say yes to people you let your friends frequently vent all of their problems to you or you let that one friend poke fun at you a little too much while wanting to be there for others and help them isn't necessarily a bad thing always being available at everyone's beck and call can put unneeded stress on you you can't pour out of an empty
cup by not setting healthy boundaries there's a good chance that eventually your cup will run out to stay mentally strong it's important to create boundaries with those around you so that you don't drain yourself of all of your mental and physical energy number four you actively learn from your mistakes have you ever said something that wasn't nice born out of anger or frustration or have you gotten a lower grade on a test than what you were expecting you might dwell on situations where you weren't acting your best and focus on them obsessing over things you've
done in the past only adds more stress to your plate when you start to think about what happened figure out why it happened and make a plan for how to improve on it next time this will make you mentally stronger because it shows that you're choosing to grow and learn from past mistakes number five you limit your time on social media how many hours do you spend on social media a day social media is a huge part of our society and our daily lives it can be a great way to connect with friends and family
and is filled with endless memes and cute cat pictures but there can be risks to scrolling through instagram apps like facebook and instagram make it easy to compare your life to others those glossy filtered photos and the posts about their happy lives can make it look like the grass is greener on their side and an unhealthy game of comparison can start in your heart according to a study prolonged use of social media sites and apps may be linked to symptoms of depression when exposed to all of that social media you can start to think you
aren't good enough or be envious of the things you see people doing online limiting your use of social media can help you avoid this harmful comparison game whether you give yourself an allotted amount of time to check social media each day or you only check at night or in the morning limiting your time on social media can help make you mentally strong and number six taking time for yourself do you have long days at school or at work do you often choose to do more work than what is asked of you are you constantly on
the go and feel like you have to be doing something to stay productive going above and beyond and keeping up on productive tasks is great but if you don't take time for yourself to recharge your mental health can take a hit according to an article from psych central downtime allows your brain to restore attention and motivation it promotes creativity strengthens memory and can even make you more productive in the long run when you take a little time out of your busy day to go for a walk read a book or even just lay on the
couch and watch your favorite tv show you're allowing your mind to take a break and recharge just like you sometimes need a nap after lunch to boost your physical energy your mind needs rest too do you practice any of these habits to stay mentally strong if so have they helped you or do you know someone who could benefit from these habits let us know in the comments below we'd love to know your thoughts a huge shout out to coursera for sponsoring this video and offering a yale university course to our viewers don't forget to hit
the subscribe button for more psycho videos thank you for watching and we'll see you next time you
