How Lifestyle Medicine Can Support Your Mental Well-Being
When we think about improving our mental health, we often focus on our thoughts, emotions, and coping strategies. But have you considered how your everyday habits might influence how you feel?
The quality of your sleep, the food you eat, how much you move, and the connections you have with other people can all play a role in your mental well-being.
This is where lifestyle medicine comes in.
The good news is that you don’t have to overhaul your life to get started. Small, sustainable changes can be a practical place to begin.
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What Is Lifestyle Medicine?
Lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based approach to health that emphasizes the role of everyday behaviours in preventing, managing, and, in some circumstances, helping to reverse chronic health conditions.
Its six pillars provide a framework for understanding how our daily habits can support both physical and mental health:
- Plant-based nutrition
- Physical activity
- Restorative sleep
- Stress management
- Connectedness
- Avoidance of risky substances
Lifestyle medicine is often combined with health coaching, to help people implement sustainable behaviour change.
Why Sustainable Behaviour Change Matters for Mental Health
When it comes to mental health, lasting change matters more than quick fixes. While making a significant lifestyle change overnight might seem appealing, habits that are difficult to maintain rarely become a permanent part of our lives.
Sustainable behaviour change focuses on making small, realistic adjustments that you can maintain over time. Rather than trying to overhaul your entire lifestyle at once, you build healthier habits gradually, allowing them to become a natural part of your daily routine.
This approach is particularly important for mental well-being. Changes such as incorporating more physical activity, improving sleep, eating a nourishing diet, and practising stress management can support mental health. However, the benefits are more likely to accumulate when these behaviours become consistent parts of your life.
Trying to change too much at once can also lead to overwhelm, frustration, and feelings of failure when you struggle to keep up. Taking a gradual approach allows you to build confidence, recognize your progress, and develop the skills needed to maintain your new habits.
It’s also important to remember that behaviour change isn’t about perfection. Life brings unexpected challenges, and there will be times when your routines fall apart. Sustainable habits are flexible enough to accommodate these changes. Instead of giving up when you have a difficult day or week, you can simply begin again.
The goal isn’t to make every day perfect. It’s to create a lifestyle that supports your mental well-being over the long term.
Start with one small change that feels manageable, build consistency, and gradually introduce other habits as you feel ready. Over time, these small steps can add up to meaningful improvements in your overall well-being.
Sustainable behaviour change is about more than willpower. Our environment, routines, social support, and individual circumstances all influence our ability to develop and maintain healthy habits.
How Lifestyle Medicine Can Support Your Mental Well-Being
The application of lifestyle medicine to mental health, is known as Lifestyle Psychiatry, which incorporates the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine into the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders.
Evidence suggests that these lifestyle interventions have a greater impact on depression, anxiety, and stress, than any other intervention.
Since your brain is a part of your body, it only makes sense that taking care of your body will also have a positive impact on your brain, and your neurochemistry.
Six Lifestyle Medicine Pillars That Can Support Mental Well-Being
1. Nutrition: Nourish Your Body and Brain
Most of us have heard of the gut-brain connection, or the gut-brain axis.
The gut-brain axis is the two-way communication network connecting your digestive system and your brain. Your digestive tract contains an extensive network of neurons (AKA brain cells) called the enteric nervous system, sometimes referred to as the “second brain,” which helps regulate digestion and communicates with the brain.
One of the main communication pathways is the vagus nerve, which carries signals between the gut and brain, helping relay information about digestive activity and influencing processes involved in mood and stress responses.
Your gut also produces approximately 90% of your body’s serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in regulating mood, sleep, and other functions. Although most gut-produced serotonin remains in the digestive system and does not cross the blood-brain barrier, it plays important roles in gut function and can influence gut-brain communication.
Together, these connections highlight how digestive health and mental well-being are closely linked.
Eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet, is the best way to bring your gut bacteria into balance, and to provide all the essential macro and micro-nutrients for overall physical health, which includes brain health. A study of over 8000 participants showed that those following a plant-based diet, showed reduced anxiety and depression, and had healthier eating habits overall.
2. Physical Activity: Move to Support Your Mood
Physical activity can help to reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety. It increases production of endorphins and endocannabinoids, which help you relax, and produce less cortisol (the stress hormone).
Physical exercise increases feelings of self-esteem and self-efficacy (how much you believe in your ability to accomplish important goals).
People who exercise regularly also tend to have bigger social networks, which helps reduce feelings of loneliness.
Exercise helps your brain to use and produce more dopamine and serotonin, which are important for creating positive emotions. It also improves brain function.
As you can see, there are multiple benefits to incorporating exercise for mental health. There are many ways you can incorporate more movement into your life – such as walking, gardening, or even dancing! Incorporating strength training twice a week is also very important for your overall wellness.
3. Restorative Sleep: Give Your Mind Time to Recover
Research shows that people who suffer from mental health disorders, have a higher incidence of sleep disturbances, and that improvements in sleep quality lead to improvements in mental health.
The standard recommendation for adults is 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
Some health conditions that can interfere with restorative sleep include:
- insomnia
- sleep apnea
- restless leg syndrome
- anxiety disorders
- chronic fatigue syndrome
A lack of good quality sleep can lead to issues such as poor focus, slower reaction time, and inability to cope with stress.
Some people try to compensate for lack of sleep with caffeine, or high-calorie, or sugar-laden foods in order to try to increase energy. These also have a negative impact on physical and mental health.
There are some simple ways to help get a better night’s sleep. This is known as ‘sleep hygiene’, and includes things such as:
- having a consistent bedtime and wake time
- keeping your bedroom dark and quiet
- avoiding screens 30 minutes before bed
- avoid caffeine and alcohol
- diffuse relaxing essential oils
For more tips on getting a better night’s sleep, explore my ‘Improve Sleep Naturally‘ article.
4. Stress Management: Build Your Capacity to Cope
Stress is the body’s natural response to a real or perceived threat. Some stress is positive – without some level of stress, we wouldn’t accomplish anything in our lives. (This is known as eustress).
But too much stress can have a negative impact on our mental and physical health. Too much stress can make people feel overwhelmed. This can lead to poor concentration, an inability to make decisions, and a lack of confidence or self-efficacy.
There are some ways you can help to manage stress:
- simplify your life
- talk to someone about your stress
- learn helpful thinking strategies
- incorporate mindfulness practices, such as yoga or meditation
- exercise
5. Social Connection: Strengthen Your Relationships
Humans are social animals, and we are biologically hard-wired to connect to one another. Even introverts need social connections. Yet nearly half of 8000 adults surveyed reported feelings of loneliness. Social isolation can lead to depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline.
Marginalized populations are at an even great risk of loneliness – such as the elderly, youth, those who are unemployed, or otherwise stigmatized.
On the flip side, having positive social connections can have an enormous positive impact on mental health.
Some ways to create positive social connections include:
- spending time with close friends and family
- joining a local club
- joining a fitness facility
- volunteering
Connectedness also includes spending time in nature, or with animals. Simply spending more time outside can increase our feelings of connectedness. Having a pet can also help someone feel less lonely.
6. Risky Substance Avoidance: Understand What You Consume
Lifestyle medicine advocates for the avoidance of risky substances.
Substances such as alcohol and tobacco can harm physical, mental, and social health. Alcohol is a depressant, so if someone is depressed turns to alcohol, it can cause even worse feelings of depression. Some people might consume alcohol because they think it reduces anxiety, but it reduces serotonin levels, which can lead to rebound anxiety (known as ‘hangxiety’.
Alcohol consumption also reduces sleep quality and causes cognitive decline, both of which have an impact on overall mental health.
Substances like caffeine can also increase anxiety, and decrease sleep quality, so it’s best to avoid caffeine as well.
Risky substance avoidance is not about blame, stigma, or moral judgment. It’s about understanding and evaluating the risks of these substances, and reducing the harm that they cause.
You Don’t Have to Change Everything at Once
For someone who is experiencing stress, low mood, or difficulties with concentration, may already feel overwhelmed by everyday responsibilities. Making changes to all 6 pillars at once could feel very overwhelming, particularly without support.
Creating small, sustainable changes is not only less overwhelming, but also more likely to become long-term habits.
Explore the 6 pillars, and try to pick out 2 or 3 habits that feel do-able right now.
For example:
- Take a short walk after lunch.
- Establish a more consistent bedtime.
- Add a serving of fruit to breakfast.
- Spend a few minutes outside each day.
- Contact a friend.
Focus on 2 or 3 small changes and try to stay consistent with them. These small changes will compound over time, and will lead to even more healthy behaviours.
Supporting Your Mental Well-Being Is About More Than Lifestyle Alone
Mental health is influenced by many factors, including biological, psychological, social, and environmental circumstances.
Lifestyle changes can support well-being, but they aren’t a substitute for professional assessment or treatment when needed.
If you are in crisis, or experiencing significant mental health challenges, please seek out professional counselling.
Coaching for Lifestyle Medicine for Mental Health
If you feel you need help implementing some of these lifestyle medicine strategies to support your mental health, I offer 1:1 coaching. You can learn more about my coaching offers here:
