Ric Moylan's Health And Fitness Column

In this month's edition, advanced trainer and performance coach Ric Moylan provides three top tips to keep yourself mentally healthy during the lockdown.

I’m sure for many of you this has been a time of worry, uncertainty and anxiety in what has certainly been a unique time. 

Despite the huge challenges faced, it has been refreshing to see people (within the rules) taking advantage of the recent nice weather with participation of outdoor walking, jogging and cycling perhaps higher than it’s ever been.  The physical benefits of exercise are arguably more important now than they have ever been and I would highly encourage you to continue staying active in any way you can.

But what about your mental health? 

While exercise is proven to produce the ‘feel good’ chemicals for your brain (endorphins and dopamine), we are currently only permitted 1 hour of outdoor exercise per day.  With that in mind, what else can we be doing during the rest of the day to safeguard our mindset and ensure are mental health is at an optimum?

Here are 3 top tips to practise daily, to keep our mindset in shape:

Focus:

As the famous saying goes “where focus goes, energy flows”.  With that in mind, what are you focusing on daily? 

Is it on negative things, or those that are currently out of our control? 

Why not focus on a project such as improving your garden, learning a language or a new skill such as learning to play the guitar?

Focusing on a daily routine will not only keep you busy, but completing even minor tasks and ticking them off your list will produce even more of the feel good chemical dopamine, helping to lift your mood each day.

Train Your Self Talk:

Dr Bruce Lipton, author of ‘The Biology of Belief’ has scientifically proven that your thoughts, and then the words you use both to yourself and to others can directly affect all areas of your life including your behaviour and overall mood.

Use positive language, tell yourself that you are grateful to be healthy, that your cup is half full, and talk about the amazing experiences, adventures, and the epic memories that you are going to have with your family and friends in the future.

Detox:

A detox is commonly associated with avoiding things like alcohol or poor food choices, instead opting for fruit, vegetables and water.  Yet by definition is:

“A process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances; detoxification”.

This may or may not be popular but believe:

• You do not need to be watching the daily briefing every hour of every single day.
• You do not need to be scrolling your social media reading people’s opinions every hour of every single day. 
• You do not need to be updated on government statistics every hour of every single day. 

Of course stay informed with the news, follow the rules and stay at home, but too much information (especially negative information) can cause the same toxic effect to your mindset.  

Give your brain a detox, even for just a few hours a day.  Instead read or book or listen to your favourite music.

I promise it will massively help.