When guiding a therapy session, I include a focus on what I call the five healthy habits: sleep, diet, exercise, connectedness and altruism. We take an inventory of how the client feels they are sleeping, what they are eating, how much physical activity they are doing, how much time they spend with their significant others and what they are doing to give back.
I reserve a small amount of time during each session to focus on these areas. I start by encouraging the patient to simply be aware of their decisions in each area. Next, I have them track their decisions in each healthy habit. Finally, we discuss goals the patient has for changing behavior from long ago formed habits to conscious and purpose-driven decisions.
What I found over the years is this — stress management and treatment for a mental illness are closely related. When we are filled to the max with stress, much like a cup filled to the brim with water, any additional drop of stress that is added spills the water over the edge. That spilling of water can be expressed as anger, sadness, anxiousness and distractedness. I contend that focusing on the five healthy habits increases the size of the cup.
It can be simple! You don’t need to run a marathon to increase your capacity to handle stress; maybe park a few spots further from work. Try to go to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual. Just like bad habits can form over time, good habits can also be formed. It may surprise you and those around you how those small changes add up to a better response to the stress we all feel in our modern lives.
