Hints & Tips for a Healthy Mind

Build Confidence – Believe in yourself and play to your strengths.

Accept Compliments – Learn to give and accept compliments when they given are a response to a worthy action.

Make Time for Family and Friends – In this way you can share life's joys and sorrows.

Give and Accept Support – By giving support to friends and family you will find it is returned in times of need.

Set a Meaningful Budget - Financial problems cause stress. Over-spending on our "wants" instead of our "needs" is often the culprit.

Volunteer - Being involved in community gives a sense of purpose and satisfaction that paid work cannot.

Manage Stress -Stress is defined as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other type of demands placed on them”, Pressure is part of everyday life and it helps to keep you motivated. It is important to manage your levels of pressure as excessive pressure can result in illness.

Find Strength in Numbers - Sharing a problem with others who have had similar experiences may help you find a solution and will make you feel less isolated.

Identify and Deal with Moods - We all need to find safe and constructive ways to express our feelings of anger, sadness, joy and fear.

Learn To Be At Peace with Yourself - Get to know who you are, what makes you really happy, and learn to balance what you can and cannot change about yourself.

Exercise Your Brain

We all have little lapses in memory. Most times it's due to too fact that you have too many things going on your mind or you're stressed out. Maybe you didn't concentrate enough on what it was you were supposed to remember.

Research shows that brainpower can increase with mental activities in older people. Ageing does not mean automatically losing mental capacity. Even though memory may fade with time, thinking ability remains strong. Vocabulary and reasoning skills often improve with age.

No matter what your age, exercising your brain may make the difference between using it and losing it. Or if you are young and have older family members or friends who seem to be losing memory, encouraging brain activity can help.

Activities such as doing crossword puzzles, playing word games or cards can increase mental abilities. Physical exercise can help.

For older adults who sense memory loss occurring, use mental helps such as calendars, calculators, list making, and group discussions. And relax. Worrying about what you're going to forget can cause a mental block.

Tips to aid a restful Sleep

Prioritise you activities, and somewhere on your list, find time for a good night's sleep.

How well you sleep at night can make all the difference in how productive and stress-free you'll be the next day.

A good night’s sleep is as important as proper nutrition and exercise. To help ensure relaxing days and sleep-filled nights, the Better Sleep Council offers the following tips:

1) Give yourself "permission" to go to bed. 2) Take care of yourself. Cut back on alcohol, caffeine and smoking, all of which can make it more difficult to fall and stay asleep. Regular exercise can help relieve tension and stress.

3) Unwind and relax before bedtime.

4) We all have biological clock Try to keep this clock regular by going to bed around the same time each night and wake up close to the same time each morning.

5) Create a restful place to sleep. Be sure your bedroom is cool, quiet and dark, and that you are sleeping on a comfortable, supportive mattress and foundation.