A top psychologist’s mental wellbeing tips for students

1. Get enough sleep: 8-10 hours a night!

Sleep helps with mental and physical wellbeing: sufficient sleep will improve your cognition, attentional focus and general sense of wellbeing. Whilst it can be hard to achieve, given a busy life, if you can have a regular sleep schedule, your biological clock will kick in and you will find yourself naturally falling asleep and waking up.

2. Keep communicating

Talk to people you trust about what is going on for you. If you don’t let your friends and loved ones in, you may feel lonely. Doing things with friends and talking with friends will improve your emotional wellbeing, resilience, sense of connection and happiness. We are relational beings: being with friends, that feeling of group connection, causes our brains to release chemicals that make us feel good.

3. Manage your relationship with screens

Smart phones, gaming consoles and social media. Excessive screen use is being increasingly linked to depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation. Set time limits and put in boundaries to define what a healthy screen relationship looks like for you. Think about things you want to achieve that you can do in the time saved from being on screens. Ask for help if you are struggling with sticking to your time limits and goals. And…persist!

4. Get outside, into nature: walk, run, or play

Exercise is a de-stressor and makes us feel better. Appreciate the sunset or sunrise; the snow or the rain; or the feel of sun on our skin – being outdoors/in nature is therapeutic: we relax, our busy minds slow down and we gain perspective. Problems that might have felt overwhelming are often right-sized after time in nature.

5. Do something for someone else

Small, altruistic, acts, like helping out with a school or community project, will help you feel good. Humans are wired for altruism, for giving.

Dr Cosmo Duff Gordon, CPsychol, AFBPsS

Cosmo is a behavioural health treatment specialist, chartered psychologist, doctor of psychology and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He has been helping people to recover from addiction since 2005. He founded Start2Stop, a leading London private sector provider of addiction treatment, in 2010. He is also Founder and COO of https://gamewell.co/

Learn more about Dr Cosmo Duff Gordon