As you hunker down at home, it’s important to find activities that you enjoy, especially if you suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mental health disorders. Engaging in fun home activities is both inexpensive and supports positive mental health.
Below are five mental health activities that individuals of different age groups and physical abilities can engage in at home.
1. Treat Yourself to An Aromatherapy Bath
Did you know that a pleasant odor could improve your ability to sleep or reduce stress? The choice of scents, in this case, is critical because they can alter your mood. Treat yourself to aromatherapy candles, lotions or bubble bath to see which scent you gravitate towards most and have yourself an at-home spa day. Some of the scents that can help you reduce stress include frankincense, ylang-ylang, chamomile, sandalwood, and lavender.
2. Channel Your Inner Artist with Adult Coloring Books
Staying at home for an extended period of time has its fair share of challenges such as, working from home, homeschooling, or even just being bored at home. If you are working a lot or you are hyperactive, consider delving into some adult coloring activities at home.
Coloring can help you focus, unplug, reminisce, and can be rewarding once you’ve finished a page. The fact that coloring requires a high level of focus, but is not mentally intensive, makes it an excellent and fun-filled home activity for boosting your mental health. Additionally, flowing shapes and pleasant colors have a way of shifting your thoughts from what is negative, and you do not need intrinsic artistic abilities to engage in this activity.
3. Try Sudoku – The Brain Game
Engaging your mind in fun activities at home is not only refreshing, but it can help you discover something new. Sudoku is a brain game that helps your mind remain active, as you learn new words.
Although Sudoku takes time to learn, and it requires mental acuity to succeed, indulging in this game can reduce stress, stimulate synapses, and improve your memory. Options similar to Sudoku include mastermind, falling block video games, and crossword puzzles, which are all logic games. These logic games encourage abstract thinking to find solutions for problems.
4. Find Peace with Yoga
If you need some balance in your life, yoga is an activity that can help you find your center. There are many yoga lineages you can opt for, regardless of your fitness level. Several benefits include:
- a) It helps with emotional balance through concentrated breathing.
- b) Teaches to live in the moment through meditative movement.
- c) Reduces stress by releasing endorphins and reducing cortisol.
5. Get Moving through Aerobics
How about dancing like a star at home? Today, you can stream aerobic sessions right from the comfort of your house. From dance and kickboxing, to step aerobics and chair exercises, there are many aerobic activities you can watch and follow online.
In general, moving your body can help elevate your heart rate and increase blood circulation, which in turn can increase endorphins. The release of endorphins throughout the body can help boost your mood.
Conclusion
From trying your hand at Sudoku or doing yoga poses, to helping yourself relax through aromatherapy, there are numerous at-home activities you can do to help improve your mental health.