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How everyday activities can allow our brains to be flexible and adaptive across the lifespan Often, people report that their cognitive...

I’ve been writing personal essays ever since I first entered the world of journalism. Personal essays are pieces I enjoy writing, because I lose myself in the words. Throughout my career in journalism, I’ve focused on topics including mental health, sex and relationships, body image, and parenting. I’ve written features and reported on different subjects, but personal essays are something that I focus my work on, because it feels like telling a story. In all honesty, sometime

13 Self-care Tips to Help You Achieve Good Mental Health Mental health has been an increasingly pressing problem in recent years....

Ever wondered why you suddenly feel so calm whenever you are in nature? Be it at the park when you are having your Sunday picnic, by a waterfall, hiking or even after a camping trip? Well, that’s the healing power of nature. Whether you are consciously aware of it or not, nature has a way of relaxing and dare I say even healing you. Turns out there’s a name for this kind of healing and it’s called Nature therapy or Ecotherapy. The website WebMD describes nature therapy as “th

It’s 2021, and finally, people are loving their bodies, exploring being body positive, and sharing that self-love advice with other people. I have to admit, as a plus-sized woman, it makes me feel better. It makes me feel like it’s okay to be totally and authentically me, and I love seeing other people showering themselves in self-love. But, is it okay not to feel positive about your body all of the time? Does that make me a fraud? Sometimes, I ask myself this question. I liv

I have been a journalist since I was 17 years old. I’m nearly 26. So, that’s a long time for someone who’s still young. It started with writing for free for a well-known music magazine, and after blogging about my experience with inflammatory bowel disease through my own platform, I landed a job at Metro.co.uk. Metro.co.uk was my home for five years, I worked with some wonderful editors and met many talented writers who have gone on to do incredible things. I am so lucky that

I’m tired of people telling me to get therapy. There, I said it. This might sound odd. Surely, people are trying to help, right? They’re trying to be thoughtful. They’re noticing that something’s up and that you need support (as long as it isn’t said in a spiteful way, of course). But it’s not that simple. Because therapy isn’t accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, especially during the time of Covid-19, therapy is harder than ever to get. I’ve been on a waiting list for psy

Giving away everything in search of something more I tossed my backpack into the back and climbed into the passenger seat. It was a...

The Proof is in the Pudding: How Western diets increase our risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease The food we eat can...

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Coach App: Relief comes at your fingertips In early 2020, at age 38, I was diagnosed with Borderline...

When I’m not playing video games, I am a research assistant on the eBRAIN study, researching adolescent brain development and mental...

Bans Off Our Bodies: A Californian’s perspective on abortion rights Trigger warning: The following blog contains discussions about...

Those of you who have read my previous two blogs for Inspire the Mind, first on “Glass Delusion” and then on the physician Francis...

“It doesn’t matter, we all know what we’re getting at”, I see strangers say online as they discuss the difference between mental health and mental ill health, and the way we speak about it on social media. I see people say that discussing mental health terms correctly isn’t an issue, because it’s all one and the same — but it’s not. Language around mental illness matters. It matters because mental health and mental ill health are not the same thing. We all have mental health,

I am a big “smiler”. I smile at strangers in the street. I smile when entering a shop. I smile every time I make eye contact, no matter...

I was diagnosed with postnatal depression six months after having a baby. It took this long because I didn’t open up about it until this point; during a chance phone call with my health visitor when everything came spilling out all at once. I had been suffering in silence for every month before that point, feeling low, like a failure of a mother, and scared that if I told anyone, my baby would be taken away from me. A year on from giving birth, and six months on from first op

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the nature in which we have been interacting with our friends and reaching out for support. As the...

When I first started writing about my experience with mental illness, the world of mental health in media felt quiet. Of course, there were people writing about mental health issues — but there was nothing I could quite relate to. Writing has always been therapeutic for me. I treat it like a diary. In some instances, this is great — it allows me to write authentically and realistically. In other cases, it’s not so great, because it means that I’m vulnerable. Not just to other

In two weeks, my baby goes to daycare for the first time. He’s already one, and in his little life so far he has only met one other baby — once. I remember the first time he laid eyes on another child his age. It was like he’d had a lightbulb moment, realising that he wasn’t the only baby in the world. He looked so happy; smiling away and even trying to stroke the other boy like he would our cats. But it was also heartbreaking. Though I was made up for my baby, I couldn’t hel

Intrusive thoughts are a normal part of life. Unfortunately, everyone has them. Maybe you’ve been standing on a train platform and had a mental urge to jump onto the railway. The thing is with intrusive thoughts, that most people tend to shrug them off as just that — thoughts. However, people with obsessive compulsive disorder will likely ruminate on them. They’ll question what these thoughts mean and whether they have any purpose. The most likely answer is of course no — but

When I was growing up, I was brought up to understand, and to be understanding of mental health issues. My mum has bipolar disorder, and so I was always taught about it by her. I watched her experience episodes of depression and mania, which helped me to learn more about it, and to be empathetic, compassionate and supportive. I have an amazing relationship with my mother. We are best friends (though we argue like worst enemies occasionally), and so when I was later diagnosed

Yesterday, I shared a tweet talking about how I add things to my to-do list having already done them, just for the satisfaction of being able to cross it off. And it seems I’m not alone in doing this, as more than 3,000 people liked the tweet, and many commented to say they do exactly the same thing — with some branding it a form of self-care. me: *writes to-do list* also me: *adds something i’ve already done just for the satisfaction of crossing it off* — hattie gladwell (@

I’ve been a mental health writer for nearly eight years now. It’s something I enjoy writing about, and it’s something I know how to write about, because I have been diagnosed with several mental health conditions. But it’s not easy. Writing about mental health means opening up to the world and making yourself vulnerable. It means potentially sharing things that are quite personal to you, and worrying years later about who’s read it. Writing about your mental health means trus

It goes without saying, this pandemic has been hard on us all. Not being able to be with the people you love is tough and it’s not...