Pleasure! We all want it. Not only is it fun, but it enables our bodies to release oxytocin, which helps strengthen the immune system, heal wounds faster, and generally increase health and happiness. Problem is, often when we feel bad, tired, or bored, we can’t even imagine doing something fun. To help with that, Moodsurfing has posted lists before of …
Pets Help Improve Mental Health
Having a dog, cat or other companion animal in the home can be a boost for mental health, even if it is not a trained service animal. Pets lift our moods, give us a reason to get out of bed, and offer unconditional love and companionship. A growing body of research backs up what most Americans already believe: pets are …
Seven Great Coping Strategies for the Pandemic
Moodsurfing readers have been sharing their thoughts and findings about “what works” in navigating these difficult times, and we’ve collected a series of coping strategies that everyone can use while homebound and social distancing. Keep Active. Some people report that they are walking up and down the stairs at home, some have unearthed old exercise equipment that they had lying …
Anxious Times
Anxious Times, Anxious Thoughts Anxiety is a common companion for mood disorders, in fact, anxiety is, for many people, the first mood-related symptom they remember from childhood, before other symptoms began to develop. Studies show that as many as 90% of people with bipolar also have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety often takes the form of constantly repeated worry about worst-case …
Facing Fear Through Prescribed Worry
In this time of heightened fear and anxiety, all of us need to work on strategies for managing fear. The usual way most people try to manage fear is by repression or distraction, but we all know that those “strategies” just let the fears fester and come sneaking back later. How can we manage our fears in a constructive way …
Stress and the Coronavirus
Stop. Breathe. Think. How to deal with stress when you’re stuck at home and the TV keeps sending in more and more scary images? Stop. Breathe. Think. Our brains are hardwired to deal with threats by the primitive fight or flight response. Adrenaline flows, higher thinking goes offline, emotional and bodily responses take over, blood pressure goes up and you …
Wellness in a Time of Pandemic
Moodsurfing is a blog about creative and healthy ways of managing moods and mood shifts. We’ve been talking about lifestyle change for a long time, so we are ready with lots of healthy actions you can take right now, in spite of social isolation, quarantine, or any other challenge the world can throw at us! Distance doesn’t have to mean …
Getting Back to Nature
Connections between mental health and the natural world Urbanization is a reality of modern life, and many people feel that their connection to nature – green growing things, animals, trees, the stars, the wind, the ocean and the mountains – has been disrupted, or has simply vanished. Mental illness is another reality of modern life that shows some correlation to …
How to Make a New Year’s Resolution Work
Are you contemplating a significant lifestyle change this year? Quitting smoking for good, or really getting fit, not just losing a few pounds and gaining them back later? Research shows that making real changes in life is not just a matter of motivation, commitment, or not being “lazy”. Change requires skills and knowledge that can be learned and applied for …
Can Smiling Make You Happier?
Can smiling make you happier? A long held folk belief holds that if you smile even when you don’t feel happy, the act of smiling itself will lift your spirits, and conversely, frowning makes you feel worse. A 1998 study asked volunteers to hold a pencil between their teeth in such a way that their mouths were forced into a …
Going to the Beach to Relieve Depression?
How about if there was scientific evidence to support the notion that a sauna, or a nice, hot bath, or spending time lying in the sun on the beach is good for your mental health? Moodsurfing is always on the alert for evidence related to alternative treatments such as music, meditation, and nutritional supplements, so this article caught our collective …
Six Important Things to Manage Bipolar
Here’s an interview published by the website BP Hope, a colleague site of Moodsurfing. This expert researcher who also experiences mood disorder gives her top six coping strategies for dealing with bipolar. Her insights are both sharp and encouraging: there is a lot anyone can really do to make a life with bipolar be a better life. Kay Redfield Jamison, …
Neuroplasticity – Nancy
Can you change your brain? Recent research in the field of “neuroplasticity” suggests that the human brain continues to change and adapt throughout life. Furthermore, there is clear evidence that an individual can affect the changes to their own brain structure by how they pay attention to stimuli around them. The implication of this research is that, for example, a …
80 Pleasurable Things – Nancy
Here’s a list of 80 fun or pleasurable things to do. Some of them are simple to arrange and quick to accomplish, and some require some planning and preparation, or even money. But all of them can be enjoyable experiences. Remember that motivation is less important than just doing it. Even if you don’t feel like it, or don’t think …
A Social Media Resource – Reader Contribution
Moodsurfing continues to monitor developments in the field of online help for mood disorders and mental health generally, we have looked at several newly available resources here and here. Of course, there are negatives as well, but overall, we are observing a trend of more and more useful and useable online programs and communities. Here, we share a reader’s recommendation …
Survival Strategies for the Holidays Reviewed
Why should you need survival strategies for the holidays? Aren’t they supposed to be fun? That’s part of the problem of course, there are so many expectations and hopes wrapped up in holiday season that it’s easy to end up feeling disappointed. If things haven’t worked out for you in a relationship or someone close to you is passed away this …
Building Healthy Habits – Gina
Building healthy habits can be very important in managing mood. Regular sleep, exercise and diet can play a key role in reinforcing a stable mood. As a result, I regularly work with clients to identify healthy habits they would like to form and steps they can take in doing so. Most of the the time they are core habits such …
Too Busy to Enjoy Life? – Nancy
Are you busy? Why? Are you rushing? Why? Being busy and accomplishing a lot of things is supposed to get us somewhere we want to be, or something we want to have. But is it working? We usually believe that we have to rush to get everything done and we have to get everything done in order to get what …
Five-Year Plan – Nancy
Do you have a five-year plan? Are you a goal-setter or do you prefer to “muddle through”? For some the idea of making a written life plan is a no-brainer, while for others it sounds like an idea from an alien planet. Making a plan for the future is a strategy that can help when life feels chaotic and directionless. …
Demi Lovato Encourages Us to Be Vocal – Nancy
Recording artist Demi Lovato is supporting a project called Be Vocal that enables and encourages people living with mental illness to speak out and make their stories heard in the wider world. Lovato, a platinum-selling artist who has been performing and recording since the age of ten, received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in 2010. “When I finally got diagnosed …