Your mental health is something that’s unfortunately easy to ignore. While the roads to improving your physical health are more obvious, with your progress being potentially more visible, mental health can be put on the sidelines due to its relative invisibility. However, leaving it to go unchecked can negatively impact your life in a wide variety of ways, making taking the time to support it something that you should find the time to do.

With limited time available, though, what’s the best way to go about this? You might find that making it a project where you can combine it with other activities like hobbies is the most practical approach.

1. Gardening

Not everyone will have access to their own green space, meaning that this unfortunately won’t be available to everyone. However, you don’t need very much at all to get started, and it can even be something that you do by decorating the interior of your home with houseplants. Gardening has been noted to have a variety of mental health benefits, meaning that you can enjoy those while improving the state of your home or garden.

Gardening projects are going to have different scales, though, which can play into the maintenance, meaning it could be a few potted plants inside you keep an eye on, or a whole space that requires wholesale irrigation supply.

2. Varied Social Activities

It’s easy to fall into a very familiar pattern that you never deviate from – go to work every day of the week, then when the weekend rolls around, you might often spend it in the same ways. If you are lucky enough to live in proximity to your friends, you might see them regularly, but these meetings might always take a familiar shape, which could lead to some fatigue or a lack of novelty. Trying new things, taking a break from what you normally do, or planning more large-scale trips like road trips or holidays might help to rejuvenate your social calendar.

3. Dedicated Approaches

You might be more interested in taking a targeted approach, especially if you feel as though your mental health is at a particularly low point. Activities like meditation and breathing exercises have been noted to improve mindfulness and help with anxiety and stress, with a variety of free tutorials available on platforms like YouTube or Insight Timer. Alternatively, you might want to combine this with a push to improve your physical health as well – with exercise having a positive impact on both mental and physical health.

4. Reading

There’s nothing wrong with pastimes that make use of a screen, like watching TV or playing games, but screens can be so present in life through smartphone use and work that it’s good to find a way of taking a break wherever possible. Reading can be the perfect way to do that – allowing you a way to unwind and get lost in something relaxing while still spending time at home or in a comfortable environment of your choice. With so many genres and styles available, you’re bound to find something to your tastes, even if you haven’t been an avid reader up to this point.