10 Ways To Boost Your Mood Instantly
Key Takeaways:
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A healthy lifestyle leads to great mood.
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Small activities such as music make for quick boosts in mood.
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Socializing is extremely important in everyone's life.
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Give heat exposure a try, with a sauna.
Emotions and feelings are a reaction to what we sense and how we respond to our outside world. We all lead busy lives, and many things can get us down throughout the day.
There are steps we can take to boost our mood so we can be ready to take on any situation. Some actions we might be unable to take include getting enough sleep or attending a support group. However, there are small things we can implement throughout the day to improve our moods instantly.
1. Get Moving
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Try a 10 minute walk
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Give the gym a try
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Stretch
When we are feeling down, it's hard to get moving, but even a short walk outside can do wonders for your mood.
Walking around and getting your blood flowing helps lower fatigue, increases your energy, and uplifts your spirit.
While exercising, feel-good chemicals are released from your brain, signaling your body to be more relaxed, feel less pain, and have a general sense of well-being.
2. Pump up the Jams
Listening to music helps release endorphins. Music affects your mood, and listening to happy, uplifting music can help boost your mood. Taking it a step further, dancing while listening to music helps relieve anxiety while bringing your energy levels up and making you feel good.
Listening to music has been shown to even reduce cortisol, which is the stress hormone within our body.
3. Declutter Your Space
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Keep the spaces your in most clean
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Cleaning also sends a feeling of accomplishment
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Reduces feelings of being cooped up
Coming home from a busy day at work and having a dirty home will put most people in a low mood. You can think, concentrate, and feel better in a clean space.
Taking time to clean and reorganize your space can improve your mood and even get you a better quality of sleep. Once your area looks neat, you will feel a positive difference in your attitude.
4. Be Grateful
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Find at least one positive aspect of each day
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Express gratitude to another person
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Write down some things you're thankful for
Starting each day with a gratitude journal is a simple way to improve your mood and feel happier. Focusing on the good in our lives makes us less likely to feel sad. Being more grateful also helps us stay present and takes us out of the cycles of negative thinking.
5. See A Friend
Spending time around those you love and are familiar with, such as a friend or family member, is another way to boost your mood instantly. Social connection and the ability to open up and talk to others is vital to our health.
Friends are there for us for whatever we need, whether we need a laugh, a hug, a smile, or a helping hand. So if you are feeling down, calling or seeing a friend is a great tool to boost your mood.
6. Eat These Foods
When we are feeling low, we go to comfort foods that are high in carbs and sugar. These foods, while at the time, may sound like a good idea, end up having a reverse effect on your body and mood.
A well balanced diet is key to proper function both physically and mentally, which certainly contributes to a boost in mood.
So instead of reaching for the chocolate mint ice cream in the freezer, here are some better foods proven to help your health and lift your spirits over the long haul.
Fermented Foods
Fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and kombucha are packed with probiotics which help our gut function properly. A healthy anddiverse micro gut biome has been linked to better mental health and higher serotonin levels.
Berries
Berries such as grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries all contain various antioxidants. Antioxidants are known to lower rates of oxidative stress in the body. Berries have the highest level of antioxidants when they are fresh. If you can not find fresh berries, you can get them frozen when picked at their ripest.
Omega 3 Fatty Fish
Eating fish a few times a week has been linked to lower rates of depression and healthy brain function.
Dark Chocolate
Just the taste and smell of chocolate alone can help boost your mood. But it also has feel-good compounds such as caffeine, theobromine, and N-acylethanolamine, which have been linked to improved moods.
Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds contain tryptophan, an amino acid that helps aid in the production of serotonin.
Dark Leafy Greens
Foods like kale, spinach, and broccoli are packed with vitamins that help your body function at their fullest and help aid in a better mood. Dark leafy greens reduce inflammation, and severe depression is linked with chronic inflammation.
Reduce Alcohol Intake
Alcohol is a substance that affects your brain by helping people feel more relaxed. However, drinking too much alcohol too often puts you at greater risk for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
People with poor mental health are more likely to binge drink or become daily drinkers as a way to self-medicate. Aim to limit alcohol exposure and find alternative solutions to reduce stress and improve mood.
7. Step Out into Nature
Getting outside in natural light helps improve your mood and energy levels. Vitamin D helps generate serotonin and melatonin in the body, putting you in a better mood while also helping you get better sleep!
Not only is sunlight important, but people who get outside and are surrounded by nature for more than a few hours a week have less depression and more positive moods than those who don't. So next time you are in a bad mood, tie up your laces and head towards the great outdoors.
8. Heat Therapy
Getting in a sauna is a great way to improve your mood instantly. The heat from the sauna causes blood vessels to dilate and open up, which helps you relax and feel refreshed. Frequent sauna use has also been shown to reduce stress hormones in the body
Saunas that you can lie down in also promote deep relaxation, and you can combine mood-boosting tools like meditation to get even more uplifting benefits.
Body position has been a huge factor in the design of our far infrared saunas, try one now 30 days risk free.
9. Smile
Smiling alone sends signals to the brain to stimulate the amygdala and produce mood-boosting chemicals. In one psychological study, even the act of people holding pencils in their mouths, engaging the same muscles we use to smile, was enough to trigger the brain to send feel-good emotions to the participants.
Whether our smile is real or fake, it helps alleviate stress and anxiety and helps improve your mood. Smiling also creates a powerful positive feedback loop. If a stranger smiles at you, you will likely smile back and have your spirit lifted.
10. Meditate
Meditation plays a vital role in keeping our brain and mind calm and relaxed. By learning to be still and mindful, we can lessen our stress and anxiety, leaving room for more happiness and positive well-being.
Meditation helps with mental health issues like depression and anxiety by clearing the mind of negative thoughts. Meditation also lowers tension in your body which promotes better sleep quality.
In conclusion, many of these activities can be done together, such as going out with friends and dancing while listening to uplifting music. You can meditate while in the sauna and then write your gratitude list. Or, you can walk to the park in the sun and say hi while smiling at a stranger in passing. Making small changes and implementing some of these actions in your day can make all the difference and help keep you smiling.