How To Take Your Mind Off Problems

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• How To Take Your Mind Off Problems
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Stand Up for Mental Health
• Latest Mental Health News

How To Take Your Mind Off Problems

Mental health difficulties such as anxiety disorders, mood disorders, trauma disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and more are notorious for causing people to overthink things and ruminate over problems seemingly nonstop. Thinking about problems too much can interfere in daily life. It's possible to take your mind off problems and find relief from ruminating and over-thinking. Here are ways to do it:

• Do something you enjoy. When you actively engage in an activity you love, your mind has something to do. When your mind is distracted with other things, your thinking shifts away from your problems.
• Get physical. Regular exercise, even a 10-minute daily walk, energizes both body and mind, and it has a positive impact on the brain that extends to the way it thinks.
• Be mindful. Practicing mindfulness means being fully aware, through all of your senses, on what is going on in each moment. The brain can't think about problems and be engaged in the moment at the same time. Again and again, turn your attention to your present moment. Over time, mindfulness will be natural, and you will no longer overthink problems.

Purposefully engaging your mind in positive activities will help you take your mind off your problems—and keep it off.

Here are some more ideas to stop overthinking from our anxiety blogger, Tanya Peterson. Take a look.

Related Articles Dealing with Thoughts and Overthinking

• Bipolar Thought Types
• Obsessive Thoughts, Intrusive Thoughts: Have I Lost My Mind?
• Free Yourself From Obsessive Thoughts
• With Anxiety, are Your Thoughts Trustworthy?

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: What do you do to take your mind off problems in a healthy way? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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Share our Stories

At the top and bottom of all our stories, you'll find social share buttons for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites. If you find a particular story, video, psychological test or other HealthyPlace feature helpful, there's a good chance others in need will too. Please share.

We also get many inquiries about our linking policy. If you have a website or blog, you can link to any page on the HealthyPlace website without asking us beforehand.

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Explaining Depression To A Friend
2. When Bipolar Medication Doesn’t Work: Disappointing Your Dr.
3. Eight Ways to Stop a Panic Attack in its Tracks

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Some Days It’s Hard to Be a Positive Person
• Recovery from a Mental Illness Trigger Event
• Does the Addictive Personality Exist?
• Parents Affected by Mental Health Stigma
• Functionality as the Measure of Quality of Life in Bipolar
• Recognize Progress in PTSD Recovery to Promote Further Healing
• Going on Vacation With Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder
• Eight Ways to Stop a Panic Attack in its Tracks
• Vacation Well With Your Spouse Despite Mental Illness
• Mental Illness Stigma that Comes from Concern Hurts
• Personal Growth: Flower Where You’re Planted
• Depression Self-Care in Relationships Requires Communication
• Unique Mental Health Coping Skills for Bad Days
• Grief and Dissociative Identity Disorder: Symbolic Loss
• Borderline Personality Disorder, Manipulation vs. Honesty
• Release Body-Stored Emotions for Eating Disorder Recovery

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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Stand Up for Mental Health

Thousands Have Joined the Stand Up for Mental Health Campaign

But we still need you. Let others know there's no shame in having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, trichotillomania, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia or any other mental illness.

Join the Stand Up for Mental Health campaign. Put a button on your website or blog (buttons for family members, parents, mental health professionals and organizations too). We also have covers for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

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Latest Mental Health News

• Mental Stress May Cause Reduced Blood Flow In Hearts Of Young Women With Heart Disease
• Too Much Activity In One Of The Brain's Key Memory Regions Is Bad For Your Memory And Attention
• Psychosis Associated With Low Levels Of Physical Activity
• Disruptions To Sleep Patterns Lead To An Increased Risk Of Suicides
• Marijuana Use Leads To Laziness, Study Suggests
• In Unstable Times, The Brain Reduces Cell Production To Help Cope
• People With Alcohol Dependency Lack Important Enzyme
• PTSD And Cognitive Decline Linked In 9/11 Responders

These stories and more are featured on our mental health news page:

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

• circle HealthyPlace on Google+,
• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter
• follow HealthyPlace on Pinterest
• or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index