Mind

Mental fitness is as necessary as physical fitness. You should not neglect mental health. Including mental exercises in your daily routine can help you reap the benefits of a sharper and healthier mind. 

Mental fitness is defined as a state of well-being and having a positive sense of how we feel, think, and act. 

What are the benefits of being mentally fit?

• Strengthens neural pathways
• Feel energized and healthier
• Helps you to cope with stress
• Improves memory
• Boosts your mood
• Helps you sleep better

Here are few ways to strengthen your mental fitness.

1. Be positive –

Positive affirmations increase mental proficiency. Positive thinking strengthens neural pathways. It improves your self-confidence, well-being, and satisfaction to a higher level. 

2. Challenge your mind with games –

Games are an excellent way to tease and challenge your brain. They increase your brain’s speed and memory. They rely on logic, skills, math,s and more. They are also fun. Playing Sudoku, puzzles, board games, crosswords, and electronic games will boost your brain’s performance. 

3. Try something different – 

Engaging your brain in new and exciting ways can increase brain fitness. For example, try out fresh foods, travel to new places, or work and try new ways to accomplish tasks. Doing new things in new ways produces new brain cells. It also helps to retain brain cells and connections. As a result, it can help your brain stay healthy.

4. Meditate –

Meditation helps you to shift mental habits that cause trouble. It allows you to focus and tune out distractions. It trains your mind to concentrate. It calms your mind and helps to solve the problems in a relaxed way. 

5. Have a routine –

Your brain is good at making connections. It benefits your mental health while introducing new practices. You have to make a connection between existing habits with the new ones. For example, if you want to exercise daily, you need to form a bond with an existing habit. 

6. Read more –

Make reading an essential habit. Do not read books from familiar reading topics. Instead, pick random books of different authors. You can train your brain to imagine and understand different periods, cultures, and people. You can even share these exciting stories with others. This will solidify memories and interpret events.

7. Learn something new –

Give your brain something to think about by learning a  new skill. Learning improves multiple areas of the brain. As a result, you will learn new movements and associate things differently. For example, you can learn to paint or to cook or anything that gives your brain busy. 

8. Relax, rest and sleep –

Adequate rest increases your focus, creativity, and energy. The time you spend asleep is precious. Your brain has the opportunity to repair and recover while you sleep. It provides time to recharge.

Train your brain to work better and faster. Make brain workouts a part of your routine. Every time you do something new or different, it strengthens your neural pathways. It also helps you to be resilient to stress.  Regular mental exercise can improve your overall well-being. Download the Joyscore App to explore more about mental fitness.

Negativity is a part of life. You may experience negative thoughts at one of life or another. It is fine to have them, but if you feed them. They can harm you. They can turn into problems like anxiety and depression. Try different approaches to get rid of negative thoughts. Something will help you to clear your mindset. 

Negativity detox can help you overcome depression and anxiety. It makes your life more enjoyable and satisfying.

Here are few ways to detox negative thoughts out of your mind–

1. Begin your day with inspiration –

Wake up having a positive thought that ‘all is going to be well today’. As soon as you wake up, keep smiling. It strengthens your immune system and releases feel-good hormones. It drives away negative feelings. 

“Every day, think as you wake up: today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.” – Dalai Lama

2. Give your brain some space –

You may feel cluttered in your mind. Let go of that information which you may not need. Try to empty your mind for a few minutes. Also, be aware of your negative thoughts. Give yourself some time to think and deal with the anxious thoughts.

3. Go to a happy place –

You may have a physical space where you can be happy. It may be your bedroom, a bench in a park, or a yoga studio. Whenever you feel stressed with negative thoughts, go to these places which calm your mind.

4. Just write it down –

Take a piece of paper. Write down all the negative thoughts and burn them. You can also write down all the things that you are grateful for. Focus on good things that are present in your lives. List everything worthwhile that you have achieved in your life.

5. Exercise –

A bit of physical activity every day neutralizes mental chatter and boosts your overall happiness. Do walking, running, Zumba, Yoga whatever works for you. It will shift your thoughts and keep your mind busy. 

6. Meditate –

Meditate for few minutes regularly. It helps you to access peace regardless of what is happening around us. You can be in control of how you feel and connect to the peace within.

7. Change the focus of your thoughts –

You have to change the perspective of your thoughts. Change your point of view from bad to a good one. For example: Instead of thinking. “My leg hurts if I run”, you may think,” It is good for me to run to be fit”. The second sentence has a more positive approach to the action. Thus a small change in the focus can make big difference in the thinking patterns.

8. Say no to news on media –

The constant need for information from the internet is causing stress. Stay away from social media and news. 

9. Do a prayer of gratitude –

Be grateful for already what you have. Write down those. An attitude of gratitude can help you rise above negativity.

10. Rest and reset –

You have to plan for a brain dump every day. Keep aside some time to rest and reset your mind. A calm mind can be blissful which takes commitment and dedication. 

Did this post help you detox your mind? Check out the Joy Score app for more tips on positivity and happiness.

Regular Sleep is an important part of your daily life. Adequate sleep is required to maintain optimal health and well-being. Sleep is as important as regular exercise and a balanced diet. It is one of the pillars of your health. Getting regular and optimal sleep every day has its own benefits.

World Sleep Day is celebrated on March 19, 2021. The slogan for this year is ‘regular sleep, healthy future’. 

Effects of lack of sleep on your health

Sleep deprivation alters your brain activity. It affects your performance and productivity. It is one of the risk factors for obesity. It leads you to eat more. The duration of sleep has many health risk factors. There is an increased risk of heart disease and stroke if you sleep less than 7 hours per night. There is also a heightened risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Poor quality of sleep is also linked to depression and long-term body inflammation.

Why do you require a good and regular sleep?

Here are some of the reasons why good and regular sleep is important for you:

Health benefits

Sleep has a host of health benefits. It lowers the risk of heart disease and reduces inflammation. Good sleep helps the body fight off infection. As the body heals during sleep, you can have more energy, better coordination, and better overall health.

Improves productivity

You can sharpen your brain’s ability to learn and preserve information by having a regular sleep. Sleep improves your concentration and lowers the feeling of burnout. It improves problem-solving skills and enhances memory. 

Improves immune function

Regular sleep boosts your immune system.  When you are asleep, your body takes time to rest and recover. It heals the damaged cells and helps to recover, thereby rebooting your body. 

Prevents depression

Sleeping disorders such as insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea cause depression. It is estimated that 90% of people with depression complain about sleep quality. Thus getting a good night’s sleep can be an important part of your plan to manage depression.

Lower weight gain

People with sleep deprivation tend to eat more, which leads to obesity. A good sleep calms down your body and helps a person to consume fewer calories.

You can be emotionally intelligent

Adequate sleep will lead to improved mood and healthier emotional well-being. It is the key to build emotional intelligence. It helps us manage our emotions, builds empathy, and sparks creativity.

Tips to have better and regular sleep

• Have a comfortable bed and cool room
• Reduce caffeine intake after 5 PM
• Take a walk after your dinner
• Avoid taking an afternoon nap if you have trouble sleeping at night.
• Finish your daily chores and dinner by 8 PM
• Avoid binge-watching TV/videos.
• Avoid fights and arguments with anyone before bedtime — makeup with them before going to sleep.

Sleep is often neglected as a part of our routine. It is an important component of your overall health and well-being. It enables the body to repair and be fit and be ready for the next day. 

Sleep regularly and have a healthy future. 

Have trouble sleeping? Try tracking your sleep with the help of the JoyScore app. The app can also help you lead a healthy and quality life. Download the app now.

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” –Oprah Winfrey.

Affirmations are part of your life. It is just anything you say with confidence. It is more important to know that your thoughts will be quite negative. Research says that 80% of the 50,000 subconscious thoughts that you have in a day are negative ones. You need to think and speak in a positive pattern to change your life. 

The affirmations open the door. It is a path to change. If you are talking about affirmations, you are consciously choosing words that help you to eliminate negative aspects of life and create something new.

What are Affirmations?

Affirmations are positive statements that help you overcome negative thoughts. They allow you to be in control of your thoughts and act as a self-help tool. 

Here are few examples of Affirmations that help you see a positive change in your life:

• I am overflowing with joy
• I am healthy and my mind is brilliant
• I acknowledge my own self-worth; my confidence is soaring.
• I am blessed with an incredible family and wonderful friends.
• I am growing stronger each day
• I am a unique and responsible person.
• I am confident and capable of what I do.

The power of Affirmations

Affirmations are powerful when used in a correct manner. They are more effective if you use them along with positive thinking and goal setting.  You need to embrace powerful and positive affirmations to achieve success. You can reap the benefits of the Affirmations if you practice them regularly.

Do Affirmations really benefit you?

The benefits usually depend on how you use them. They tend to provide the most benefit when they center on specific traits or achievable changes you like to make to those traits.

Affirmation boosts self-esteem

Affirmations allow you to believe in yourself and the potential of an action you desire to manifest. It provides a reassurance that our wish words become a reality. You can tell yourself that you are motivated and capable. You will be able to view the best version of yourself.

It changes the negative thought patterns into positive ones 

You will be aware of your daily thoughts, thus reducing the risk of negativity. Negative self-talk habits can be altered for positive changes by practicing daily affirmations.

Affirmations lead to better health

“Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another” – William James

You will feel better if you think positively. Practicing daily affirmations reduces the negative thoughts and also the stress levels. You will feel better both mentally and physically.

They set you up for success

Simple and positive affirmations help you to focus on all the good in your life. You would be more open to learning new things.  Your beliefs and thoughts will shift in a more positive direction. You will experience success which improves your quality of life.

Affirmations can be a refreshing way to use positivity to reverse negative messages and to motivate ourselves. The real secret of happiness is knowing that it’s an inside job. It’s about understanding that life doesn’t happen to you; it happens for you. After working on yourself and your growth, you’ll notice a high sense of self-worth or high self-esteem, and knowing you are worthy of being happy is the secret to true happiness and leading a complete and joyful life.  Download the JoyScore app to get more insights on living a Joyful life.

Mental health is the talk of the day. A mood is an affective state which is a mix of feelings and emotions. It can be positive or negative. It is affected by your nutrition intake, hours of sleep, and facial expressions.

Your mood affects your personality. Tracking your mood is a powerful way to take care of your mental health. It helps you to appropriately attend to your feelings. Everyone has mood changes throughout the day. Identifying and tracking moods can be an effective tool to ensure better mental health. You can use mood trackers to learn about yourself and your health, self-manage symptoms, and improve your quality of life.

Why should you track your mood?

Gain control of yourself

You can self-manage with good health habits by tracking your mood. You can recognize and be aware of the dangers/problems ahead of your different moods and can control those. Keeping a check on yourself encourages you to work on problem areas. Mood tracking can help you bridge the gap between your thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

Find out what you need to get the best out of you

If you recognize your feelings, you can understand what is required to take care of yourself. You can control the outcome of your mood. If you are happy, be thankful; if you are sad, share it with a friend. You will respond intentionally rather than immediately by paying attention to your moods.

Identify the patterns and triggers

You need to understand what factors trigger your moods. Triggers are those which bring out emotions and behavioral changes. These may be physical exercise, the food you eat, the amount of sleep, interactions with others, relationships, and the external environment. It’s good to know if there is something specific contributing to a particular mood. Tracking these and making simple lifestyle changes can help you feel good.

Share your feelings with others and their impact on others

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” ― Charlotte Bronte

Open up your inner child. Share what you feel. This can help you to recognize how other people are affecting you. If you are angry with others, create a boundary and communicate it clearly with them. Also, be grateful to others if you are happy because of them. 

Get support from a therapist/psychiatrist

You can seek out help from a therapist/psychiatrist if you are struggling to manage your emotions. They can easily assess and help you if you share the data of the mood tracker. If you can record how you are feeling throughout the day, it can help identify and guide an appropriate course of treatment.

Keeping a mood chart can tell you a lot about the timing and impact of your different moods. It is only you who can take charge of your life. Start taking note of your moods, their triggers, and patterns, you will see an amazing discovery. You can track these easily on JoyScore’s mood tracker feature and see which activities have the biggest impact on your wellbeing. Give it a try today!