Atomic Habits for Mental Health

Summary

In the insightful video by 'Therapy in a Nutshell,' mental health is discussed through the lens of creating atomic habits. The creator emphasizes that mental health issues like depression and anxiety aren't permanent fixtures but rather can be influenced and improved with small, incremental changes. By implementing tiny yet impactful habits, like daily exercise or gratitude practices, individuals can gradually alter their mental well-being. The video deconstructs the myth of needing monumental changes for improvement and instead encourages the adoption of simpler, more sustainable habits that snowball into significant positive results over time. These habits empower individuals, increase energy, and improve resilience, steering them toward a healthier mental state.

Highlights

• Small changes, like daily exercise, can dramatically improve anxiety and depression. 🏋️
• Research supports that mental health can be influenced positively through lifestyle changes. 📊
• Building tiny, sustainable habits can lead to increased energy and improved resilience. 🌱
• Instead of big changes, focus on one percent improvements to compound over time. 📈
• Energy gains from small changes can inspire further actions, creating a positive feedback loop. 🔄
• Create systems that simplify the incorporation of new, healthy habits. 🛠️

Key Takeaways

• Mental health is not a fixed state; it can improve with small changes. 🌟
• Tiny incremental improvements lead to substantial mental health benefits. 🧠
• Daily aerobic exercise can significantly reduce depression symptoms. 🚴‍♂️
• Incorporating gratitude into daily routines boosts mental wellness. 🙏
• Motivation wanes with big changes; small, manageable habits last longer. 💪
• Diverse methods like light therapy or setting personal boundaries are effective. 💡
• Tracking habits with tools like habit trackers can facilitate consistency. 📊

Overview

The video by 'Therapy in a Nutshell' offers fresh perspectives on mental health, focusing on the transformative power of small, incremental changes—also called atomic habits. Contrary to the belief that conditions like depression and anxiety are permanent, the creator illustrates how these can be managed and improved. By adopting minor yet pivotal lifestyle adjustments amidst daily routines, individuals can make meaningful progress toward mental wellness.

One of the most enlightening points made is how daily habits, no matter how small, add up significantly over time. Exercise, proper diet, regular sleep patterns, and even setting personal time boundaries contribute to mental health improvement. The video references scientific studies demonstrating that these manageable lifestyle tweaks can drastically reduce symptoms of mental health disorders, emphasizing the value in systematically introducing them.

The video encourages its audience to embrace smaller changes and to utilize habit trackers to maintain consistency. This approach not only makes mental health management feasible for more people but also provides a sense of empowerment. With patience and persistence, these small shifts accumulate and create an impactful difference, turning daunting mental health challenges into manageable, rewarding journeys.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Understanding Mental Health as a Spectrum This chapter challenges the traditional binary view of mental health and introduces the concept of mental health as a spectrum. It explains that many people believe mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety are fixed traits, leading to a focus on coping. However, the narrator suggests a different perspective, viewing these conditions on a scale that can vary in severity, emphasizing that when symptoms are less severe, they may not interfere significantly with daily life.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Factors Influencing Mental Health This chapter titled 'Factors Influencing Mental Health' explores the various elements that can impact mental health positively. It emphasizes the notion that mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, can be addressed effectively, thereby providing individuals with the power to change their lives. The chapter stresses the influence individuals can have on their mental health and highlights research findings that show significant benefits from daily aerobic exercise, which can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety for over 75% of people. Additionally, the chapter mentions that adopting a healthier diet can reduce the risk of depression by up to 35%.
• 02:00 - 04:30: Challenges in Implementing Big Changes The chapter 'Challenges in Implementing Big Changes' discusses how various methods such as therapy, treating insomnia, using therapy lights, or practicing meditation can be beneficial in resolving mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Statistics show significant improvement when these methods are applied, with 87% of individuals seeing their depression symptoms completely resolve upon treating their insomnia. However, the chapter highlights the difficulty in adopting these changes, especially when individuals are already grappling with anxiety, making the implementation of these beneficial practices a challenging endeavor.
• 04:30 - 06:00: The Power of Tiny Changes The chapter discusses the common tendency to attempt significant lifestyle changes when feeling overwhelmed or motivated to improve one’s situation. It highlights examples such as running a marathon, joining early morning exercise sessions, or starting a new diet. However, it argues that relying on willpower alone is not effective for sustaining these big changes long-term, as they can become exhausting and overwhelming, leading to discouragement.
• 06:00 - 09:30: Principles for Creating Tiny Habits The chapter discusses why making huge changes often fails. It highlights that relying solely on willpower to sustain big habits doesn't work in the long run because it leads to exhaustion and discouragement when one quits. Instead, the chapter suggests having multiple strategies and options to improve mental health rather than depending on drastic changes alone.
• 09:30 - 14:00: Ideas for Tiny Changes The chapter titled 'Ideas for Tiny Changes' discusses powerful and small strategies that provide rewards for implementation. These strategies are designed to simplify life rather than complicate it, thereby promoting a cycle of positive energy and habit formation. As they become habitual, they not only conserve energy but also gradually boost one's energy and resilience. The chapter aims to impart knowledge about this transformative cycle of energy management and resilience building through incremental and habitual changes.

Atomic Habits for Mental Health Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 There's two ways to think about mental health. And  I think a lot of people don't realize that they're   stuck in the first one. Most people believe that  you either have depression or you don't, that if   you get diagnosed with depression or anxiety it's  like a permanent trait that you have and that   all you can do is learn to cope with it. Now, I  don't think about depression or anxiety that way.   I think of it on a scale. When your symptoms are  severe they interfere with your life in a big way,   and when your symptoms are mild or when your  symptoms go away it doesn't interfere with your
• 00:30 - 01:00 life anymore. Depression and anxiety disorders can  actually be resolved when we chip away at them.   And thinking about them this way gives us agency.  It gives us power to change our own lives. Now,   research shows that we can absolutely influence  our mental health in huge ways. So for example,   daily aerobic exercise can decrease depression  and anxiety symptoms for over 75% of people.   Eating a healthier diet can decrease your risk of  depression by up to 35%. Changing how you think,
• 01:00 - 01:30 like going to therapy, helps 60 to 80% of people.  One study showed that for people with depression,   when they treated their insomnia, 87% of them  saw their depression symptoms completely resolve.   Using a therapy light or practicing meditation  can be more effective than medication at treating   depression and anxiety. But the problem  is that all of these changes are hard,   and they can feel super overwhelming  when you're drowning in anxiety or
• 01:30 - 02:00 overwhelmed by depression. And then  often when we get really motivated to improve our lives, we try some huge change. We make some plan to run a marathon, or we sign  up for 5 a.m. CrossFit sessions at the gym,   or we start some new diet. And while you can  willpower yourself to make these changes for   a little while, willpower usually just doesn't  work as a long-term strategy. Then the bigger   changes you want to make, the more exhausting  and overwhelming they are, which disincentivizes
• 02:00 - 02:30 you from continuing them. It gets harder  and harder to do them instead of easier.   So while you can willpower your way to doing them  for a while, the most likely outcome is that you   get exhausted and you quit and then you're more  discouraged than when you start. So making these   huge changes rarely works. Sometimes it does,  but it just can't be your only strategy. Now,   I love to give people tons of options to improve  their mental health, but I know that this can be
• 02:30 - 03:00 overwhelming. So in this video let's talk about  tiny yet powerful strategies that actually reward   you for doing them. They make your life easier  instead of harder, and then you get feeling   better and you get more energy and they become  easier to do because they're habitual. And then   with that extra energy you can add another on.  And instead of feeling more and more tired,   you actually feel more and more energetic and  resilient. Okay. So in this video you'll learn
• 03:00 - 03:30 about tiny changes that take a few minutes a  day to build atomic habits for mental health. [Music] Okay.   Small changes are better than big changes.  James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits - which is a great book, by the way - he tells the story  of the British cycling team. They were one of the   worst teams. Despite having lots of resources,  they lost miserably. But then they got a new
• 03:30 - 04:00 coach. And he didn't change the team by telling  them to just try harder or work harder or exercise   longer. He just looked for tiny, incremental  changes that they could improve one percent at   a time. So they changed tiny little things like  painting the inside of their vans so that they   could keep their bikes cleaner, and they improved  their uniforms so that they were more comfortable,   and they tracked sleep so that they could sleep  better. And they went from being one of the most
• 04:00 - 04:30 underperforming teams to winning the most gold  medals at the 2008 Olympics and then repeatedly   winning the Tour de France. Now, in Atomic Habits,  James Clear teaches how a one percent change every   day makes you 37 times better by the end of the  year. But most people fail to change because   they try to make some gigantic Improvement, which  lasts for a little while, but then they run out   of motivation because the change takes so much  energy. So when you want to improve your mental
• 04:30 - 05:00 health, I do not want you to make some huge,  monumental change all at once. I emphatically   tell my clients to not do that. You'll be  much more likely to create real, sustainable   change by choosing teeny tiny habits that make  your life easier over time instead of harder.   So when you let these changes add up over time,  they snowball. So for example, let's say you
• 05:00 - 05:30 start to take vitamins in January and it helps you  have just like one percent more energy each day.   And then in February you can use that energy to  add in one small change. Like maybe you set a   healthy boundary at work, like not answering  your emails after 5 p.m. And then that helps   you feel less overwhelmed, so that gives you one  percent more energy. And then in March you add in   a 10-minute walk to your day, and getting in some  exercise improves your sleep, which makes you a
• 05:30 - 06:00 little bit less tired each day, which gives you  one percent more change in April. Each of these   tiny changes helps you have more energy, be  a tiny bit healthier, and actually makes your   life easier instead of harder. And these positive  changes snowball over time and can really help you   get out of the rut of depression. So at this  point in May you've got five percent change,   which is 72 minutes more energy than you had in  January. And with those 72 extra minutes of energy
• 06:00 - 06:30 you might be able to make a few more tiny changes.  Tiny changes are way more effective than that diet   that you dropped by the beginning of February,  which just made you feel worse about yourself   instead of better. Okay. Now, I have an entire  course about how to use tiny changes to improve   your mental health. It's called Change Your Brain:  10 Essential Mind-Body Skills for Mental Health.   And I go into a lot more detail in that course on  how to create changes that are super impactful but   also long-lasting. That that course is way more  in-depth. But in this video I'll give you about
• 06:30 - 07:00 30 ideas that you could use for your first  one percent change. But as I make this list   it's really important that we talk about three  principles. So first, pick the low-hanging fruit.   Start with one change that takes the least amount  of effort or is the most enjoyable for you. So if   you love to exercise, add that to your routine  first. If you hate to exercise, maybe start with   light therapy, right, because it's easier for  you. Or if you love people, schedule in some   friend time. If being with people is exhausting  for you, maybe start with a change to your diet.
• 07:00 - 07:30 The principle here is start with the simplest,  easiest changes first because these can give you   more energy and motivation to make other changes  in the future. And only make one change at a time,   and work on that change until it becomes easier  and easier to do. So I like a month as the initial   time period. Okay. Number two: create a system to  make this new action easier over time instead of
• 07:30 - 08:00 harder. So for example, taking your medication  every day can help improve mental health,   and a system to make this easier is something  like buying a pill box so that you know when   you've taken it already or putting that pillbox  on your breakfast table so that you remember to   take it with breakfast every day. A system makes  it so that you don't have to remember it and think   about it each day. Okay. And then third, I say use  a habit tracker and set a 30-day goal for a tiny   change you want to make. And just give yourself  a check mark for every day that you do this tiny
• 08:00 - 08:30 change. Now, Jerry Seinfeld had a habit of writing  one joke every day. But the way he tracked it was   by putting up a big calendar and putting a big red  check mark for the days he wrote the joke. Now,   use his method. That's awesome. Again, I learned  about it from Atomic Habits. It's a great book   too. Read that book. You could also download my  free Habit Builder. Or I like the app, the free   app Habit to track your progress. Okay. So that  being said, you know the principles behind this,
• 08:30 - 09:00 I'm just going to throw out a bunch of ideas of  tiny changes that can improve your mental health.   So light therapy. Really effective. A lot of  research shows it's as effective as antidepressant   medication. So you could buy a light box and do 10  minutes a day of light therapy while you do your   morning routine. Or if you can't do that, you  could just open your curtains in the morning or   sit outside in the sunlight every day for 10  minutes. Another one: consider supplementing   with a multivitamin or a multi-mineral. So this  supplement is a well-researched option. It's not
• 09:00 - 09:30 a sponsor. But there's a lot of research behind  it that shows it helps some people. Right? You   could try to add a fermented food to your diet  or consider a probiotic supplement. You can do   any kind of movement outside. Add one vegetable  to your meal. So for example, buy pre-packaged   vegetables and put them at your desk every day.  Daily gratitude practice. You could make a system   of this by asking a friend to do it with you or  you could use a journal or you could use an app.
• 09:30 - 10:00 Express appreciation. Tell your significant other  or your child something you appreciate about them   every day. It will change how you feel about them,  and it might even invite them to improve too. Or   you could express appreciation to your boss or a  cashier or a wait staff every day. Another small   change that can make a difference is to watch  less news and use that time instead of watching   news to do some good in the world instead. You  could also just switch your accounts to follow
• 10:00 - 10:30 uplifting accounts like Good News or Upworthy.  Like, so make your social media a positive place,   and just unfollow any accounts that bring a lot of  negativity to your life. And, you know, so setting   up your your Instagram to follow more uplifting  people probably only takes a few minutes every   day. Okay. Another thing that can make huge change  from a tiny change is improving your sleep. Now,   this might feel impossible, but there are a  lot of tiny things you can do that really add   up. You could try to wake up at the same time  every morning for one week. You could decrease
• 10:30 - 11:00 your caffeine usage. You could use your bed only  for sleeping. Or you could set an automatic Do   Not Disturb mode on your phone for nighttime.  Little things like that can add up over time.   Practicing mindfulness: really beneficial for  mental health but feels overwhelming sometimes.   Um just try practicing slowing down your breathing  when you're in your car and noticing your   breathing in your car. Or when you're driving,  you just drive without listening to anything
• 11:00 - 11:30 um and and let your thoughts wander for a  little bit. Or you could practice mindfulness   in the bathroom. Right? So instead of staring  at your phone while you're on the toilet,   just take a deep breath, slow things down. Right?   Um another thing you could do that can improve  mental health is to set limits on your screen   time, or you could, you know, choose to keep a  book next to your bed instead of your phone at   night. You could try the brain-dump activity.  You could do a one-minute meditation each day.
• 11:30 - 12:00 Just Google it. There are hundreds of one-minute  meditations. Uh during your breaks from work you   could try going for a walk or stretching instead  of looking at your phone. Uh you could set a daily   goal for how many steps you'll get to encourage  you to walk a little bit more each day. Uh you   could practice a self-regulation technique once  per day. So this is things like deep breathing,   uh the yawn, or tapping. And again, these only  take a minute or two every day. Okay. Um nature
• 12:00 - 12:30 decreases cortisol. Nature decreases the stress  response. So for those of us who live in big   cities or can't get out in nature very often, you  can do really tiny changes like getting a plant   for your home. You could put nature photos on your  computer or in your house or on your screen saver   or on your TV in the background. Or you could  just follow nature photographers on social media.   Okay. Connection and relationships are one of the  biggest indicators of happiness and healthiness.
• 12:30 - 13:00 So you could just try to deepen the relationships  you already have. These small little actions   really do add up over time. So you could send a  text message. You could plan a lunch date. You   could call someone up to ask how they're doing.  You could make a reminder to call someone you   care about. Um so those are a few ways that you  could just improve your connections. Okay. Um
• 13:00 - 13:30 there's a few other things you can do. And I call  this, like, setting tiny rules for yourself. And   if you set these rules and you work on them, just  tiny increments for a month, your mental health   will improve. So one of them is, like, setting a  rule like I'm not allowed to call myself names.   Um I'm not allowed to use words like "always" or  "never." So you replace black-and-white thinking   with grey thinking. Um you catch yourself  when you're using catastrophizing language,   and you replace it with a courageous statement or,  like, use a growth mindset. So instead of saying,
• 13:30 - 14:00 oh, you know, you replace the word "failure" with  "not yet," as in, "Oh, I haven't figured out how   to do math yet" or "I haven't figured out how to  be a good listener yet." Right? So I hope, like,   these are a ton of little examples, and again,  don't do all of them. Only pick just one that you   want to work on. But I I hope that this list gives  you a ton of ideas that you could use to improve   your mental health. And again, don't try to do  all of these; just pick the low-hanging fruit   and start to implement one until it seems easy to  do, and then pick the next one to work on. I hope
• 14:00 - 14:30 you found this video helpful. Let's get better at  feeling. Thank you for watching, and take care. [Music]