Mental Health Awareness Week 2021: 10-16 May
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week this year is nature.
Never before have we appreciated our gardens, parks and the outdoors as much.
Being outside and spending time in nature is so important for our sense of wellbeing.
There’s no better time to share the benefits of nature and how you can make the most of the green spaces around us in Dumfries and Galloway.
The important thing is to switch on your senses and really connect – whether this is noticing nature on your woodland walk or listening to the birds while you have a cuppa.
Spending time in nature has a huge range of potential benefits to your wellbeing, such as:
- increasing your happiness and improving your mood
- reducing stress and anger
- helping those who have anxiety or depression
- helping people who have SAD (a type of depression that often happens during the winter months)
- boosting relaxation and better sleep
- encouraging you to be active
- improving your self-esteem and confidence
- giving you a greater sense of satisfaction with life
- encouraging you to learn new skills, with some research suggesting it may even make you smarter!
- helping you to feel more connected to nature, yourself and other people
http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20160420-how-nature-is-good-for-our-health-and-happiness
Barriers to getting outside
“Breathe In While Out”
Take your break outside- just 5 minutes of mindfulness can make a difference! Try The Five Senses Exercise:
One example of a mindfulness exercise is called the Five Senses Exercise. The goal is to calm your mind by using your five senses to focus on your environment instead of your thoughts.
Here are the steps to complete this exercise:
First, notice 5 things that you can see. Look around you and become aware of your environment. Try to pick out something that you don’t usually notice.
Second, notice 4 things you can feel. Bring attention to the things that you’re currently feeling, such as the feel of the sun (or the rain) on your face or the heat from your cuppa.
Third, notice 3 things that you can hear. Listen for and notice things in the background that you don’t normally notice. It could be the birds chirping or a tractor in the distance.
Fourth, notice 2 things you can smell. Bring attention to scents that you usually filter out, either pleasant or unpleasant. Catch a whiff of the trees outside or smell in your coffee.
Finally, notice 1 thing you can taste. Take a sip of a drink, have a snack, or notice the current taste in your mouth.
You can try this looking out of your open window, in your garden, while walking to the shops or out in the woods.
Forest bathing for beginners
Forest bathing originates from the Japanese practice of ‘shinrin-yoku’. Translated literally, it means forest bath. It involves sitting quietly in a forest or woodland and using your senses to mindfully connect with the natural surroundings, completely immersing yourself in them.
The idea is to calm the overactive mind and stress levels brought on by modern life. There are even studies that show forest bathing lowers cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure, and depression or anxiety symptoms – all of which benefit health and counteract illnesses. Worth a try, right? Particularly when we have so many amazing forests right here in Dumfries and Galloway.
Galloway Forest Park is one of the top spots for forest bathing in the UK according to the National Trust.
Relaxation techniques
https://www.cntw.nhs.uk/resource-library/relaxation-techniques/
“Take a Break Outside”
Cuppa with a colleague or friend.
Take your cuppa outside, catch up with a colleague. Importance of connection with others and with nature
Open the Window:
Not only is ventilation important in our workspaces as part of the current Covid19 mitigations, but also it helps you to connect with nature. Even if you can’t manage 10 minutes outside between Teams and Zoom meetings, take a few minutes with the window open, and try the Five Senses exercise. The goal is to calm your mind by using your five senses to focus on your environment instead of your thoughts.
Here are the steps to complete this exercise:
First, notice 5 things that you can see. Look around you and become aware of your environment. Try to pick out something that you don’t usually notice.
Second, notice 4 things you can feel. Bring attention to the things that you’re currently feeling, such as the feel of the sun (or the rain) on your face or the heat from your cuppa.
Third, notice 3 things that you can hear. Listen for and notice things in the background that you don’t normally notice. It could be the birds chirping or a tractor in the distance.
Fourth, notice 2 things you can smell. Bring attention to scents that you usually filter out, either pleasant or unpleasant. Catch a whiff of the trees outside or smell in your coffee.
Finally, notice 1 thing you can taste. Take a sip of a drink, have a snack, or notice the current taste in your mouth.
Talk to the Trees
My Granny used to swear that her plants grew better when she talked to them. I now know that this is because she was breathing pure carbon dioxide over them, but even if you are on your own, thinking over a problem or idea out loud can strengthen your neural pathways. And if you are outside while you talk to the plants, you will be getting the benefits of fresh air and Vitamin D too. Win-win!
Learn how to make daisy chains
On a dry day, go sit on the grass and have some fun amongst the daisies. You could try…
…seeing who can make the longest daisy chain in 15 minutes (or however long you want)
…making the challenge above more difficult by seeing who can make the longest daisy chain in 10 minutes WITHOUT moving from the spot in which you sat. (You need to find a really good patch of daisies first!)
…making a long daisy chain (maybe by joining two together) and then decorating a tree or a park bench or a litter bin or a swing or whatever you like for the next person to find and enjoy.
Stretches for when you have been sat at a desk
Sitting at a desk for long periods of time has become more normal, particularly with so many of us working from home, or having to hold virtual meetings. It is important to take regular breaks for your physical as well as your mental health.
https://www.bupa.co.uk/newsroom/ourviews/desk-stretches
These can be done inside or outside, come rain or shine. If you take them outside, you will also boost your oxygen and Vitamin D levels meaning you are more able to concentrate when you return to your desk.
“Get Moving Outside”
Wellbeing Walk
Try the 5 Senses exercise at different points during your walk. If you are with your family or a colleague, play this as a game. What different things do you each see or smell or hear?
Snapshot in time
Take photos or selfies during your walk, and then share them afterwards. What different things did you notice or appreciate?
Go puddle-jumping!
This suggestion is pretty much self-explanatory although it is best done in old clothes and with wellies on. Now you have a reason to go outside when it’s wet and dull – just make sure you and your family are well wrapped up – or happy to get a bit wet and muddy! And if you take your dog, be prepared to have to bath him at home afterwards as he is sure to get messy when he joins in.
Take action
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/events/take-action-get-active
“Get Gardening”
15 Minute Blasts
So, you have a garden but with all the pressures of the pandemic, what time have you had to do any gardening? Worse still, maybe it’s looking a bit scruffy now and the idea of starting anything “out there” feels like an enormous task. The answer? 15 Minute Blasts.
The idea is that you go out and do 15 minutes of something. It may not sound like a lot, but the results will soon mount up and you’ll be getting some fresh air and sunshine to boot. Here are some ideas to think about:
- Deadhead some flowers or shrubs – instant results guaranteed!
- Spend a few minutes tying-in new shoots to their supports and you’ll not only make your plants look better, but you’ll also avoid snapped stems caused by heavy winds or the plant’s own weight.
- Improvise a quick birdbath by using an old bowl, a pan lid or even an old frying pan as a birdbath and blend it into your garden by piling stones around it or partially digging it into the ground. As the birds get used to it and the weather gets warmer, look and see who comes to take a bath!
(Some bin-lid bird baths)
- Try making an insect hotel for your garden – even an old yogurt pot stuffed with chopped up bamboo canes and laid on its side will make a difference. You can buy them too, of course, but it’s much more fun to try making your own first.
- Love your lawn a little by throwing some high nitrogen fertilizer around on the grass to really give it a boost as it starts growing again. This is a really quick and easy job that’ll make a lot of difference.
- Shrubs that flowered last summer such as buddleia and fuchsia can be cut back hard this month, to encourage them to produce lots of new growth. Similarly, if you have dogwood plants you can cut them back hard now to stimulate more growth in time for next winter.
- Plant a climbing plant and train it into an existing shrub. Result – twice the flowers for nearly no effort at all. Just make sure the climber isn’t a monster that will totally swamp the plant it will be using as a support.
(Rose and Clematis grown together)
- Got a gravel path or an unloved corner that needs brightening up? Grab a packet of annual seeds (ones that will grow and flower in one year) and sprinkle the seeds around. If you choose well, they may even self-seed again for next year and all the years after. Good choices are Californian Poppies (Escholtzia) and Poached Egg Plants (Limnanthes – below.)
(Limnanthes douglasii)
- Grab a hoe and have a whizz around the weedy areas in your garden. We’ve all got them! Hoeing regularly will keep weeds down very successfully – after all, one Chickweed plant will produce 2000 seeds per plant per season if left untouched and you nobody needs that!
- Pull away dead Daffodil and Tulip leaves for an instant tidy-up. Now that Daffs have stopped flowering and the goodness from the leaves has had a chance to feed the bulbs ready for next year, tug or cut them away from the bulb for an instant improvement.
Seed Swap
Why not set up a seed swap with colleagues? Often seed packs come with too many seeds if you only have pots or a small garden. Try swapping seeds with colleagues and spread the joy.
Community Gardening
While out walking round your neighbourhood, you may notice wee patches of grass or empty spaces of soil such as round the base of lamp posts. Try making a seed bomb: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-make-seed-bomb
You will have to wait a while to see the benefits of your gardening: noticing small changes will also benefit your mental health!
“A Change of Scenery”
Reminder of benefits of outside
https://www.bupa.co.uk/newsroom/ourviews/nature-wellbeing
Mindfulness while outside
Take a photo or a video, draw/sketch, write: engage with your surroundings. Even if you don’t feel you are artistic yourself, you can find art in nature.
Design a Mandala.
In the woods or at the beach you are sure to find all sorts of things lying around with which to do something artistic and fabulous. Look for leaves, feathers, acorns, shells, seaweed, pinecones, seed heads, pebbles, twigs, flowers (weeds are probably the best option as nobody will miss them) and then see if you can arrange them in a circular pattern, called a mandala, a bit like the one here? Think how surprised the next person along the beach or path will be when they find your lovely artwork left for them to enjoy!
The scenery of D&G
suggested favourite spots and walks from different colleagues;
ask for people to submit their own- to their own colleagues, across social media etc
Stargazing
With a Dark Sky Park on our doorstep, the benefits of nature don’t have to be in the day! Make the most of an evening visit, with a guide to stargazing: https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/landscapes-nature/dark-sky-parks-sites/
Emerging from lockdown/ returning to work