What can we do to improve our mental health?

What can we do to improve our mental health? I am very excited after watching this TED talk by Dr Kelly Lambert. In it she describes how she was troubled by the ever-increasing depression rates, and wanted to discover what was causing this.

 Antidepressants don’t work for some people, including myself. When scientists tried to mimic natural chemicals in the brain and produce a pill to recreate the same conditions, they found it just wasn’t that easy.

Our brains seem to have evolved primarily to move our bodies around. A huge percentage of our neurons are involved in movement, and the area of the brain responsible for control of our hands is disproportionately large.

As Dr Lambert says “It seems like Nature is telling us that movement is incredibly important, and movement of our hands is also very important”. So, it might make sense that our brains would be negatively affected if we made the decision to be less active. Think about how sedentary our lives have become over the last couple of generations. Maybe this is the reason for the corresponding rise in depression rates.

I always feel good when I have done some physical work in the garden. It was my favourite hobby during the first lockdown after the Covid19 pandemic hit the UK last spring. I had never been a gardener before, and I was surprised by how much I loved it. Maybe working with our hands is what has been missing in our lives for so long in this modern, fast-paced society. Technology has removed most of the manual jobs that our grandparents performed.

Charles Darwin used to walk round his garden and knock stones off his gate to calm his nerves. He realised that behaviour regulated his emotions, so he prescribed these actions for himself to manage his mental health.

We can do the same, and can change our brain chemistry by changing our behaviour. This is an interesting strategy, because it doesn’t leave us dependent on antidepressant drugs. In Dr Lambert’s words “we can change our neurochemistry strategically by engaging in smart behaviours that will change it in more healthy ways”.

A century ago, doctors used to prescribe knitting for anxious patients, because the repetitive action calmed their nerves. We know now that serotonin is increased during repetitive behaviour. The anticipation of making something leads to increased dopamine levels, and having something to concentrate on reduces our stress hormones, including cortisol. If we share the hobby with friends, it increases oxytocin levels too. Any hobby that involves working with your hands would work just as well, as long as we can see our physical effort leading to a reward.

The area of the brain involved in reward is the area most impacted in depression, which makes sense. If we engage in behaviours where we can see the result of our effort, we are consolidating those connections in the brain through neuroplasticity. This is the same way that mindfulness leads to physical changes in the brain.

Dr Lambert trains rats to search for food by hiding it in their environment. The rats that had to search for their food are more likely to explore a new environment, showing effective coping strategies. Their brains show more neuroplasticity, with more complex connections in the brain.

In a similar way, our current therapeutic approach to depression is designed to increase neuroplasticity, either directly or indirectly.

Dr Lambert has also explored whether giving rats a more enriched environment that is natural, rather than manufactured, has any effect. Having the natural environment seems to make them more emotionally resilient, and less stressed, which in humans is important for mental health. Interestingly, when rats are in the natural enriched environment, they also do more things together by working cooperatively, which will increase oxytocin levels.

A Danish study followed a million people who grew up in an area surrounded by green areas, plants and trees, and found they were 55% less likely to suffer from depression, which I find both amazing and inspirational.

We need to remember, in our modern technology-filled world, the lessons that the evolution of the brain can offer us. We should always aim to have a life filled with effort-based rewards, and if we can link it to nature then the rewards will be even more powerful in improving our mental health.

Dr Lambert actually managed to show that she could teach rats in the natural enriched environments to drive, whereas rats in a standard environment were unable to learn this new skill.

I think this gives us some interesting food for thought about how we might adapt our own environments, in order to improve our own mental health.

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 309 days to go!

Why not check in on a regular basis to see how I am progressing, and what I have discovered?