World Mental Health Day – Looking After Yourself and Others

Finding it hard to ‘switch off’ is such a common problem in modern life.  Establishing regular sleeping patterns of going to bed and getting up at about the same time each day seems to be important.  Getting out in day light and exercise are also vital, especially as we head towards winter.  It’s pretty well known that the light from screens stimulates our brains into staying awake – doing something stimulating online like gaming or getting irate over social media makes it even harder to switch off!   Try to get into the habit of turning devices off a couple of hours before you intend to go to sleep or, if you must use them, choose calming activities and consider wearing specially designed orange tinted glasses or adjusting your screen colour to filter out some of the blue light.

Some people find that using mindfulness apps like www.headspace.com or https://pzizz.com/ useful for clearing and calming their mind just before sleep (both free to access).

If you’re experiencing regular headaches, it’s important to see your GP to check if there is an underlying cause that needs treatment.  If you’re certain that your headaches are purely stress induced, some of the suggestions above about prioritising sleep and reducing screen time might be of use.  Eating well and staying hydrated are also important.  Regular breaks from books and screens to move around and let out eyes change their focus also help.  Yoga or stretching exercises can reduce tension in the neck and shoulders – worth a try to see if it helps?

The Stress Management Society has lots of information and useful tips about managing stress.

Depression is common and has unfortunately become more prevalent during the global pandemic.  If you feel like you’re not coping or that you’re not safe, it’s vital that you seek medical help from your GP, 111 or A&E.  Anti-depressants are useful drugs for many people – they don’t help everyone but sometimes they can help people feel a bit more able to cope with the everyday.  Even if you don’t feel like it, ensuring that you eat nutritious food, setting aside time for plentiful sleep, getting  outside, moving around and talking to people who make you feel good will make each day feel more manageable.  Counselling or therapy is beneficial to many people – your GP or student services will be able to point you in the direction of what’s available.  Talking to people around you about what’s on your mind and what help you need is often useful – you might find yourself feeling less alone and more able to problem-solve.

Students Against Depression set up and run by the Charlie Walker Memorial Trust has lots of information, support and advice for young people experiencing mental distress.

Men may want to consider contacting CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, if they’re experiencing suicidal thoughts. Free help lines (all staffed 7 days a week 5pm – midnight) London – 0808 802 58 58; Nationwide – 0800 58 58; webchat and advice and guidance on website.

MOODZONE  Free, online NHS resource with information and practical tips

I expect that this question is on a lot of students minds this year especially as housemates are spending more time with each other than they usually would.  It’s very difficult if you don’t know people to spot if they’re acting ‘out of character’ or are, for example, depressed.  For lots of people, being included in things going on and having people taking an interest in them will often be enough them feel more connected to those around them.  If you’re concerned about someone and feel out of your depth in how to help them, you can always contact student services for advice.

Panic attacks are tough and scary, and you’ve identified a great approach about learning to live with them rather than trying to stop them altogether which, of course, will make you feel more panicky as you can’t just turn off how your body reacts to things.  We all know that good sleep, eating well and exercising are really obvious, but they’re not so obvious that we all do them every day…  they truly are the foundation of good mental and physical health though.  If we’re low on sleep, our body produces more adrenaline to keep us awake which leads to us feeling anxious and on edge.  Exercise helps get rid of stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisone and so reduces the likelihood of panic attacks.  Avoiding situations that you know make you panicky and being confident enough in your own judgement to remove yourself when you can feel your anxiety level rising also helps.  As you probably know, breathing – getting oxygen to the brain – is the key thing that reduces panic.  Mindfulness practices, singing or chanting can help do this.

If you’re feeling panicky and in need of immediate support, the Samaritans (Free phone line 24/7 – 116 123; E-mail support – jo@samaritans.org) and Giveusashout (free, confidential text service to help people get from a ‘hot’ space to a ‘cool’ one. Text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258) are available 24/7

These are tough, tough times for so many students.  Do ensure that you’re registered with a local GP so that you can access support for any health problem promptly.  Although there’s nowhere to go to be checked, there is help and support available as outlined above.  Mind (Info line Mon-Fri 9am-6pm: 0300 123 3393) and the Mental Health Foundation also have lots of information, advice and downloadable resources on their websites.

It’s so hard isn’t it? Even if we’ve built up good habits and ways of managing our time by the third year, everything’s been thrown up in the air by managing covid.  It’s important to keep talking to the people around you about where you are with everything and what you need – do you need your friends and family to lean on you less for a while for example?  Have a look at the Stress Management Society website – some of their tried-and-tested, practical suggestions may help you put things in place to make daily life feel a bit less overwhelming.

We’d all like to know how to do this!  We watched this Stress Bucket video clip during the session on 23^rd September (which is all still available to watch online if you’re interested).  It shows how ‘quick fix’ ways to cope with stress often end up causing us more stress in the long run.  Actively making a decision to replace bad habits with less harmful ones takes time, but if you take it a day at a time, you might surprise yourself with what you do have the power to change.

The easiest way to tell people something personal about ourselves is often what initially seems the hardest – which is to just simply and directly say it.  Hints may not be picked up on, which can make us feeling even less heard.  Giving specific examples can help the other person understand your perspective.  It’s not easy to change habits though – you might need to do a bit of practising with a trusted friend.  It does seem that emotional or complex situations are rarely sorted out via text messages, email or social media – speaking either face-to-face or on the phone tends to be more effective (and involve less time waiting and checking, checking, checking for a response!).