This week is Mental Health Awareness WeeK- highlighting how being lonely can affect our mental wellbeing.
Loneliness
Loneliness is affecting more and more of us in the UK and can have a huge impact on our physical and mental health. We can all feel lonely from time to time. Feelings of loneliness are personal, so everyone’s experience of loneliness will be different. While loneliness is not a mental health problem, the two are strongly linked.
Feeling lonely can be very stressful and can have a big impact on your general wellbeing, which might make it even harder to make positive steps to feel better.
Some of the following may be affecting how you feel – think about whether you can do anything to change them:
- Try and get enough sleep. Getting too much or too little can have a big impact on how you feel
- Think about your diet. Eating regularly and keeping your blood sugar stable can make a
difference to your mood and energy levels.
- Do some physical activity. Exercise can boost your mental wellbeing and some people find it helps their self-esteem.
- Spend time with animals. Some people find spending time with pets or with animals in their natural environment can help feelings of loneliness.
- Avoid drugs and alcohol. You might want to use drugs and alcohol to cope with difficult feelings about yourself, but they can make you feel worse and prevent you from dealing with underlying problems.
For more information visit the Mental Health Foundation