Mental health is sometimes described as the absence of mental illness. But mental health isn’t something that just happens to us if we are lucky enough not to get sick. We’re all – to some extent – affected by factors outside of our control: we have certain genetic predispositions, and we can be deeply affected by our upbringing, environmental factors and life events that just happen to us. And while it is true that many factors are not in our control, we have more influence over our mental health than most people realize. What if we were to see mental health as a set of skills, habits and lifestyle choices that we can practice? From this perspective it’s easy to understand that the mind – just like the body – requires daily maintenance.
So what are the skills, habits and lifestyle choices that lead to mental health? While there is no ‘one-size fits all’ formula, I can offer some general recommendations. Why not create your own individualized mental health lifestyle based on the ideas below and your unique values and circumstances? You could also create one together with your mental health professional, if you already go to therapy.
The ingredients of a mentally healthy lifestyle
- Take care of your basic physical needs: Psychological wellbeing requires that your basic physical needs are taken care of (at least most of the time). You can start by paying attention to:
- Sleep habits
- Diet
- Exercise
- Staying hydrated
- How your hormones impact you
- How touch and sex impact you
- Take care of social connections and relationships: As humans, we need frequent social connections to feel well; even small gestures like eye contact or a genuine smile can make a difference. We also need close, safe and meaningful relationships to feel our best. Being authentic in your relationships is one way to bring more depth and fulfilment to them.
- Learn to feel your emotions: Emotions are meant to be felt and acknowledged. The purpose of emotions is to help us survive and adapt to our physical and social surroundings. They give us feedback about when we are in alignment with our values, needs and desires (this is when we feel so-called ‘positive emotions’) and when we’re out of alignment (when we feel heavy or difficult emotions). One of the most useful skills is to learn feeling your emotions – rather than solving, judging, overanalysing or suppressing them. Next time you have a difficult emotion, notice what the emotion feels like in your body; where in your body do you feel the emotion, and what are the physical sensations? Try to just allow and feel the emotion for a couple of minutes without analysing or solving the situation that triggered the emotion. After you have been fully present with the emotion, you can then move into another mode like expressing the emotion or doing some conscious problem solving.
- Learn to observe your thoughts:One of the causes of anxiety is an unhealthy relationship with our thoughts. Psychological wellbeing requires understanding that thoughts are not reality, and the thoughts in your mind do not define who you are. Thoughts are interpretations of reality, and often they’re distorted or unhelpful interpretations.Even the most intelligent humans have some cognitive distortions. The trick is to learn how to observe your thoughts with curiosity rather than identifying with them. In other words, treat your thoughts like you would treat information that you read on the internet –always with a grain of salt. Our mind is very permeable, meaning that we pick up most of our thoughts from our surroundings: the opinions of other people, the media and content that we consume, and so on.
- Take deep conscious breaths every day: Breathing in through the nose and exhaling slowly is the simplest way of regulating your nervous system. Just a minute of deep breathing can make a difference! Take a few deep breaths whenever you feel anxious, stressed, frustrated or overwhelmed.
- Take time to reflect on your experiences: Human life is incredibly complex. Just like the body digests the food we eat, the mind needs to “digest” all the information we receive and the experiences we go through. There are many ways of doing this, but some recommended ways are: journalling, talking to a (non-judgmental) friend, or going to therapy.
- Give your mind a break: This is one of the most underrated mental health habits, and it doesn’t cost anything. Spend 15 minutes without any noise or stimulation, simply letting your mind wander. You can combine this with meditation, staring out of the window, drinking tea, or taking a silent walk. Doing this every day will decrease anxiety, improve sleep quality, and make you more resilient to stress. The point of this is not to silence all your thoughts, but instead to create some space where you’re not taking in more stimulation.
- Disconnect from phones and screens for at least 30minutes after waking up and before going to sleep. Phone addiction is a real thing and the research findings undeniable.
- Do something creative every week: creativity, storytelling and artistic expression are part of our human nature, and they’re some of the oldest forms of processing life experiences.
- Spend time in nature/outside:While Finland doesn’t offer sun around the year, Finnish culture can inspire us to stay connected to nature no matter what the weather is like. Spending time in nature regulates the nervous system, improves sleep quality and lifts the mood.
- Start noticing what activities, places, people and environments are aligned with your values and wellbeing,and what’s not aligned: As humans, we are wired to adapt to our surroundings. This means that if our surroundings are toxic, we can create toxic coping mechanisms to adapt to our environment. In other words, it’s essential to create environments in which we feel well. A good place to start is by cleaning your house, and making sure your physical environment is comfortable.
- Remember to have fun and laugh:Fun doesn’t belong only to kids and comedians. Don’t wait until life gets easy; have fun today! And if you’ve forgotten how to have fun, spend time around someone who makes you laugh.
The goal is not perfection, but consistency. It’s unrealistic to exercise, meditate, journal, eat healthy, spend quality time with loved ones, and go for a walk every day while also living life. But you can start with choosing one item to focus on each day and just continue until you’ve formed some healthy habits. A lot of these recommendations get easier when we accept help instead of trying to do everything alone.
Everyone deserves mental health. Taking care of our mental health does take some effort, but much less effort than living with anxiety, depression or other mental health struggles. So what’s the one thing in your mental health kit you could focus on this week?
Written by: psychologist Kim Seppälä
References used to write this article:
Jordan, M., & Hinds, J. (Eds.). (2016). Ecotherapy: Theory, research and practice. Macmillan Education UK.
Packheiser, J., Hartmann, H., Fredriksen, K. et al. A systematic review and multivariate meta-analysis of the physical and mental health benefits of touch interventions. Nat Hum Behav 8, 1088–1107 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01841-8
Zhu W, Zhang Y, Lan Y, Song X. Smartphone dependence and its influence on physical and mental health. Front Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 19;16:1281841. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1281841. PMID: 40904566; PMCID: PMC12401922.