Your mental health matters

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Prioritizing Your Mental Health

Good mental health allows you to navigate daily challenges, manage stress, and work toward your personal goals with resilience. However, various factors—such as trauma, stress, and sleep disturbances—can impact your mental well-being. While mental health conditions may not always be preventable, you can take proactive steps to nurture and support your mental health throughout your life. By prioritizing self-care, building healthy coping strategies, and seeking support when needed, you can cultivate a strong foundation for overall well-being.    

Steps you can take to support good mental health include the following:

• Get enough sleep. Good sleep helps you stay in good mental health. If pregnancy or your menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes, are keeping you awake at night, talk to a doctor or nurse about treatments that can help. Learn more about how sleep affects mental health.

• Get enough physical activity. Exercise may help prevent or treat some mental health conditions. Researchers know that physical activity or exercise can help many people with mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, and substance abuse.  Exercise alone does not usually treat or cure mental health conditions, but combined with other treatments like therapy or medicine, it can make your symptoms less severe.

• Choose healthy foods most of the time. Getting the right nutrients, including enough fiber, and staying hydrated can help you feel better physically and can boost your mood.

• Take your medicines. If you take medicines for a mental health condition, don’t stop without first talking to your doctor or nurse. Once you go through menopause, medicines may work differently for you. They may not be as effective or may have different or worse side effects. Talk to your doctor or nurse about whether you need to switch medicines.

• Keep a support network. Whether you talk to friends, family, or a therapist, stay in good communication with people who know you well. Ask for help if you need it.

• Stay involved as you get older. Retirement can be a positive opportunity for change, but it can also be stressful. You may miss going to work each day. Having a chronic disease like diabetes or heart disease may change how much you see friends and family. Find opportunities for volunteering, social activities such as golf or community gardening, or even part-time work to stay connected to others and your community.