Tips and Tricks to help your mental wellbeing, from our in-house Mental Health Consultant

For Tradie National Health Month, we've got our in-house Mental Health Consultant to pass on some mental health tips to keep everyone fresh and firing at 100% and keep a clear head.

Movement 

Movement is the quickest and most directly impactful way to improve your headspace.

You don't need a program, a gym membership or a 5am alarm. You just need to move. Twenty minutes of getting the blood pumping does more for your mood than an hour of scrolling ever will, and it works basically every single time. Bad day? Move first, think later.

• Get outside for a 20 minute walk before you check your phone in the morning. Sunlight plus movement is the cheapest mood hack going.
• Stuck or stressed at work? Two minute reset. Stand up, stretch, walk to the end of the street and back. That's it.
• Pick one thing you actually enjoy (surf, gym, kick the footy, whatever) and lock in two sessions a week like they're appointments. You don't cancel appointments.

Nutrition

What you put in is what you get out. Your food affects your mood.

Nobody's telling you to give up the good stuff. But your brain runs on what you feed it, and if you're running on servo food and six coffees, no wonder the arvo feels rough. Small upgrades, big difference. Eat mostly real food and watch what happens to your energy and your mood.

• Start the day with protein instead of just carbs or coffee. Eggs, yoghurt, whatever works. Steadier energy, steadier mood.
• Keep a water bottle in eyesight all day. Half the time you're flat or foggy, you're just dehydrated.
• Use the 80/20 rule. Eat real, unprocessed food most of the time and don't stress about the rest. No guilt, no crash diets.

Think

Train your brain like you would train your body, it’s where all your thoughts come from after all.

You'd never expect a PB without training for it, but we expect our heads to handle stress, pressure and a million notifications with zero practice. Your brain is trainable. A few minutes a day of actually working on it compounds fast, same as reps in the gym.

• Two minutes of breathing when you wake up or before bed. In for four, out for six. That's meditation, you're done.
• Write down three things that went right today. Sounds soft, works ridiculously well, takes 60 seconds.
• Give your brain one screen-free window a day, even just 30 minutes. Let it get bored. That's when it sorts itself out.

Connect

We are a social species; connection is how we thrive.

This one gets skipped the most and matters the most. When life gets busy, catch-ups are the first thing we drop, and it's exactly backwards. Good people are the best thing for your head, full stop. You don't need a big network, you just need a few real ones.

• Message one mate right now, not "we should catch up soon" but an actual plan with a day attached.
• Do something social that doesn't revolve around your phone. Surf, walk, coffee, social sport, anything face to face.
• Check in on someone who's gone a bit quiet. "How are you actually going?" is a five second message that can genuinely change someone's week.