- [Instructor] Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back.
Thank you for being here.
When you think of the phrase creating healthy habits
for yourself, you probably think of eating healthy,
exercising, and getting to bed on time.
These are all great things to do for your physical health,
but what about creating healthy habits
for your mental health?
Keeping a healthy mind is just as important
as keeping a healthy body, because one can easily
influence the other.
If you wanna know more about good mental health habits,
here are six surprising habits
that make you mentally strong.
Number one, you are in control of your emotions.
Did a recent argument with a friend leave you feeling hurt
or upset 'cause of what they said?
Have your parents ever told you that you need
to do a better job on your chores
when you thought you were doing a good job already?
In both of these situations, it's understandable
that you may feel upset, anxious, annoyed,
or even outright angry.
And that's okay.
Feeling these kinds of emotions doesn't make you weak,
it's perfectly normal.
It's when you don't allow those negative emotions
to take control of you, that makes you mentally strong.
For example, while arguing with your friend,
you didn't take your anger out on them
and chose to keep calm even though you were upset
at the time.
Or maybe when you're sad, you don't let that heaviness
drag you down and keep you from moving forward.
You try to move past your emotional hurdles.
You recognize these negative emotions
and choose to acknowledge them.
In doing so, you're able to calmly process them
and work through them leaving you with the ability
to respond to most situations with a clear head.
Number two, you question your thoughts and beliefs.
How does questioning thoughts and beliefs
make you mentally strong though?
When you think critically about your thoughts and beliefs
you're challenging yourself.
With the internet at our fingertips
there's so much information to take in and explore.
This can be overwhelming when you're trying to keep up
with what's true and what's lies, or what's just a rumor.
It can be really easy to blindly accept everything you hear
as truth.
Mentally strong people make a habit of questioning
or thinking critically about things they come across.
Whether it's something a close family member told them
or a news article they saw.
Questioning things that you read or hear gives you a reason
to dig deeper allowing you to learn more
and gives you the opportunity to learn about
different people's perspectives.
By doing this, it gives you control
over how the information affects you.
Have you ever wanted to increase
your own level of happiness?
And would you like to do something in particular
to help raise your joy and wellbeing?
Or maybe you've always wanted to experience
an Ivy League education without the commitment.
Yale University is offering an online course
called the science of wellbeing, where Dr. Santos
reveals certain misconceptions about happiness
and recommends tips for increasing happiness
such as savoring our everyday experiences
and appreciating them while they happen
as well as encouraging random acts of kindness.
These are all just small snippets
of what the course has to offer.
If you like the tips from this video
and wanna learn more about how to increase
your own wellbeing and productivity
then you should check out the science of wellbeing.
We also mentioned that over 3 million people have enrolled
and it's the online equivalent
to their most popular on-campus course.
The course is completely online, self-paced,
and the best part yet, you can earn a certificate
from Yale upon completion.
So make sure you click the description box below
to check out the course.
Number three, you have healthy boundaries
in place for yourself.
Do you feel like a doormat for people to walk all over?
Do you drop everything you're doing to help out a friend
or family member when they need a favor?
Creating healthy boundaries for the people in your life
is a good habit for mental strength.
According to an article from Psych Central
boundaries are a measure of your self-esteem.
When you create healthy boundaries
you're letting others know how to treat you
while allowing you to be your best self.
When you don't have boundaries it's easier to always say,
yes to people.
You let your friends frequently vent
all of their problems to you,
or you let that one friend poke fun at you a little too much
while wanting to be there for others
and help them isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Always being available at everyone's back in call
can put unneeded stress on you.
You can't pour out of an empty cup.
By not setting healthy boundaries there's a good chance
that eventually your cup will run out.
To stay mentally strong it's important to create boundaries
with those around you, so that you don't drain yourself
of all of your mental and physical energy.
Number four, you actively learn from your mistakes.
Have you ever said something that wasn't nice
born out of anger, or frustration?
Or have you gotten a lower grade on a test
than what you were expecting?
You might dwell on situations where you weren't acting
your best and focus on them.
Obsessing over things you've done in the past
only adds more stress to your plate.
When you start to think about what happened
figure out why it happened
and make a plan for how to improve on it next time.
This will make you mentally stronger
because it shows that you're choosing to grow
and learn from past mistakes.
Number five, you limit your time on social media.
How many hours do you spend on social media a day?
Social media is a huge part of our society
and our daily lives.
It can be a great way to connect with friends and family
and is filled with endless memes and cute cat pictures.
But there can be risks to scrolling through Instagram.
Apps like Facebook and Instagram
make it easy to compare your life to others.
Those glossy filtered photos
and the posts about their happy lives
can make it look like the grass is greener on their side.
And an unhealthy game of comparison can start in your heart.
According to a study, how long do use of social media sites
and apps, maybe linked to symptoms of depression?
When exposed to all of that social media,
you can start to think you aren't good enough
or be envious of the things you see people doing online.
Limiting your use of social media
can help you avoid this harmful comparison game
whether you give yourself an allotted amount of time
to check social media each day, or you only check at night,
or in the morning.
Limiting your time on social media
can help make you mentally strong.
And number six, taking time for yourself.
Do you have long days at school or at work?
Do you often choose to do more work
than what is asked of you?
Are you constantly on the go and feel like
you have to be doing something to stay productive.
Going above and beyond and keeping up on productive tasks
is great.
But if you don't pay time for yourself to recharge
your mental health can take a hit.
According to an article from Psych Central
downtime allows your brain to restore attention
and motivation.
It promotes creativity, strengthens memory,
and can even make you more productive in the long run.
When you take a little time out of your busy day
to go for a walk, read a book, or even just lay on the couch
and watch your favorite TV show.
You're allowing your mind to take a break and recharge.
Just like you sometimes need a nap after lunch
to boost your physical energy
your mind needs rest too.
Do you practice any of these habits to stay mentally strong?
If so, have they helped you?
Or do you know someone who could benefit from these habits?
Let us know in the comments below,
we'd love to know your thoughts.
A huge shout out to Coursera for sponsoring this video
and offering a Yale University course to our viewers.
Don't forget to hit the subscribe button
for more Psych2Go videos.
Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time.