Hello Friends!
Today is part 5/5 of the Minimum Viable Practice series. The goal of this series is to establish a baseline practice for those who want to get serious about their health and longevity.
My next post will be a summary of all the content covered in the MVP series. I will also be releasing a printable “one-pager” that will allow you to reference the information covered at a glance.
Part one can be found here: MVP Part I: Dumb Ways to Die
Part two can be found here: MVP Part II: Optimizing Intake
Part three can be found here: MVP Part III: Optimizing Movement
Part four can be found here: MVP Part IV: Optimizing Sleep
TL;DR: A positive environment is key to your happiness and mental health, do what you can to surround yourself with good people who practice healthy habits. Cut toxic people out of your life. Get a therapist. Exercise. Eat well. Sleep. Try meditation or a mindfulness practice. Practice gratitude.
“To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden.”
-Seneca
Improving healthspan and lifespan requires a comprehensive approach. To exclude mental health is to turn a blind eye to a major driver of death. Mental health conditions can lead to addiction, poor life choices, and in the worst case, suicide. Stress and unhappiness can also impact your health. Chronic stress and negative emotion can wreak havoc on the immune, cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and central nervous systems. Furthermore, to live a long time, but have your experience dominated by stress and/or unhappiness is to miss an important factor in our longevity equation: a happy and fulfilling life.
A Happy Life
We want to feel our lives are satisfying, joyful, and deeply meaningful. The good news is a long, healthy life (long lifespan and healthspan) is associated with high measures of subjective well-being. Directional causality isn’t established, but I would wager it’s bidirectional (people who have a longer, healthier life are happier and happier people have a longer, healthier life).
Researchers use a variety of components to determine the likelihood someone feels happy. The biggest influence on a person's happiness is their environment. A country’s cultural values and the government has the largest influence on its citizen's subjective happiness. Stable countries with strong economic growth, healthy life expectancy, and quality social relationships create environments conducive to a happy life.
The first step to happiness is to singlehandedly change the way your home government runs or move to a happier country. Okay…maybe not so easy for everyone. Luckily, there are many other factors within your control. In the next few sections, we’ll take a look at the actionable steps you can take to improve your mental health and sense of wellbeing.
Someone to talk to
The main drivers of mental illness (and sources of unhappiness) are:
Adverse childhood experiences
Experiences related to ongoing chronic disease
Biological factors such as genes or chemical imbalances in our brain
Use of alcohol or recreational drugs
Poor social connections
Loneliness or isolation
These factors aren’t trivial. To ignore them is often an easier short term solution but results in a painful long term outcome. For many, the journey will be life-long and difficult. The good news is you don’t have to walk it alone.
Making the initial leap to talk with someone is the hardest step. People are afraid they’ll appear unstable and not put together. We all need a coach. Someone we can confide in, who will help us piece together our future and make sense of our past. If you’re not ready to talk to a professional, try reaching out to a close friend or family member. Making the first move in being vulnerable is a huge act of courage. Everyone deserves to be seen and known.
If you've never visited a professional therapist, consider making an appointment. Think of it as your yearly mental checkup. A professional is better equipped than friends or family. If you are suffering from trauma or addiction, look for a therapist that specializes in those areas. For issues related to chemical imbalances, a therapist may refer you to a psychiatrist for medication.
Even if you think you have all your ducks in a row. Even if everything is fine. A therapist can provide valuable insight into the behavior of yourself and those you interact with. They can help you understand what drives your behavior and produces your negative emotions.
Resources: suicide prevention hotline - find a therapist - a good book - another good book
Maintaining Healthy Habits
Your relationship with drugs, alcohol, and tobacco plays a large part in your mental health. If you suspect you may be abusing these substances seek help immediately.
Maintaining a healthy diet, moving frequently, and good sleep will all boost your mental health. Refer to MVP: Parts I, II, III, IV.
Social Connectedness
Social connection improves physical health and mental and emotional well-being. Individuals who feel loved, cared for, and valued by others have lower rates of anxiety, depression, and inflammation. We don’t need studies to tell us this. Often, the difficulty is changing our situation. We get stuck in a cycle. Low self-esteem and anxiety make us isolate ourselves. Perpetual isolation increases our anxiety and lowers our self-esteem. The solution is little, tiny baby steps:
Text a family member and ask them how their day was.
Ask a friend to meet for coffee or send them a funny video you recently watched.
Sign up for a Meetup workshop or speaker event (networking events can be intimidating at first)
Go easy on yourself, you’re taking big steps! Schedule social events like you would a workout. Your brain needs this to be healthy. Fight the urge to be independent and individual. Depend on those you love, seek to improve the lives of others. Get a roommate. Go on a date (even a bad one). Nobody lives a healthy, full life in total isolation.
That said, it’s also worthwhile to assess the health of your existing relationships. Who do you need to let go of? Who do you need to make amends with? Who do you want to spend more time with? Remember, to some degree you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Toxic people may need friends too, they just don’t need you.
Resources: Meetup - Eventbrite - How to Make Friends
Further Considerations
Meditation practice has been very impactful on my own mental health. A growing body of research is showing the power meditation has to quell anxiety, treat depression and even help people quit smoking. Participating in consistent mindfulness practice can transform the way you perceive and respond to the world. I try to meditate for 10-15 minutes every morning. Sitting in a chair, closing your eyes and focusing on your breath is a great way to start. If you need more guidance, check out the meditation apps I have listed below.
Another effective practice is gratitude journaling. Taking a bit of time every day to list out what you are thankful for in your life can have profound effects on your health and sense of well-being. One study looked at patients with heart failure who participated in gratitude journaling. The participant group showed improved inflammatory biomarkers and increased parasympathetic HRV responses during the gratitude journaling task. Check out this recent video by Kurzgesagt on the benefits of gratitude.
Resources: another good book - Headspace - Waking Up
Conclusion
Mental health is the final leg in our 5-legged Minimum Viable Practice stool (they do exist). To live a long life at the expense of a sound and happy mind is to miss our aim. Most of us aren’t remembered for how fit we were, how healthy we ate, or how much we achieved.* Most of us are remembered for how we treated others, how we made them feel. Your mind is the most influential tool you have. Keep it sharp, clean, and ready to use.