Mental health routines are incredibly helpful in looking after our general wellbeing. Using daily mental health routines gives a sense of structure, and using routines to deal with specific events, can help us to have a sense of control. In this blog post, I discuss different types of routines and provide some suggestions to create your own routines for mental health.
What Is A Mental Health Routine
A routine is a habit, a set of actions that we perform at a particular time or on a particular event. Routines for mental health, help to remind us to make time to care for our wellbeing. For those who have mental health challenges, routines for mental health can help in managing difficult times and avoiding a crisis.
Types Of Mental Health Routine
You can create a mental health routine for absolutely anything. They can be regular daily routines or routines we just perform at a particular time. The most common daily routines are morning routines and a bedtime routine. These daily routines help us settle in for the day or wind down at night. Other types of mental health routines are those we create for specific events. These routines are designed to calm us or prepare us for something, or for an emergency if we have a mental health crisis.
In this blog, I have catagorised mental health routines into three types:
- Daily Routines
- Specific Event Routines
- Emergency Routines
Why We Need Mental Health Routines
When our mental health is poor, it can be hard to know how to help ourselves or what to do for the best So, preparing ahead of time makes it easier. Then, we simply pull out our self-care plan for whatever situation we are in and follow it. A routine can also stop us from turning to unhelpful behaviors, and build healthy habits of turning to behaviors that better support and nourish us.
How Mental Health Routines Help
Having a daily routine helps our mental health and wellbeing in many ways. Firstly, having a routine gives a sense of structure, which helps to manage our days. Routines also give a sense of familiarity, which can be helpful in challenging times. For example, lots of us are having our days changed dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic, and so creating routines can help us to deal with the uncertainty.
Routines created for specific one-off events are helpful in having something pre-prepared to rely on. For example, I had set routines when going through gender transition surgery. Having routines in place, helped me to feel more grounded when I returned from the hospital. This helped me to have a sense of normality and familiarity and helped me to heal.
Having routines on hand for emergency situations, are also a good idea, especially if you have mental or physical health challenges.Then, when something happens, we have a sense of control as we have a pre created routine to fall back on.
Daily Mental Health Routines
Morning Routine
My morning routine is the most important routine in my day. As often common for those whith low mood issues, first thing in the morning can feel difficult. On initial waking, I might feel stressed or anxious and it can be all too easy to let these initial feelings escalate.
Having a morning routine, which I have now develped as a strong habit, helps to pull me out of bed. Then the tasks I set for my routine, such as meditation and exercise, help to gradually lift my mood. By the end of my routine, I am usually in an entirely different head space!
Read my Miracle Morning Routine here.
Bedtime Routine
A regular bedtime routine can help to improve our sleep. When we sleep well, our mental health is usually much better. A bedtime routine can help us to wind down and send signals to our brain and body to settle down ready for sleep.
My general bedtime routine is to make a mug of peppermint tea, brush my teeth, and get into bed with my journal and a book. My bullet journal is a key part of all my mental health routine wellness tools. Recently, I wrote a blog post about how you can start journaling for mental health.
Once comfy in bed, I reflect on my day in my journal and let go of the day’s events, then settle down with my book. Soon my eyes start to get tired, I put the book down and nod off easily.
Specific Event Mental Health Routines
Winter Mental Health Routine
I know that every winter, once the sun starts going down early and the temperature drops, so does my mood. I have learned that the only way to deal with this, is to plan ahead. For instance, I know that between October and February, I will get less done, and generally feel lethargic. Therefore, I mark that time period accordingly, by not setting huge work or personal goals for those months, and keeping things simple.
I also make a list of all the things I like doing in the winter, to help put a different perspective on the cold dark winter nights. For example, warm soup and bread rolls, candles and fairy lights, and fluffy blankets on the sofa.
Winter Mental Health Routine Ideas
Christmas Mental Health Routine
Christmas is often the cause of a lot of stress and sadness for people. The financial pressure, the pressure to see family and friends, or dealing with the loss of family or friends. And, if you have mental health challenges, there can feel as if there is a ton of pressure to be full of joy and if you are not, then you feel like a failure.
I have never been a fan of Christmas, for all the above-mentioned reasons. Therefore, I make sure to have a plan in place , for how I will manage it, and how I will make time for self-care.
Managing Mental Health at Christmas
I have additional concerns at Christmas too, as I am in recovery from alcoholism. Christmas is so incredibly alcohol-fueled here in the UK and it is hard to avoid. Alcohol seems to be added to every food item just because it’s Christmas! Plus, there are so many parties and social events, which always involve alcohol. Therefore, I also make sure to have a plan in place to look after my sobriety.
Anxiety Relief Travel Routine
Traveling can often cause a lot of stress and anxiety. This is even more so for those of us who have mental health challenges. It can be helpful to create a routine for times when you are traveling. Perhaps making sure to take time for a solid morning routine on the day of travel. Or a travel routine could be packing an anxiety relief travel kit, like the one that I use
Emergency Mental Health Routine
Mental Health Crisis Plan Routine
When you live with fluctuating mental health challenges, it is vital to have an emergency self-care plan. If something unexpected happens, that sends you into a crisis, then you have all you need on hand to manage it.
This can be things like a list of support numbers and organizations. Perhaps, a list of friends you know you can turn to in a crisis. It could be having some basic food items in your home for when your mental health prevents you from being able to prepare something. This could be anything from healthy soups or healthy frozen meals.
I find that a powerful way to cope in a crisis, is to use disraction tools. These were particually helpful for me in early days of recovery from self harm and from addiction.
Mental Health Duvet Day Routine
If you have a day where you wake up and you just don’t feel up for the day, it is OK to take a mental health day. A mental health day for me means either a day in bed or a day on the sofa.
Creating a duvet day routine helps to change the perspective on how you view the day. What I mean by this, is that by having a routine in place, a duvet day feels like an active choice rather than something you are having to do because you are not mentally well. Then, a duvet mental health day can be a pleasant day, where we rest and focus on looking after our needs and do something relaxing like reading or watching a film.
My duvet day routine, is to have a warm shower, pop on some fresh pyjamas, make a hot drink, and then settle back into bed or on the sofa. Sometimes when I do this mini routine, I feel better and find that I can manage the day after all. If that happens, wonderful, if not that’s fine too! I spend the day reading, watching a film, or something else that soothes my anxiety.
A Pause And Restart Routine
Sometimes days start out fine, but then something happens which upsets or angers us. Perhaps we receive a letter with bad news or have an argument with someone. Or perhaps it’s just one of these days that you just can’t seem to get anything done and we end up midway into the day feeling frustrated with ourselves.
It can be easy to then slide into a low mood, or be tempted to just give up on the days. But often if we stop and restart the day, we can turn these around and stop them escalating. I love the restart the day trick and it has rescued many a bad day!
How to restart a bad day
Making Mental Health Routines Flexible
It’s important to remember that these routines are flexible. For example, some days my morning routine is a full hour. Another morning it might just be 15 minutes. It all depends on how much time I have and how my mental health is.
Routines should not be used to beat yourself up if you don’t meet them perfectly! The act of trying to do your best for yourself each day is what is important. Giving yourself time and attention is an act of self-love and however you do that does not need to be perfect!
How To Create Your Own Mental Health Routines
Take some time to experiment. Notice the things you do that help to improve your mood or settle you. Then, group these things together and see when they are the most helpful to use Have fun with it. Keep a note in your journal about how you feel, then you can see the link between the routines you do and how your day goes, or how well you sleep, etc. It’s just about finding out what works for you at different times without judgment.
I would love to hear if you found this blog helpful, or about the routines you already use, so please do drop a comment below, I love to chat! Also, if you would like additional content from me, including a exclusive video reading of my upcoming memoir, then please sign up for my Friday Finnstalment newsletter.
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Hello! My name is Finn and I have a passion for creating honest content, that inspires personal growth and promotes well-being.
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[…] A duvet day is a day off where you give yourself permission to relax under the duvet, in bed, or on the sofa. These are also often called a mental health day. Duvets are not mandatory! The whole point is to just give yourself an entire day off, to completely rest and recharge. A duvet day for me is just one of many routines I use to maintain good mental health. […]
I love these ideas, Finn! These routines are like tools in our toolboxes for helping to manage our anxiety. Some of these are new to me so thank you for the inspiration (ok, ok…FINNspiration LOL!)
Haha love to be FINNspiring!! And absolutely yes, these routines are my main tools!