Reboot Your Mood in 2021
Are you feeling disoriented or unmotivated to start the new year? You have probably felt like this in previous years after the holidays. Still, this year it might be even more challenging to get moving after a year of chronic stress. Instead of allowing these feelings to keep you from embracing all that the year offers, here are six evidence-based ways to get your energy back.
Helping others helps yourself. Assisting others by making a charitable donation, volunteering, or helping a friend or neighbor, activates the brain’s reward system. When this happens, dopamine and endorphins - the "feel-good” hormones - are released, giving us a boost in our mood. Simply put, making others happy is a great way to make yourself happy.
Physical activity. Being physically active promotes the generation of hormones in the brain that improve our mood and help us relax. Specifically, when we are active the brain releases another “feel-good” hormone, endorphins, which reduces stress, anxiety, and depression, and enhances self-esteem. To get a little boost, take a walk. Do some jumping jacks. Almost any physical activity that gets your heart rate up will help you feel a bit better.
Eat Well. While we may feel better after indulging in our favorite sweet, it isn't long before we crave more or have feelings of regret. Eating a nutritious snack or meal may not give us that short burst of happiness from eating chocolate. However, we can train our attention to recognize how our body feels when we feed it properly.
Keep socially connected. COVID-19 elevated already high levels of loneliness and social isolation across all ages, gender, race, and culture (Jeste et al., 2020). This is an important finding because there is robust evidence that social isolation is detrimental to physical, cognitive, and mental health (Quadt et al., 2020). However, another study found that the adverse effects of COVID-19 were smaller in those who stayed connected with others, even if that connection was virtual. Social interaction is also connected to the brain’s reward system and prompts positive emotions.
Learn something new. While the brain changes during critical periods of development, we now know that it continues to change throughout our lives. New experiences, such as learning new skills, can positively modify brain function and structure. For example, juggling has been shown to increase the brain's structure associated with visual-motor performance (Scholz et al., 2009). Similarly, musicians have been shown to have increased grey matter in the brain that processes auditory function (Sholz et al., 2009). Learning a new language can also change the structure of the brain. The point is we can improve our brain function with targeted new activities, no matter our age.
Sleep. Sleep is an essential component of human life and is linked to good brain health. That's because during sleep, the brain reorganizes and recharges, and removes toxic waste byproducts, which is essential to normal brain function. Getting the optimal quantity and quality of sleep may help you find that you have more energy and can enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
If you are looking for high-impact ways to improve your life quality in 2021, consider starting with these evidence-based areas to begin your journey.
References
Jeste DV, Lee EE, Cacioppo S. (2020). Battling the Modern Behavioral Epidemic of Loneliness: Suggestions for Research and Interventions. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020 Jun 1;77(6):553-554. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0027. PMID: 32129811; PMCID: PMC7483387.
Killgore, W., Cloonan, S. A., Taylor, E. C., & Dailey, N. S. (2020). Loneliness: A signature mental health concern in the era of COVID-19. Psychiatry Research, 290, 113117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113117
Martensson, Johan, Eriksson, Johan, Bodammer, Nils, Lindgren, Magnus, Johannsson, Nyberg, Lars, Lovden, Martin (2012). Growth of Language-related Brain Areas After Foreign Language Learning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.043
Quadt, Lisa, Esposito, Guila, Critchley, Hugo, & Garfinkel, Sarah, (2016). Brain-body interactions underlying the association of loneliness with mental and physical health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.015
Scholz, Jan, Klein, Miriam, Behrens, Timothy, & Johansen-Berg, Heidi ( 2009). Training induces changes in white-matter architecture. Nature Neuroscience, 12, 1370-1371.