We all have habits that we perform without even realizing it. While most of these patterns are harmless, others can have negative impacts on your mental health.
Recognizing potentially harmful habits is the first step to feeling your best. Once you identify these practices, you can work on breaking them to experience greater clarity and peace of mind.
How Do Bad Habits Affect Your Mental Health?
While a small habit may seem harmless in the moment, you may experience negative consequences over time. Bad habits can increase stress, depression and anxiety. They can cause you to feel overwhelming shame or guilt, contributing to negative self-perception. Their impacts can take a serious toll on your mental health and quality of life, so identifying and making changes to combat these habits is essential for your health, happiness and overall well-being.
6 Bad Mental Health Habits
Everyone has a few bad habits — and that does not make you a bad person. It simply means you have an opportunity to improve your life and feel better.
Explore some of the worst habits for mental health below.
1. Procrastination
Procrastination typically starts as a means to cope with feelings of overwhelm or a fear of failing. We may convince ourselves the tight deadline is part of the thrill, but in reality, this leads to higher anxiety, affecting the quality of our work. Constantly engaging in procrastination can leave you feeling guilty and behind, which can make your mental health worse.
It’s best to start with the root cause to help you break the procrastination cycle. Once you understand why you are procrastinating, you can develop strategies to overcome it and stay on track with your tasks.
2. Excessive Screen Time
In today’s digital world, finding yourself endlessly scrolling is easy. However, spending excessive time on screens can affect your mental well-being. For example, large amounts of screen time can contribute to issues like depression, loneliness and a feeling of disconnection from real life.
The most effective way to end the bad habit of scrolling is to set boundaries and establish healthy screen habits. This can involve screen-free times throughout the day, like taking a walk, reading a book or spending time with a pet or loved one.
By reducing your screen time, you may also see improvements in focus and productivity, which allows you to connect more deeply with the world surrounding you.
3. Sedentary Lifestyles
Spending too much time sitting can impact multiple aspects of your body, including your mental health. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which can make you feel happy and calm. If you choose to sit instead of engaging in movement, you miss a chance to experience these chemicals, which can worsen feelings of depression and anxiety.
Breaking free from a sedentary lifestyle can be as easy as walking briskly for 30 minutes daily. Choosing an exercise you enjoy to break your habit can give you greater confidence, distract your mind from other worries and help you cope with stressful events in a healthy way.
4. Poor Posture
Poor posture is one of the more surprising habits that cause anxiety. Sitting hunched over can make it more difficult for your lungs to achieve their capacity and limits circulation, making it harder for your brain to perform proper cognitive functions, like decision-making. By practicing proper posture, you can improve blood flow to the brain, which can support enhanced focus and concentration.
How you hold your body can also affect your emotions. An upright posture helps you feel more positive, while hunching makes you more susceptible to negative feelings.
Practice standing tall and sitting up straight with your shoulders back. Implementing a yoga practice is a great way to improve your posture and combat slouching.
5. Dwelling On the Past
We all have moments we wish we could go back and change. However, constantly replaying these moments or holding onto regret can negatively impact our mental health.
When we focus on the past, we rob ourselves of the chance to live in the present. It can also keep us stuck in a negative cycle that prevents us from moving forward and embracing new experiences.
One way to remain in the present is to practice grounding techniques like a body scan or deep breathing. You can challenge negative thoughts and beliefs by focusing on what you learned instead of what you want to do differently.
6. Negative Self-Talk
When we constantly engage in negative self-talk, we reinforce ideas that can contribute to feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt. Negative self-talk typically begins as a means to cope with past experiences, comparisons or fears of judgment.
One of the most effective ways to mitigate negative self-talk is to ask if you’d talk to a close friend the same way you’re speaking to yourself — often, the answer is absolutely not.
Another way to challenge these destructive thoughts is to start with self-awareness. Questioning the validity of your thoughts can make it easier to replace them with positive affirmations and a more realistic perspective.
You can also combat the habit by surrounding yourself with supportive people who can provide a healthier perspective on you and your abilities.
How to Break Free From Bad Habits
The first step in breaking free from bad habits is being aware of them and understanding their impact on your mental health. Take time to reflect on how these patterns may affect your behavior and the ways your life could improve without them.
Once you identify your habits, make a plan for change. Start by setting specific, achievable goals for yourself — these can be as small as reducing screen time by 30 minutes a week or going for a 10-minute walk after work.
If you feel comfortable, you can share your plan with friends, family or a professional to keep you accountable and feeling encouraged.
Regardless of which bad habit you find yourself performing, it’s important to understand that you won’t turn it into a good habit overnight. The best way to overcome them is to approach them with determination and consistency.
Working with an experienced therapist is an excellent and effective way to establish healthier habits and improve your daily life.
Prioritize Your Mental Health With Taylor Counseling Group
Prioritizing mental health is a lifelong process that, like anything, has its ups and downs. If you notice you’ve developed bad habits that cause depression and are impacting your overall happiness and success, it may be time to reach out to an expert. The team at Taylor Counseling Group is here to help.
Our licensed therapists are happy to learn more about your habits and how they make you feel. We’ll help you make positive, lasting changes to improve your well-being.
Schedule an appointment at one of our central Texas locations to get in touch with one of our trusted therapists today.
