Live Chat5 ways to mental wellbeing
1) Take Notice
We know that taking time to enjoy the moment improves your wellbeing and helps you focus.
What can you do?
🤚 Stop and notice what is going on around you now.
👀 Put down your phone. What can you see, smell and hear? How do you feel?
2) Keep Learning
Setting goals and targets can help improve wellbeing.
What can you do?
▶️ Go online and check out TED for thousands of short, powerful talks delivered by the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Watch one talk on a topic that interests you.
ℹ️ Or why not check out your local Community Learning Programme or ask at the Hive what classes/activities are running in your location.
3) Be Active
Did you know that being active daily can help depression and anxiety in all ages?
What can you do?
💪 Plank for one minute. Doing this for a minute a day will reap huge benefits.
🪜 Take the stairs not the lift
🦮 Walk the dog or a friend's dog (you could walk with a friend)
🏃 Couch to 5K – Santa run?
💗 Do something every day that raises your heart rate for 30 minutes
🤸♀️ Try these 10-minute shake ups with your family https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/activities/10-minute-shake-up/
4) Helping Others
Did you know that 1 act of kindness a week for 6 weeks can increase happiness and overall wellbeing?
What better time to start this than the festive season, lets spread some Christmas love and cheer 🥰
What can you do?
🫶 Show your appreciation for someone by thanking them publicly.
😊 Pay someone a compliment
💷 Make a donation to a charity
🤝 Join your local SSAFA committee or volunteer group
🐕 Help out at a local dog shelter
5) Connect
Feeling close and valued by people is a basic human need.
What can you do?
- Message a friend. It doesn’t matter what it says, people appreciate it when you think of them.
- Say hello to people you pass in the street
- Invite your neighbour for a cuppa and chat
- Join a forum of interest to you online
Family festive activities to boost wellbeing
1) Take Notice
Place festive objects into a bag or box.
Take turns to feel one of the objects, can you guess what it is?!
Item suggestions:
🎅 Santa hat
🍂 Pine cone
⭐️ Bauble
🎀 Christmas bow
🛎 Bell
⛄️ Toy snowman
2) Keep Learning
Encourage your children to engage in some festive elf on the shelf fun!
Think about the language you could use to support their developing language skills.
3) Be Active
Encourage your child to get active with a festive indoor treasure hunt.
🎄Create a treasure hunt using Christmas themed objects.
🎄Hide these objects around the house and let the children find them.
🎄Talk about what they have found.
“It’s an elf!” - “He’s changing on the coat hooks.”
Shiney tinsel” - “It was behind the sofa”
4) Helping others
Fun fact: There is an Icelandic tradition to gift books on Christmas eve so friends and family can read them that night.
📚 Could you set up a book swap in your workplace?
📚 You could join a book group?
5) Connect
Christmas selfie scavenger hunt – let your teens have some festive fun too!
Encourage them to connect with others by sharing Christmas selfies whilst out an about, whether they are walking around their local area or out Christmas shopping, there are lots of opportunities!
Children can learn the 5 ways of wellbeing through food!
Involving children in creating their own food can increase likelihood of them trying new foods whilst spending time with the family. Why not try some of these simple recipes:
Keep the kids entertained and get them making their own dinner by cooking-up some festive puff pizzas - perfect for school lunches too.
Get into the Christmas spirit with this no added sugar apple crumble, suitable for all the family from 6 months +
Get into the holiday spirit with these Christmas Bagel Wreath Sandwiches! They’re festive, fun and delicious. Great for school lunches, but adults can have them too!
These no-bake, nut-free energy balls for kids (and adults!) are a perfect healthy Christmas treat and are an easy snack to grab on the go.
Encouraging fruit during the festive period can be difficult if there are lots of other treats. So, let’s make fruit fun by creating Christmas fruit kebabs (Santa hats)!
If you need support, you can contact your local SSAFA Community Health team, the Padre, Welfare team or Medical Centre.