Some habits and skills anthropologically linked to the physical and intellectual development of our species have been neglected, disregarded, forgotten, and indiscriminately replaced by technologies of automation and the use of mass control platforms such as social media.
The abilities to think critically and relate to others, to express oneself clearly, effectively, and healthily, and to engage in beneficial social exchanges have become increasingly rare in our society.
People, motivated by the immediacy falsely sold as success on social media, increasingly desire short-term results. They start new projects, sometimes with great intensity at first (gym, studying, etc.), but soon become bored, discouraged, and demotivated, quitting because they are not willing to persevere and wait for medium- and long-term results, often at the cost of personal sacrifices. Shortly after, they start a new project and quit again.
Only the process of engaging in beneficial activities will allow your performance to be sustained and medium- and long-term results to be achieved. Attention should be shifted from the result to the process. This way, behavior will be maintained by the daily achievements of the activity itself, with the result being a byproduct, not more important than the gains that preceded it and led the individual to it.
Some natural habits of human beings, basic and widely known, simple in their characteristics but extremely important for the general well-being of humans, if followed, contribute potentially to both physical and mental health. These habits are called “angular habits” or master habits, because through them various personal benefits are achieved, initiating a series of behavioral changes, developing a feedback loop of permanence and positive reinforcement for health and life. These are habits that have the power to trigger changes beyond their direct area, affecting areas indirectly or not directly related.
Here, we consider five angular habits for good mental health, namely:
- PRACTICE REGULAR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
- EAT A HEALTHY DIET
- HAVE A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
- DEVELOP SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- SEEK KNOWLEDGE THROUGH READING AND STUDY
Now let’s look at a brief explanation of each one to help you implement and maintain your key habits:
1) First key habit: Practice regular physical activity.
It is essential to engage in physical activities, sports, go for a walk, or go to the gym because movement is an innate human need. In addition to keeping the body healthy, it offers proven benefits for mental health.
The thinkers Hippocrates (460 BC – 370 BC), the Greek philosopher and physician from the classical period, known as the “father of medicine” and famous for his Theory of the Four Humors, and Claudius Galen (129 – 217), the Greco-Roman philosopher and physician who refined this theory 200 years later, were the first to describe and recommend physical activities as a form of treatment for various diseases, especially mental ones. This approach became a standard treatment for the next two thousand years and influenced Western thought directly or indirectly up until the Middle Ages and the mid-18th century.
The relationship between physical activity and physical and mental well-being is a consensus among health professionals even today. Recent research confirms solid evidence that engaging in physical activity is directly associated with a lower probability of anxiety, stress, and depression.
Among the physical benefits, we can highlight weight loss, muscle and joint strengthening, increased body endurance, improved posture, better muscular endurance, and the consequent reduction or elimination of pain. It improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, peripheral body resistance to insulin and glucose, enhances intestinal function, and some physical activities, especially aerobic ones, if performed with the correct frequency and intensity, reduce bad cholesterol. People become more productive, feel more energized throughout the day, and sleep better at night (another key habit for good mental health).
Physical activity provides numerous benefits to everyone, including those suffering from mental disorders. Moreover, the release of neurotransmitters and hormones related to motivation and happiness, such as dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, and oxytocin, contribute to psychological benefits. Here are some that may be of particular interest:
- Stress Reduction: When we are stressed, our muscles become tense, especially in the face, neck, and shoulders, causing severe back and head pain. The discomfort and worry about physical symptoms can lead to more stress, creating a vicious cycle that worsens symptoms. During stress crises, there is a significant release of cortisol in the body, which, chronically, is associated with a greater predisposition to depression. Physical exercise releases endorphins in the brain and helps relax muscles, alleviating body tension.
- Better Sleep Quality (another key habit for good mental health): When less stressed and worried, the likelihood of experiencing insomnia is much lower. Even a small amount of physical exercise, such as a good walk, can help regulate sleep patterns because a physically active life leads to physical fatigue, which in itself is a natural sleep inducer. Additionally, the neurotransmitters released during physical activity contribute to a greater sense of relaxation, ensuring better sleep quality and undisturbed rest, which will provide more energy and motivation for activities requiring focus. This creates a beneficial cycle for the body. Some exercises, such as stretching or yoga, also promote relaxation and support sleep. When you sleep well, a “cleaning” process is performed in your brain during deep sleep through cerebrospinal fluid.
- Improved Learning Capacity: Physical activities increase concentration, enhance attention and focus, and consequently improve learning abilities. People begin to have clearer memories, and the very habit of going to the gym and developing the discipline of staying focused on a goal instills in the individual a mentality of perseverance and effort for medium- and long-term behavior, a fundamental behavioral repertoire for successfully achieving goals.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): While treatment is generally medicated, compensatory strategies can be implemented to improve attention and routines for individuals with ADHD. One of these strategies is establishing regular physical activities. As mentioned earlier, in addition to improving memory, the habit formed and the discipline of staying focused on a goal strengthens perseverance and effort toward medium- and long-term results.
- Self-esteem and Well-being Enhancement: If the body is not well, we tend not to feel psychologically well. The improvement of physical discomforts like pain, the reduction of stress and concerns with other symptoms, better sleep quality, and the strengthening of habits that promote learning, improve self-confidence, and stimulate a sense of well-being all contribute to this. A better posture and aesthetic improvements favor the strengthening of self-esteem. Participating in group physical activities also promotes reintegration and greater social interaction, with a higher probability of receiving positive reinforcement from groups, leading to better relaxation and positive feelings about oneself and life.
- Depression Control: The brain has a system called the “default mode network,” which is activated when we are not engaged in physical or mental activity. Generally, people who suffer from depression show higher activity in the default mode network, which makes them less likely to engage in external activities or tasks, often focusing on negative thoughts. The behavioral activation technique in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which involves gradual and increasing engagement in external activities, especially physical activities, deactivates the default mode network, leading to a change in brain functioning and biologically altering brain plasticity. This contributes positively to the individual’s recovery.
Regular physical activity and lifestyle changes amplify the benefits of treatments prescribed by health professionals. While we are talking about mental health benefits, key habits benefit and preserve the overall health of the individual.
- Anxiety and Panic Disorder Control: When we start engaging in physical activity regularly, the habit and perseverance begin to show, as we mentioned earlier, physical and mental results and benefits. Realizing that it is possible to achieve goals and results and take control of aspects of your life through small lifestyle changes contributes directly to your well-being, improves self-esteem and self-confidence, and reduces fears related to life and its adversities. This, in turn, makes the individual more self-aware and decreases anxiety and the likelihood of panic attacks.
The reasons for these benefits lie in the fact that physical exercise improves lipids and generates mitochondrial biogenesis. During physical activity, the body releases several hormones, neurotransmitters, neurosignaling molecules, and neuromodulators like serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine, which are directly related to feelings of satisfaction, motivation, and well-being, promoting better brain function. Another important neuroprotective molecule, called “irisin,” is released during physical activity and has been recently linked to the prevention of Alzheimer’s.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the entire global population engaged in regular physical activity, 5 million lives could be saved annually from deaths related to both sedentary lifestyles and psychological disorders.
You don’t have to be a gym fanatic or an exercise enthusiast to benefit physically and mentally from physical activity. Recent research and the WHO recommend that any form of physical activity, performed regularly, is better than none. However, the recommended weekly physical activity duration for adults is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or a combination of both.
Moderate-intensity aerobic activities include walking briskly, moderate cycling, light swimming, moderate-intensity dance, and other exercises that elevate heart rate, increase breathing, and can be sustained for longer periods without extreme fatigue, allowing conversation during activity. Vigorous-intensity aerobic activities include running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), intense spinning, vigorous swimming, which significantly raise heart rate and breathing, are generally more challenging, and can lead to quicker fatigue.
To ensure the best results, it is important to practice strengthening exercises at least twice a week, targeting major muscle groups.
We will discuss other key habits for mental health in the following texts…
2) Second key habit: Get a good night’s sleep.
Improving sleep quality involves adopting healthy habits and practices that promote an environment conducive to rest. Like any habit, it needs to be initiated and practiced until it becomes essential and routine. To do so, some strategies need to be implemented until the habit is built, consolidated, and becomes natural, working in your favor.
- Establish a routine; try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. Create a relaxing pre-bedtime routine to signal to your body that it’s time to rest. Dim the lights, avoid electronics, agitation, and stimulants, and keep the room as dark, quiet, and cool as possible. A useful tip is to go to bed only when it’s time to sleep, avoiding eating, watching TV, or studying.
- Develop a series of quiet activities before bed, such as reading a book, listening to soft music, or taking a warm bath. Ensure the environment blocks external noise, and a quiet space helps create a sleep-friendly atmosphere.
- Using curtains to block out light, which can interfere with melatonin production, a hormone that regulates sleep, is important. The same goes for the light emitted by electronic devices like your phone, which should be avoided at least an hour before sleep. The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour biological process cycle, generally influenced by light and darkness, which regulates various physiological and behavioral functions in many organisms, including humans. The most well-known circadian rhythm is the sleep-wake cycle, which regulates sleep and alertness patterns throughout the day. Exposure to light, especially natural light, plays a crucial role in synchronizing these circadian rhythms. The pineal gland in the brain responds to light by producing melatonin at night to promote sleep and decreasing its production during the day to maintain alertness. Maintaining a regular routine, including consistent sleep patterns and light exposure, helps regulate circadian rhythms and improve sleep quality and the overall functioning of the body. Therefore, expose yourself to natural light during the day, especially in the morning, to regulate your biological clock, and reduce exposure to artificial light at night.
- If you wake up during the night, never, under any circumstances, check your phone or the time, as these habits generally disrupt sleep and create anxiety, hindering your return to sleep.
- Avoid consuming caffeine or other stimulants like sweets, sugar, or alcoholic beverages, especially at night or several hours before bed. This also applies to heavy meals or foods that are difficult to digest. Also, whenever possible, limit fluid intake to avoid interruptions during sleep.
- Regular physical activity helps improve sleep quality, but avoid intense exercise too close to bedtime. Meditation, yoga, relaxation, and deep breathing exercises can also help reduce agitation and stress from daily life, preparing the body and mind for sleep.
- Whenever possible, check the quality of your mattress and pillows, as they contribute to a comfortable sleep.
If you continue to face sleep problems, it might be useful to seek the guidance of a healthcare professional. Sleep disorders can have various causes, and in some cases, seeing a specialist may be necessary.
3) Third Angular Habit: Having a Healthy Diet
A healthy diet is one that provides the necessary nutrients for the body to function properly, maintaining a balance between different food groups. To have a healthy diet, it’s important to pay attention to the variety of foods consumed, stay hydrated whenever possible, avoid ultra-processed, high-calorie, and hyper-palatable foods, limit sugar intake, control portion sizes, and plan meals in advance. Alcohol should also be avoided.
- Food Variety: Consume a variety of foods from all food groups, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products. This helps ensure the intake of a broad range of nutrients.
- Hydration: Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Water is vital for various bodily functions, including digestion, nutrient absorption, and temperature regulation.
- Avoid Processed, Ultra-Processed, High-Calorie, and Hyper-Palatable Foods: Reduce the intake of processed foods high in added sugars, sodium, and saturated fats. Enjoy indulgent foods in moderation. This includes sweets, snacks, and unhealthy foods.
Whenever possible, plan meals and snacks in advance to avoid impulsive food choices. This can also help ensure an adequate variety of nutrients throughout the day.
Remember that nutritional needs vary between individuals, depending on factors such as age, sex, physical activity level, and overall health. It is always advisable to consult a healthcare professional or nutritionist for personalized guidance based on your individual needs.
Eating a healthy diet will positively transform your life. You will become healthier, more productive, have more energy and vitality, be less prone to health problems and diseases, feel more satisfied with your physical form, be more willing to engage in activities, experience increased self-esteem, and consequently enhance self-knowledge.
4) Fourth Angular Habit: Develop Self-Knowledge
Self-knowledge refers to a deep understanding of oneself, including one’s characteristics, values, beliefs, emotions, motivations, and behavior patterns, and how to adapt these traits for personal benefit and better interaction with others, in order to live better and happier with those around you. Developing self-knowledge is an ongoing process that involves constant dedication, time for reflection and internal exploration, and a willingness to get to know yourself more deeply.
The help of a professional psychologist can be valuable in assisting you to explore deeper issues and develop a clearer understanding of yourself, your limits, and your potential. Reflect on your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, what is important to you, how you see yourself and others, and how this impacts your life and environment. A psychologist can help you evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, skills, and areas of improvement, identify recurring dysfunctional behavior patterns that have harmed different areas of your life, and work on correcting them. Understanding and defining your core values, what motivates you, and ensuring that your choices and actions align with them is vital to understanding what is most important in your life.
The self-knowledge process promotes better emotional awareness and greater emotional intelligence, which refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, as well as the ability to recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is typically divided into five main components: 1. Self-awareness: the ability to understand your own emotions, recognize your feelings, and understand how they influence your behavior. 2. Self-regulation: the ability to control emotional impulses and maintain emotional balance even in challenging situations. This involves the ability to manage stress and pressure. 3. Motivation: the ability to set meaningful goals and persist in pursuing them, even in the face of challenges. This also involves seeking personal development. 4. Empathy: the ability to understand the emotions of others and respond appropriately. This involves the ability to put yourself in others’ shoes, recognizing and respecting their perspectives. 5. Social skills: the ability to build healthy and effective relationships, communicate clearly, resolve conflicts constructively, and influence others positively. Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in many areas of life, from interpersonal relationships to professional performance. People with high emotional intelligence tend to have more satisfying relationships, cope better with stress, make more thoughtful decisions, and perform more effectively in collaborative work environments.
Meditation and mindfulness practices can help calm the mind and increase awareness of the present moment. These practices facilitate observing thoughts and emotions without judgment, promoting well-being and clearer self-understanding while alleviating and reducing anxiety. It is essential to practice genuine gratitude for what you have or have achieved, no matter how small it may seem—whether it’s your job, a course, family, etc.
Be open to constructive feedback from friends, mentors, and family members who can contribute to your personal growth. Keeping a routine of journaling your thoughts and feelings can also help identify and recognize patterns where change may be needed. Undertaking and facing these changes may cause some discomfort, but it is important to approach these changes without excessive judgment, dogma, or overreaction. Generally, when values are tied to external rules without much meaning for the individual, this can be problematic. Remember that self-knowledge is a continuous process, both individual and collective. We must not forget that we are part of a society that we rely on for our well-being and happiness.
Self-knowledge can also be obtained through continuous learning. Be open to learning more about various subjects and, consequently, learn about yourself, others, and the world. This is exactly our next topic.
5) Fifth Key Habit: Seek Knowledge Through Reading and Studies
The habit of reading can bring numerous benefits to mental and emotional well-being, in addition to being a fundamental activity for continuous learning.
Reading engages the brain actively, stimulating areas related to attention, language, cognition, discipline, and imagination. Keeping the brain active contributes to mental health and the prevention of issues such as memory loss. Furthermore, reading requires focus and concentration, and by practicing it regularly, you improve your ability to concentrate for longer periods, which is essential for learning, work, and performing a wide range of daily tasks. Cultivating the habit of reading also requires developing self-discipline; the ability to regularly allocate time for reading can extend to other areas of life, promoting healthy habits and goal achievement.
Regular reading can stimulate creativity, encouraging imagination and the ability to visualize scenarios and characters. It helps expand vocabulary and improve language skills, which not only benefits written and oral communication but also contributes to more articulate and critical thinking, thus leading to better communication, effectiveness, and clarity with others, ultimately improving the quality of relationships. Reading stories that explore different cultures, experiences, and perspectives can increase empathy, helping you better understand and relate to those around you.
Engaging in reading is an effective way to acquire new knowledge. Books cover a wide range of topics, allowing you to delve into specific areas of interest and broaden your horizons. Exposure to different viewpoints and information challenges thinking, promoting the development of critical and analytical thinking. It can also serve as an effective escape from daily worries: immersing yourself in a book allows you to transport yourself to different worlds, experience new perspectives, and reduce accumulated stress, which can even interfere with sleep quality. Reading before bed can help relax the mind and prepare the body for a restful night’s sleep.
Incorporating reading into your daily routine can be a valuable strategy for promoting emotional well-being, enhancing learning, and enriching your life in various ways. If you’re someone who doesn’t have the reading habit, the tip is to start gradually by exploring topics of interest and shorter books that are easier to finish. Completing them will reinforce the habit. Like everything in life, learning how to obtain reinforcement and reap the benefits of this habit is crucial. It’s a key habit that will bring changes and many benefits to those who practice it. Beyond knowledge, you will also learn new skills and gain better understanding of yourself and others.
Be organized at work and in your personal life. This increases your credibility and your ability to meet your objectives and responsibilities, while also directly contributing to your personal goals. Organize your day, create a routine, and plan your schedule. Organization is a function of the prefrontal cortex, the most evolved and recent part of the human brain, which differentiates us from other animals. Organizing yourself means working in favor of evolution and enhancing the functioning of the prefrontal cortex.
A study routine and the continuous pursuit of new knowledge keep you intellectually active and prevent you from falling behind. These habits pull you out of your comfort zone and place you in what we call the “safety zone.” By constantly being prepared and acquiring more knowledge, you move forward and don’t remain outdated or maladapted, since the world constantly changes and evolves.
Balancing your life with positive key habits and, most importantly, avoiding unhealthy habits—especially those linked to idleness, sedentary behavior, and excessive use of electronics and social media—helps. These tools have been created and designed using psychological studies to make them harmful by encouraging dependency through a reward system and subsequent dopamine release, which generates addiction. Excessive stimulation leads to anhedonia, the loss of the ability to derive pleasure from simple, accessible things. It’s necessary to restore the body’s homeostasis so it can readjust to daily rewards and return to being happy with them.
Therefore, striving to improve your mental health is directly related to improving your physical and overall health. The expression “Mens sana in corpore sano” (a sound mind in a sound body) has origins in Ancient Rome and is attributed to the Roman poet Decimus Junius Juvenal, 55–127 A.D., and is part of a satirical poem called “Satires” from the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century. The passage highlights the importance of the harmony between mental and physical health for a full and balanced life.