Week 4 is MENTAL HEALTH WEEK, and we are excited to provide a whole week of fun activities during FIRST BREAK.

Monday: Sausage sizzle at Student Support Services

Tuesday: SLAM Poetry at Student Support Services

Wednesday: Gem Garden

Thursday: Student Support Services

Friday: Kakadu Koncert!

Our focus during the activities will be the THREE BIG PROTECTORS of our mental (and physical) wellbeing: SLEEP, DIET, and EXERCISE!

How is your sleep hygiene?

For adolescents, research suggests at least 9 hours of sleep, with no artificial (blue) light for at least an hour before bed. This helps the body maintain its natural circadian rhythm and wake feeling refreshed and ready for the day (National Sleep Foundation, 2020).

Good sleep hygiene means having a bedroom free from electronic devices or any artificial light sources. A cool environment, perhaps with a cup of water by your side, but nothing else. Reading a book with a normal lamp for 30 minutes or writing a journal is a good way to wind down from a busy day and drift off to dreamland (Walker, 2017).

Diet – Start Small, Don’t Overhaul!

A diet is what we use to fuel our bodies, and it's okay to have cheat days. At dinner time, aim for one serve of fish each week (omega-3 and omega-6) to aid brain development, a serve of veggies, and a piece of fruit in the lunchbox each day. Fill your reusable water bottle and try to avoid excessive intake of stimulants towards the end of the day to aid sleep onset (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2021).

Your gut is your second brain (enteric plexus) where all the feel-good hormone serotonin is manufactured. When your gut biome is healthy and loaded with good bacteria, it tells your brain to feel good! So, look after your gut, and your gut will help you get through the day in a positive way (Mayer, 2016).

Exercise – Start with a Walk Once a Week…

Research suggests that to optimize cognitive performance, we should aim for around 40 minutes of moderate exercise each day. Exercise releases chemicals (mitokines) that can be hard for most and even harder to maintain. So again, just like changes to diet or sleep-related behaviours, the message is to start small. If you are not currently doing any exercise, try a 20-minute walk, one day a week (Zhang et al., 2024).

If you can maintain the weekly walk for a month, add another walk or some morning stretches, crunches, push-ups, or lunges. If you can maintain that for a second month, you are ready to include one or two moderate training sessions, either at home using a yoga mat and your body weight. Start with 10 crunches, 10 push-ups, and 10 lunges and see how you feel the next day. You can increase the numbers as you wish. Maintain this regime for another (third) month, and you have come a quarter of the way through a year!

Finally, measure yourself against you, not the influencers on social media or the bodybuilders at the gym. Likely, they have been at it a lot longer, and what you see are the results of years (or even decades) of training. So just like diet, start small, and be kind to yourself if you miss a session. We don’t fail, just falter.

Good Luck!

Darren Tucker – Guidance Officer

References

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2021). The Nutrition Source: Healthy Eating Plate. Retrieved from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/

Mayer, E. A. (2016). The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health. Harper Wave.

National Sleep Foundation. (2020). Sleep in Adolescents. Retrieved from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep

Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner.

Zhang, B., Chang, J. Y., Lee, M. H., Ju, S. H., Yi, H. S., & Shong, M. (2024). Mitochondrial Stress and Mitokines: Therapeutic Perspectives for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases. Diabetes Metab J, 48(1), 1-18. doi: 10.4093/dmj.2023.0115.