5 unusual ways to improve your mental health - By Shade Haruna
Boosting your mental health doesn’t have to mean liaising with men in white coats, long waiting lists for talking therapies or endless repeat prescriptions.
It can, and for me it does, but you can also have fun improving your brain-prowess without it.
From knitting and a round of footy to rearing chickens, there’s something to suit even the kookiest of mind surfers.
So pull out your needles and balls, give your skin a sci-fi blast of light and get ready for freshly laid eggs every morning to boost your mental health.
POULTRY KEEPING
Chicken-rearing is a cracking new therapy for older people that’s helping to combat loneliness, depression and the need for heavy-duty anti-psychotics.
The HenPower project lets people keep hens and is now a bona fide therapy in over 40 sheltered housing and care homes.
It’s creatively ‘hengaging’ older people in hen-keeping to promote health and wellbeing.
It does this by cultivating creativity in care settings at a time in life when most people are slowing down.
There’s something very rewarding about seeing your hen lay a satisfying breakfast.
FISHING
Nurses from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and a community psychiatric nurse from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, believe that fishing can bring a change in patients’ lifestyle, encouraging them to carry out activities by themselves while being surrounded by a peaceful environment.
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Health Expert says: ‘We work with patients who have enduring mental health problems and long-term life limiting conditions and we wanted to do something for them that would improve their quality of life and provide a change to their everyday routine.’
FOOTBALL
‘Football therapy’ can be used as part of the recovery process or as part of an ongoing long-term therapy, and that it can make a substantial difference to individuals’ lives.
They also believe that all football therapy initiatives should focus on three key areas – the physical, mental, and social well-being of all participants.
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Being involved with people who have had similar experiences in a safe environment helps to build confidence and tackles that feeling of loneliness.
LED LIGHT THERAPY
Low mood is common in the winter months, and I too can get a little under the weather.
The treatment uses a rainbow of bright lights to improve skin-tone and lift your mood.
The best colour for this is the blue light, which, among other benefits, helps combat symptoms of SAD.
In just thirty minutes I felt a lasting (about a weekend’s worth) improvement in mood.
While it didn’t cure my schizo-affective, it did help get me out and about for the weekend.
KNITTING
Knitting is psychologically and socially beneficial and can contribute to well-being and improved quality of life.
Stitchlinks are working closely with academics and clinicians, and as a direct result, therapeutic knitting and therapeutic knitting groups have been acknowledged for their benefits.
So why not try knitting a new tea cosy or pair of socks – it’s a low-cost activity that’s proven to be great for mental health.
