When we talk about health, we almost exclusively neglect mental health discussions. This is truly unfortunate, because mental illness in on the rise, so we need to take steps to fight it, and part of that is talking about it. After all, many people suffer silently from mental illnesses purely because they don’t realize what’s wrong with them, why they feel the way they do or act the way they do. However, there’s a silver lining, and that’s that there are ways that those suffering from mental illness can take matters into their own hands when psychiatric help isn’t available.

For starters, reducing stress is vital to treating mental illness, with or without psychiatric help. Prolonged stress does awfuls things to our bodies, as well as our minds, we reducing our exposure to stressful situations is key. Think of mental illnesses on the hole as PTSD to varying degrees of intensity. We can all handle a stressful moment, but the longer we have to deal with that stress, regardless of its intensity, it’s going to prove detrimental to our brain chemistry eventually. We’re simply not built to endure stress like that, and science shows that it destroys us slowly.

So, what can we do about it? The world’s a stressful place, whether we want it to be or not, right? Yes, that’s true, but there are unnecessary ways in which we expose ourselves to stress all the time.For example, discomfort. Many situations can be uncomfortable and superfluous, so avoiding them when possible is a small change that have a pronounced positive effect on your mood. Likewise, physical discomfort should be avoided when unnecessary. Wearing clothes that are a bit too tight, or even too loose, can be irritating in the moment, but over time it can really wear on you, so if you have this problem, consider replacing your clothing with something more appropriate from a retailer like Brooks Brothers and remember the saying “mind over matter,” because our minds can affect our bodies, for better or worse, so we need to take care of ourselves.