HEALTH & WELLBEING: Do you know to look after your mental health care?

THIS week is Mental Health Awareness Week, an annual campaign to make people more aware of their mental health, and there’s never been a better time to think about improving your mental health and wellbeing.

We all have mental health, whether we are ill or not, and it is important that we are all able to take simple steps to look after it. In Rotherham, we have used this week to launch our Five Ways to Wellbeing campaign encouraging people to get active; take notice of their surroundings; connect with people; learn something new, and give something back to their community.

You’ll be surprised how much getting more active or simply taking notice of your surroundings can make a difference.

Now in its 18th year, the national week of awareness activity has helped millions of people across the country to face up to their mental health problems and — most importantly — do something about them.

Each year, about 16 million people will experience some form of mental health problem and this year’s theme, stress, can often play a huge role in this.

Stress is something which almost all of us will experience at some point in our lives, whether it’s at home or at work. And with the onset of the “exam period” when many of our young people will experience stress for the first time, it’s a good point in the year to pause and reflect on our mental health and see just how well we are coping.

None of us is super human — if things are getting too much for you and you feel that you can’t cope, then ask for help. Noticing what makes us stressed will help us to learn how best to deal with it.

Spotting the early signs of stress and having a way of coping with it will stop you adopting unhealthy ways of dealing with it like over eating, smoking or drinking.

Letting stress build up can often lead to more serious problems like anxiety or depression — this is what you need to avoid. Talking about your feelings can help you to stay in good mental health and deal with times when you feel troubled.

Here are my three top tips on how to beat the stress you may be experiencing in your life:

1. Be positive — try and be a glass half full person and remain positive even in the face of adversity

2. Take control — when you do get stressed, come up with a way of dealing with it that satisfies you and not other people.

3. Avoid unhealthy habits — don’t rely on unhealthy ways of coping with stress; it’s really easy to turn to food, drinking or smoking and this is not the answer.

Find out more about the simple steps you can take to look after your mental health by watching our short film at www.rotherham.gov. uk/health.