After admitting that I suffered from mental illness in January 2017, I began to take stock of my mental health. The natural first step for me was to notice what my day-to-day schedule and environment was like with respect to my physical health. In line with the Greco-Roman ideal of “a healthy mind in a healthy body”, I reasoned that by improving my physical health, I could set myself up for success in improving my mental health. Furthermore, for me, physical health can be measured easily using objective markers whereas mental health seemed to be governed by moods, emotions, and descriptions.
To distill my experiences, here are four markers that I use to sanity-check my physical health in pursuit of mental well-being. I hope you can use this framework for your own journey by examining your life and making adjustments as you see fit. However, as everyone is different, your mileage may vary.
Sleep
This is the foundation of my well-being. A year ago, I went to sleep anywhere between 1am and 3am and woke up whenever I could pull myself out of bed (usually 10–11am). I felt lethargic and unmotivated, and as a result, the days dragged for me. At night, I would straddle the line between wakefulness and sleep by watching videos, reading articles, or otherwise mindlessly wasting time.
Now, I have a regular sleep schedule. I usually sleep between 11:30pm and 12:30am and wake up between 8am and 9am (even on weekends). As a bonus, I often wake up naturally before my alarm goes off. It’s important to say that my sleep schedule is not rigid. Some days I sleep or wake up earlier or later than usual. On the whole, however, I stick to these hours to establish a predictable rhythm to my day, which fosters calmness for me.
Another component of high-quality sleep is using a gentle alarm to wake up slowly and easily. I use the Bedtime feature in the iPhone’s default Clock app with the Early Riser tone. Alternatives include Rise for iOS and Gentle Alarm for Android. There are also physical alarm clocks that play gentle sounds, use gradually intense lights, or release pleasant scents.
Aside from sleep schedule and alarm, I also improved the environment I slept in. I ensure the room is as dark as possible to encourage sleep; however, my curtains do let light through in the morning, so waking up is not an issue. In addition, I like the room to be cool and use a moderately thick blanket or comforter to modulate the amount of warmth I need. I make sure my mattress, pillow, and sheets are physically comfortable; after all, we spend roughly 1/3 of our lives sleeping. Lastly, I try to only use my bed for sleep. This means not working or otherwise spending time on the computer while in bed.
Morning Routine
I originally started a morning routine because of the medications I take, but now I build on top of a good night’s rest to take care of essentials and create a predictable start to the day.
Here’s what my morning routine looks like: wake up, maintain oral hygiene (brush/floss/mouthwash), take meds, shower, eat breakfast.
Seems simple, but mornings where I follow this routine fill me with energy and feelings of freshness. Days where I delay showering or eating breakfast leave me feeling sluggish and lethargic, which carries over into the rest of my day unless I break the cycle with something like exercise (see more below).
Additionally, it helps to have a particular component of your morning routine that you can look forward to or use to pamper yourself. For me, that’s my twice-weekly shave in the shower. I’ve become interested in traditional wet-shaving over the last couple of years (inspired by the legacy of my grandfather and uncle), so I take 20 minutes out of my Monday and Friday mornings to pull out a double-edge razor, shaving soap, and shaving brush and carve out a baby-butt-smooth face. It’s a simple pleasure in life that gives me a little boost to start the week (on Monday) and the weekend (on Friday).
A small note: for some people, it may be equally or more viable to consider an evening routine as a nice way to close the day. I personally haven’t stuck with one, but it is an option I am exploring and something people have suggested! In any case, it is a nice complement to or substitute for a morning routine.
Exercise
For the last couple of years, I didn’t exercise regularly, but what I didn’t notice is that this was a huge change in lifestyle for me. Looking back, I had a regular exercise schedule until a couple of years ago, specifically through PE in school or extracurricular activities. Recently, however, I stopped pursuing any forms of exercise regularly.
In mid-2016 I started with what was available to me in my immediate circumstances, namely work. I love playing sports, so I started organize pickup basketball in the afternoons. We also have a private yoga instructor onsite once a week, so I started going to those sessions. If you have similar activities available through your workplace or a close group of friends, I would highly recommend starting there. It’s a low-pressure and social way to integrate exercise into your life.
The big turning point was joining a gym in January after persistent prodding from close friends. I’ve always been wary of gyms because of the overt masculinity and seething, unspoken competition emanating from the warm, humid air near the weight racks that is the opposite of a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for beginners. Instead, I decided to expand my comfort zone and focus on what is necessary and healthy for me. To this end, I went to group fitness classes, including yoga, spin, and barre, each challenging in their own right. I’m lucky to have convenient access (both in location and price) to a high-quality gym, so the friction of going is inexcusably low.
If you’re thinking of joining a gym, you may have one in or near your apartment complex or neighborhood. If not, consider finding a gym on your commute to or from work so that it’s not entirely out of your way to make a stop. Alternatively, you can skip the gym membership altogether and focus on things that don’t require equipment. I’ve always been a big fan of bodyweight exercises, and for the first half of 2016, I went running semi-regularly with the encouragement of a close friend.
For the cherry on top, I began personal training sessions once a week. I hesitantly framed the significant upfront financial cost as a positive investment in myself. Over the last few months, I’ve found it to be an extremely rewarding process for pushing the limits of my strength and agility. My trainer and I also have similar origins and talk about growing up in the South and moving to the Bay Area, so the time spent in sessions feels like I’m there with a friend. If you’re comfortable bearing the financial burden, I highly recommend it.
Through these gradual improvements, I now exercise 3–5 days a week: basketball on Mondays and Thursdays, yoga on Tuesdays and Fridays, and personal training on Wednesdays. I find this to be a good balance in terms of types of activity and have noticed increases in energy, strength, flexibility, and alertness.
However, the most salient improvement is that exercise is my most acute and dependable mood regulator. When I find myself frustrated or scattered, exercise brings everything back into focus. It’s also a social experience, so I don’t feel like I am undergoing this journey alone. I’d like to emphasize this for you, the reader: the barrier to entry in exercise is much lower when you have other people supporting and participating with you. Find a group of people you can do classes or workouts with, or consider using one of the many social workout apps that brings hobbyists together into a community!
Nutrition
Admittedly, this is the area where I’m still figuring out a system that works for me, but I’ll lay out some things I’ve noticed in my progression.
Before, I would only eat when I was hungry, especially for dinner. This resulted in irregular meal times, which contributed to my irregular sleep patterns. I also noticed that my mental stability and ability to concentrate would dip often in the afternoon or as I’m anticipating a meal. Lastly, I didn’t really pay too much attention to what I ate as long as it filled me up. This resulted in a large weight gain over the last four years from 135 lbs (May 2013) to 160 lbs (September 2014 and my rough target) and finally 175 lbs (July 2016). Some of this was desired, but it got out of control, and my diet was certainly a key contributor. To address this concern, I’ve started focusing on eating more balanced, relatively healthy meals at predictable times.
Breakfast has always been an important meal for me, so I eat a heavier meal of either oatmeal or cereal with milk and a glass of water between 9am and 10am to give me enough energy to last until lunch. On days where I’m anticipating intense workouts (e.g., personal training), I’ll have a snack of a banana, greek yogurt, or some hardboiled eggs an hour or so before I exercise.
My lunch is one of a set of meal options offered through the workplace, but I usually aim for something with a good balance of protein and carbohydrates to fill me up and provide me energy. I’ve also started eating salads more, which is a big change from my usual lifestyle. This meal is at 130pm on days when I have a lunch workout and 12pm otherwise.
Dinner is a mix of catered meals from the office, dinners at restaurants with friends (important for keeping my social connections strong; more on that in a future post), and home-cooked food (thanks, Mom!). This is usually a mix of vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates. My weak spot is a lifelong passion for juice, so I usually accompany this meal with a Naked/Odwalla-like offering (a huge personal improvement over my childhood love: Sunny D). This meal is usually between 6:30pm and 7:30pm.
The last thing I’ll note as crucial for me is to stay hydrated. My high school Oklahoma history teacher once said: “if you’re thirsty, it doesn’t mean you’re about to be dehydrated; it means you already are,” and proceeded to take a huge swig of water from a mug that spilled all over his shirt. Not sure if it was the quote or the visual that stuck with me, but I’m definitely more conscious of my thirst and try to drink water and other fluids regularly. Easy first steps to staying more hydrated include buying a water bottle and keeping it with you at all times! I also like to keep my cup/bottle on my desk within my peripheral vision so that I’m occasionally reminded to drink. If you really like systems, consider using an app to log your water usage.
In summary, the four cornerstones of my sanity-check for physical health are a sleep schedule, a morning routine, exercise, and proper nutrition. As you’ve probably noticed, this framework centers around creating smooth, predictable routines that form a dependable structure around my day and allow me to focus on the more pressing and unpredictable challenges of daily life. By being external to me, they are also easy to spot check. More specifically, I can look at what I have done as opposed to how I have felt.
Like I said above, this is simply what I’ve found to work for me. I’m sure some of this may not apply for you, and you might even find additional components of your day to be valuable. In any case, this guide is a living and breathing document, so I would love to receive and incorporate your feedback and input into this series.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the next #MentalHealthMonday, where I’ll talk about self-expression and self-discovery.