92. Strategies for Improving Your Mental Health

Dr. Mireille Reece is a practicing clinical psychologist and, along with Adam Stacoviak, editor-in-chief of the Changelog, they run Brain Science, a podcast exploring behavior change and mental health. Chris Castle, a Developer Advocate at Heroku, continues a previous conversation with them on how to take care of one's mental wellbeing. Their discussion centers around the neuroplasticity of the brain, how new habits can be created and formed.

One of the best antidepressants is exercise. Adam advises that it's not necessarily about physical fitness, but rather that your brain really needs that motion. It can serve to provide one with a different perspective. As well, activating any of your senses--smell, touch, and so on--can bring on a calming effect. Other suggestions include meditating, which can bring on a greater sense of self-awareness, and journaling, which can be helpful in tracking your thoughts over time.

Dr. Reece advises that keeping tracking of your moods can help hone in on the source of negative emotions. It's all about cause and effect. For example, if you eat a lot of fried foods, it might taste good, but ultimately, there are long term health affects associated with it. It's not that our actions are bad or good, but about recognizing the effects of them. Once we hone in on unfavorable consequences, we can start the process of adjusting our behaviors away from their sources.

Links from this episode

• Brain Science is a podcast exploring the human brain to understand behavior change, habit formation & mental health
• Headspace and Calm are two apps which can help with mindfulness
• Day One is an app for journaling
• Essentialism is a book on "pursuing less" which Adam recommends

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