Dele Osisami is a second year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Louisville School of Medicine/College of Business. You can follow him on instagram, twitter, or linkedin.

Below, we have some tips that can help improve your mental health and increase wellness adapted from the National Mental Health Association. Try them and see!

• Appreciate yourself.
  • Practice self-compassion and self-love. Also, make time for the things that you like to do, such as your hobbies, interests, and stress-relieving activities.
• Practice gratefulness.
  • It is easier for us sometimes to focus on what we don’t have rather than what we do have. Try writing down things that you are grateful for: relationships, housing, food, talents, etc.; I assure you that if you took the time out to do this, you would have more things than you lack. According to Harvard Health Publishing,
  • “Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
• Take care of your physical health.
  • The mind and the body are very much connected; having a healthy body is associated with a healthy mind and vice versa. Eat nutritious foods, exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week, drink water and get at least 7 hours of sleep nightly.
• Have a community.
  • It is essential to have people to rely on and people who are there for you. Make sure you are cultivating and pouring into the relationships that nourish you by spending time with them. Also, try meeting more people in class or other places to expand your community.
• Serve others.
  • It has been shown time and time again that giving of yourself to others, especially those less fortunate, makes people feel good. Try looking for different community service opportunities near you that focus on disparities and issues that you are passionate about. Random daily acts of kindness towards those around you is also an excellent way to do this.
• Develop stress-coping strategies
  • It is important to know yourself and know what things trigger stress in your life. Whenever stressful situations occur, have strategies and activities in place to help. This may be yoga, going for a walk, journaling, or even just watching a funny movie. Try to find what works best to alleviate stress in your life.
• Learn how to quiet your mind.
  • Using techniques such as meditation, mindfulness, and prayer can improve the storms of our minds. For example, breathing meditation aims to relax your mind by having it focus on one specific activity (your breathing) for some time. Not only does this decrease infiltrating/competing thoughts, but it also enhances vagal nerve activity leading to parasympathetic responses associated with relaxation.
• Set SMART goals.
  • Goal setting is essential, but these goals must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive). Specific (i.e., “I want to get a 3.5 this semester” versus “I want to do well this semester”), Measurable (3.5 out 4.0 is a measurable outcome), Attainable & Realistic (the goal is something that you can accomplish), and Time-sensitive (has to have an end-date for the goal, i.e., “this semester”). Breaking up big goals into smaller goals can also help decrease pressure and increase feelings of accomplishment when each small goal is achieved.
• Disrupt monotony whenever possible
  • We are creatures of routine. We often live by our schedules, and while this is efficient, it can lead to feeling like you’re in a rut or nothing exciting is going on in your life. What has helped me is scheduling times to be spontaneous (sounds like an oxymoron, right?”) By scheduling times to do whatever I want at that moment, I do not feel bad about using that time because I already scheduled it. Disrupting monotony can also be as simple as taking a different route to school or trying a new restaurant.
• Seek professional help when necessary
  • I cannot stress this enough! Please talk to a mental health professional whenever you are feeling distressed. This is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. Even if you are not distressed, you can see a mental health professional just to talk. Going to a psychiatrist was one of the most rewarding parts of my adult life; I learned so much about myself and now use that information to better relate with those around me. On your campus, there should be free counseling and mental health services, so please do not hesitate to contact them.