Today is #GivingTuesdayNow – a global day of giving and unity!

With the coronavirus outbreak having a negative impact on many young people’s mental health, we’ve used Dr Krause’s MINDYOUR5 model to come up with some top tips to help you maintain positive ‘mind health’, especially whilst social distancing and self isolating. Many of these tips come full circle by helping out stem4 too, allowing you to make a difference to others whilst looking after yourself – perfect for #GivingTuesdayNow.

MINDYOUR5

Try and practise one element from each HAPPY category below every day to support good ‘mind health’:

H – Healthy Practice This reminds you to look after your body in order to look after your brain. For example, it helps to practice a regular sleep routine or to eat a balanced diet. How about trying to:

  • Get at least eight hours sleep a night – see our leaflet on sleeping during the COVID-19 outbreak HERE, or general tips for a good night’s sleep HERE.
  • Include some new fruit and vegetables in your diet – you could even try growing some!

A- Activity Activities are very helpful for mind health. These include most sports and physical activities, creative activities (e.g. art), calming/soothing activities (e.g. mindfulness/relaxing bubble bath or shower), exciting activities (e.g. a new game). How about trying something from our Virtual Challenge Page or use some of our ideas here:

  • De-clutter and Donate! clear out old books, DVD’S, video games and use them to raise funds for stem4. Visit Ziffit (HERE) to get started!
  • Enter a stem4 virtual charity quiz! Join us at 7pm on May 5th for our first instalment HERE!
  • Getting creative and design a greeting card design for a blank everyday card to be available on Making a Difference Cards (HERE) – send entries to anna@stem4.org.uk
  • Enter a solo virtual run in The London Landmark Challenge (HERE) or Race at Your Pace (HERE)

P- Positive Thinking How we think will influence our emotions and our actions. Some thoughts are positive and uplifting and others are negative. Negative thoughts can make us feel unhappy or anxious. Flexible thinking helps us to problem-solve. Learning to manage our thoughts and get a good balance between negative and positive is very helpful. 

Why not:

  • Collect some positive thoughts about yourself, maybe write them on post it notes and stick them up in your room.
  • If you have a negative thought, try to write it down and change it into a positive one. Throw away or destroy the negative thought afterwards!

P – Positive Emotions Knowing what you feel and being able to express and manage emotions is very helpful. Emotions help us to de-stress and also connect positively with others. 

  • Watch a movie with a friend virtually and observe what emotions this brings about in you. Talk to your friend about what emotions they have experienced and see what you have in common and how you differ. You could donate the price of popcorn and drink at the cinema to stem4 afterwards.
  • Make special playlists of songs that represent different emotional states – a soothing one to relax, an uplifting one to feel happy about, a tension releasing one to express difficult emotions.
  • Giving to others provides us with warm and positive emotions. Be generous and do something charitable for others.
  • The Clear Fear app (link) has, in the manage your emotions section, lots of tasks that work for self-isolation.
  • The Calm Harm app (link) has lots of tasks to help soothe emotions and surf difficult urges

Y – Your Connections Friends, family and relationships are really important to help us feel happy. Leaving some time every day to spend a little face to face time with some, or all of them can be very good for positive mental health. 

  • Make sure to plan social time into your day and connect via phone or video call.
  • Send a card through Making a Difference Cards to let them know you are thinking of them (HERE)
  • Connections are not only about being with others. Try and connect to something in your surroundings every day – go for a walk if you can, play with a pet, bake some cookies or make your family a meal once a week.
  • Need to upgrade your SIM only package? Visit Gemini where you can choose to support stem4 at no additional cost to yourself HERE!

 

 

For further resources and support for mental health during the Coronavirus outbreak, please click HERE.

Want to go the extra mile this #GivingTuesdayNow? Consider giving the gift of a donation today HERE.