{"id":56500,"date":"2022-07-01T11:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T18:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?p=56500"},"modified":"2022-07-01T11:09:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T18:09:00","slug":"beyond-mindfulness-actions-considerations-for-everyones-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/beyond-mindfulness-actions-considerations-for-everyones-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Mindfulness: Actions & Considerations for Everyone’s Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

During Mental Health Month, my feed was oversaturated with the same quick tips and urges for mindfulness, positivity, and gratitude. While these can be useful tools, they tell a very incomplete story and can be basically useless for anyone in any sort of real distress.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mental health is a multifaceted, complex concept that we have turned into a simplistic buzzword because that\u2019s how the internet rolls. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Find What Works for You<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

There are no cure-alls in this life. What works for some people won\u2019t necessarily work for others. What works for you now might not work in the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I learned this as I healed from a concussion. I was used to relying on meditation and yoga practices as tools to manage generalized anxiety, but post- concussion, they just didn\u2019t work for me anymore. My brain and body hurt in a way that made meditation even more stressful, and the body awareness of my yoga practice just made me feel worse. I had to find new tools. Sometimes that meant doing anything to distract myself from what I was feeling. Sometimes it meant isolating myself from my triggers (light and sound). The process labored and lingered for longer than I could have imagined, but now I\u2019m mostly better. Not perfect, but better. It feels good enough for now.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, a concussion is a physical injury that requires professional medical attention (although if you have no structural damage and ongoing symptoms, that help is extremely hard to come by and rarely covered by insurance). But the point is that when you are struggling with something, you might have to try a bunch of things before you find what helps you find peace, calm, or a reset. They might be practices, supplements (please vet these carefully as they tend to be unregulated), or medications (only seek these out under the supervision of a medical professional). There is no inherently wrong way to help yourself feel better, as long as you\u2019re not simultaneously causing harm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes It\u2019s Physical: Calming the Nervous System<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) encompasses the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric nervous systems. These are systems that function without our being conscious of them. To super simplify things, the sympathetic nervous system rules \u201cfight or flight,\u201d while the parasympathetic rules \u201crest and digest.\u201d To calm our nervous system, we\u2019ll want to activate that parasympathetic nervous system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of these practices are hyped up with the term <\/span>biohacking<\/span><\/b><\/a>. I\u2019m not a huge fan of this term because it implies \u201cquick and easy,\u201d which, depending on where we\u2019re at physically, mentally, and emotionally, these practices might not be. There are also all sorts of gadgets designed to help with the \u201chacking\u201d part, but are definitely not necessary. (I did use some to help heal from post-concussion syndrome, but don\u2019t know if it was time, the devices, or other therapies that did the trick. Probably a combo.) While these practices can be super helpful at regulating the nervous system and stimulating the <\/span>vagus nerve<\/span><\/b><\/a> which activates the <\/span>parasympathetic nervous system<\/span><\/b>, it\u2019s not some sort of magic bullet cure-all for all your stress and anxiety. It can take time to use these tools well. Still, they may work quickly for some people.<\/span> Here are some ways<\/span>\u00a0to stimulate the <\/span>vagus nerve<\/span><\/b>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n