ST Cover Photo: Kevin Lim
Write-up below by Viaano Spruyt via LinkedIn

Featured in another beneficial article by Akshita Nanda in today’s Straits Times Newspaper on tips to achieve better mental health in 2023.

In this write-up I shared what has helped improved my mental health in 2022 – which was to start incorporating short walks in my daily routine. These walks can last from 10 – 30 minutes and is usually done in the day when the sun is out.

I felt that this change in lifestyle has improved my mental health significantly. Physically moving my body and getting a form of exercise out in the sun has helped me reduce stress levels tremendously. Moreover, it allows me to organise my thoughts and feelings for the day.

☕ This is not in the article but I’ll share that another lifestyle change I’ve made was to remove caffeine out of my diet.

This means no more coffee.

I feel that even though caffeine does gives me a jolt of energy when consumed, it has never really worked out for me as the effects of caffeine would mirror or even exacerbate the symptoms of anxiety. Some of these symptoms I personally experienced were heard palpitations, nervousness, sleeping issues, and heavy twitching in my eyes.

I noticed a stark improvement in my lifestyle and a significant decrease in the aforementioned symptoms after removing caffeine out of my diet.

Additionally, I shared my hopes for better mental health in 2023 was to work on improving my sleeping routine. The nature of my entrepreneurial work has taken a toll on my sleep. As a result, I have a disrupted circadian rhythm cycle where my body’s internal clock is out of sync with the environment.

Thus, I am setting a goal of disconnecting from electronic devices at least an hour before bed (as light-emitting screens have shown to suppress melatonin which makes individuals take a much longer time to fall asleep) with the aim of readjusting my body’s circadian rhythm.

With this, I hope to achieve at least 7 hours of sleep as opposed to the usual 3-4 hours.

I do hope that by sharing some of this tips that it may help assist some of you in achieving a better lifestyle, and overall, a better mental health. Please do check out the rest of this useful article where more amazing tips on achieving better mental health are shared by health experts and psychologists.

Link to ST’s digital article: https://www.straitstimes.com/life/the-life-list-10-tips-for-better-mental-health-in-2023