Having a routine improves everyone’s mental health.

For those struggling with trauma, a routine can add an element of control to their lives and a plan. It can feel like there is something else helping them get through the day or the week other than being consumed with upsetting or frightening thoughts and feelings.

On a more scientific level, managing bio-rhythms and training your body to expect sleep at certain times of the day can help with insomnia and poor sleep. Eating at the same time each day prevents low-blood sugar levels which can have a serious impact on mood and irritability and also prevents binge-eating or skipping meals.

For people living with trauma or low mood – a plan for getting through bad days can keep thoughts of self-harm of self-medication at bay.

There is a very scientific discussion of routine in this article. Less scientific but equally informative is this blog on the Mind website.

Tips:

• Involve everyone in the family in a routine whereever possible.
• If children or teenagers (or anyone else for that matter!) find it controlling or restrictive, then using an electronic devise to remind everyone causes less irritation. (We have no idea why this works but it does!)
• Try it for 30 days – in general for something to become a habit, it takes a month to ‘stick.’
• Plan ahead – if you can see a period of time when routines are likely to disturbed (holidays, exams, people away for work, visitors staying) then work out how you will do things differently but still maintain as much of a routine as possible.

There has been too much research into the impact that good nutrition can have on physical and mental health to ignore.

Put very simply, you need everything on your side if you are going to win any battle with poor mental health so eating well and regularly is essential. Poor appetite is associated with anxiety and depression but if you include meal times in your daily routine then your body will help by becoming used to expecting food at a certain time.

There is more information about diet and mental health in this article from the Mental Health Foundation.

If you aren’t sure if the diet you are eating is healthy the links below have some great recipes and information.

• Change for Life
• Live well, eat well

If you are pregnant or have a child under 4 and receive certain benefits then there is help from Healthy Start

Finally, if food is an issue for you or your loved one (restricting food, obesity, over-eating, comfort-eating, binge-eating or purging, for example) speak to your GP about additional assistance.

Sleep is often troubling for anyone surviving trauma but it is also a massive issue for 3rd party victims of crime.

Staying up late until our loved ones manage to sleep, lying awake thinking about what happened and if you could have done anything differently, worrying about them waking up or wandering around, or simply staying up until all hours dealing with crises.

Adults need 7 hours sleep a night. If you aren’t getting that, it will take its toll on your physical and mental health. Children and young people need considerably more, even 16 year olds need 9 hours.

What’s recommended:

• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day
• Have a sleep routine
• No electronics for an hour before bed
• No caffeine after 4pm

…which when you are a 3rd party victim of crime can be incredibly difficult to achieve. However, if you know what ‘ideal’ looks like, then its easier to assess how far away you are from that ideal. Keep a sleep diary (for both you and your loved one) for a month and take it to your GP. There are various medications that help with sleep and some like melatonin are non-addictive and can help regulate disrupted sleep cycles.

There is a great deal of information on this NHS website about sleep.

The impact of sleep and mental health is discussed in this article (and related links) from the Mental Health Foundation.

Finally… If you or your loved one suffers repeated nightmares, writing them down or ideally speaking about them can help. Talking moves the memory to a different part of the brain so it can be processed and that may stop it replaying.

If you’re tired or your loved one is finding it hard to even get out of bed, exercise is probably the very last thing on your mind.

The thought of going to a gym, finding the right clothes and the hassle of finding the right change for the locker is enough to put anyone off! If your loved one has self-harm scars then communal gym areas are potentially traumatic and swimming pools can feel out of the question. Any trauma can make mixing with other people frightening. For many people the cost of participation makes it unachievable.

Exercise doesn’t have to be ‘organised’ to be beneficial. It can be as simple as running up and down the stairs or putting on some music and having a dance in the living room. If you have a dog, then going for a walk will probably make their day and has the added benefit of some fresh air and a change of scenery.

Exercise has been scientifically proved to aid good mental-health.

Some ideas:

• In bigger towns and cities, there are often single-sex swimming sessions and quiet sessions that might make this more accessible
• Exercise on prescription is available in many areas and worth exploring with your GP.
• Mindfulness, yoga and pilates are known to help with mental health and are sometimes offered on a self-referral basis from Mental Health Trusts.
• If your child receives a Local Offer, then horse-riding or golf or some of the more expensive sporting options can be found on their websites.
• A step counter can encourage everyone to get moving. You don’t need an expensive gadget, most phones have free apps that you can download.
• It doesn’t have to be ‘sport’ to be exercise – drama, dance, gardening, housework – anything that gets you a bit breathless and your heart beating faster counts!
• The NHS apps have exercise plans that have been proved to work