{"id":88137,"date":"2021-12-14T10:29:31","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T18:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?p=88137"},"modified":"2021-12-29T10:28:53","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T18:28:53","slug":"why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When we think of training, what comes to mind? Maybe it\u2019s muscular people lifting weights intensely in a gym. Perhaps it\u2019s people running long distances with huge packs on their backs. Perhaps we think about it from a workplace perspective, of pushing ourselves to be better, more educated in our professional lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that comes to mind however, probably isn\u2019t training our mind. Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it? Like our muscles, our brain becomes more resilient and pliable the more we work on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about when you get physically injured after not warming up. A warm up would\u2019ve taken 10-15 minutes of your life and would\u2019ve prevented you from hurting yourself. Without a warm up, the injury occurs and you can\u2019t exercise or workout for a few weeks at the very least. The bottom line is that it\u2019s easier, less time consuming and less painful to prevent an injury rather than dealing with it afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, when it comes to mental health and wellbeing, the cost of trying to help yourself after the symptoms and neurological patterns of anxiety, depression and stress set in is much higher and longer lasting than it would\u2019ve been if you\u2019d simply practiced mental fitness as a preventative measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason behind this is rooted in neuroscience. Our brain operates on a series of neural pathways that are built and strengthened over time by our experiences and beliefs. These neural pathways are essentially shortcuts for commonly used behaviours and information – the more we use a particular pathway, the faster that information travels until the cause and effect feels almost automatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, we know that if we eat something that\u2019s come straight out of the oven, chances are it\u2019s going to be very hot and hurt us a lot. Over time and experience, our brain has strengthened and reinforced that neural pathway so that when the temptation comes to reach for food straight out of the oven, something in our brain tells us to wait a minute or blow on it to cool it down. We don\u2019t necessarily consciously think about it – it seems like it just happens because the neural pathway is so strong and driven by a core emotion – pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our brain\u2019s primary focus after all is to keep us safe and alive. If we experience or believe that something is going to harm us in some way, our brain is going to actively try and prevent that from happening. But as our brain operates primarily on evidence, beliefs and experiences it can very quickly get skewed where anxiety, depression and stress are concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As these conditions are driven primarily by emotions and neurochemical imbalances, it often makes experiences feel much more heightened and real than they actually are, especially when we\u2019re dealing with hypothetical \u201cwhat if\u201d situations. The majority of us have thought about what might have happened if we\u2019d reacted differently in past situations or what might happen in the future – these aren\u2019t inherently negative things to do – but if we dwell on these thoughts and they spiral into troubling or upsetting hypotheticals, our brain struggles to separate the imagined scenario from reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where training our mental fitness can really come into its own. Many of us can dismiss worrying or anxious thoughts as they occur by remaining present in the moment. For those of us who struggle with the symptoms of anxiety or depression this can seem like a baffling concept. It takes time and training to get to this place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefit of training our mind and our mental wellbeing is far reaching. From positive reframing to see the brighter side of difficult situations, to focusing wholly on single tasks to prevent negative rumination, to exercising in nature to get a beneficial hit of neurochemicals, there are plenty of ways to improve our mental fitness so that we\u2019re in a better headspace should a terrible situation arise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The essence of training mental fitness is about actively making yourself more resilient. It\u2019s been well documented that people who practise resilience are happier, less likely to feel stressed or anxious and be more content in general. As such, they benefit from higher levels of productivity, creativity and improved relationships with those around them – important not only in our personal life but in the workplace too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working from home, balancing office and family life, not looking after ourselves – these things weigh heavy on our minds, clouding our judgement and making it difficult to see a way ahead. Stress and anxiety have become the norm and without the guidance to balance us out, we grow tired, fearful and depressed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Science has proven that there are ways we can make ourselves feel better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasingly, businesses and organisations are searching for preventative, action based solutions when it comes to mental health and wellbeing. Often less costly and time consuming from its reactive counterparts, it can offer employees the opportunity to learn new strategies and techniques to build resilience and more positively deal with stressful situations as they arise. Solutions like new mental fitness web app, Leafyard, which motivates your team to take science-based action<\/em><\/strong> and helps them to understand that feeling better is well within their grasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This kind of action-based mental health and mental fitness training allows you to really put what we all know about how to feel better into practice. It\u2019s all well and good knowing what works but unless you actually <\/strong>do<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>the things, nothing is going to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a personal level, the user takes responsibility for their mental health and discovers that they have the power to make themselves feel better. That kind of ownership and sense of personal control cannot be underestimated. At the end of the day a lot of stress and strains come from feeling helpless or out of control, so feeling like you have strategies and techniques that you can reach for in times of trouble can be a gamechanger and hugely boost our mental wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does actively practicing mental fitness look like on a daily basis? Well realistically it\u2019s a lot of little tasks that you can integrate into your daily routine which slowly transform and strengthen those positive neural pathways. Things like exercise, spending time away from your phone, being present with others, trying to be rational and kind with yourself. These are all things that over time accumulate to give you a resilient mindset that puts you in a much better position to approach, accept and manage the difficult situations which are inevitable in life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more you do these tasks the more impact it will have on your neural structure and your behavioural reactions to different scenarios. These small shifts have large, lasting effects, but the key is repetition. You can\u2019t just do these activities once in a blue moon and hope they\u2019ll make a difference. Neural pathways are strengthened by repeated action and experiences so building positive habits is crucial to making these behaviours stick and creating lasting, meaningful change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it? Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28302,"featured_media":88139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[24,7748],"tags":[51,4141],"yoast_head":"\nWhy We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-14T18:29:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-29T18:28:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"655\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"388\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RebeccaMarie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png\",\"width\":655,\"height\":388},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/\",\"name\":\"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-14T18:29:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-29T18:28:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5eca13673a8ca3c4cef182a2ab7e49c9\"},\"description\":\"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5eca13673a8ca3c4cef182a2ab7e49c9\",\"name\":\"RebeccaMarie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36f21285b472651a004e09d714041547?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36f21285b472651a004e09d714041547?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"RebeccaMarie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/rebeccamarie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing","description":"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing","og_description":"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2021-12-14T18:29:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-29T18:28:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":655,"height":388,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RebeccaMarie","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-10.28.59-AM.png","width":655,"height":388},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/","name":"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-12-14T18:29:31+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-29T18:28:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5eca13673a8ca3c4cef182a2ab7e49c9"},"description":"Our brain is one of the most important parts of our body so why don\u2019t we make the effort to train it?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-we-can-all-benefit-from-training-our-mental-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why We Can All Benefit From Training Our Mental Wellbeing"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5eca13673a8ca3c4cef182a2ab7e49c9","name":"RebeccaMarie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36f21285b472651a004e09d714041547?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36f21285b472651a004e09d714041547?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"RebeccaMarie"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/rebeccamarie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88140,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88137\/revisions\/88140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}