From Monday 9 May to Sunday 15 May 2022, Mental Health Awareness Week aims to raise awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing and the practical steps we can take to address it. The week will explore the experience of loneliness and how we can all play a part in reducing loneliness in our communities – a major step toward a mentally healthy society.
At OneWellness Clubs, we always do our best to play our part and help the communities aim and achieve better health in their everyday lives by enabling personal change to keep you in tune with positive mental wellbeing. In this article, we’ve gathered important information on the impact of loneliness, a tool kit of solutions to helping with mental health and a unique offering from OneWellness Clubs with Mental Health Awareness Week on the horizon.
- What is loneliness?
Loneliness is a subjective feeling about the gap between a person’s desired levels and actual social contact level. It refers to the perceived quality of the person’s relationships. Loneliness is never wanted, and lessening these feelings can take a long time.
Loneliness affects millions of people in the UK every year and is a key driver of poor mental health. With loneliness comes stress, anxiety and depression, classed as neurotic mental illnesses and the most common mental illness within the UK, affecting 1 in every four people.
- Main influencing factors of loneliness
Factors to loneliness include situational variables such as physical isolation, moving to a new location, relationship breakdown and changing schools for children. In addition, the death of someone significant in a person’s life can also lead to feelings of loneliness. Working from home and not having too much communication and interaction can see many of us experiencing loneliness. The Foundation’s Mental Health in the Pandemic research has found that the Covid pandemic has exacerbated loneliness.
- How OneWellness Clubs can help to improve your mental wellbeing
Your physical, mental and emotional energy levels can change throughout each day, and we are here to work with you at whatever level you show up for your time at the Club to make you feel better when you leave.
We have a perfectly equipped gym and a relaxing, calm studio where you can safely practise movement in tune with your body and mind, bringing together experts in fitness, health & wellbeing to help you stay fit and well for life.
We have built a fantastic community with our members and invite everyone to our annual Festival of Wellbeing to be a part of our environment. We support your lifestyle goals from the first day we meet you.
Solutions to help you cope with loneliness
Take it slow
If you’ve felt lonely for a long time, even if you already know lots of people, it can be terrifying to think about trying to meet new people or opening up to people for the first time. But you don’t need to rush into anything.
Peer support
There are many different types of peer support services, which provide people with a space to use their own experiences to help and support each other, including experiences of loneliness and related mental health problems. If you don’t feel comfortable opening up to the people you know, you could try speaking with a therapist.
Make new connections
If you feel lonely because of a lack of satisfying social contact in your life, you could try to meet more or different people. Try to join a class or group based on your hobbies or interests. This could include online groups if you can’t attend things in person. Try your favourite FREE Class at OneWellness Clubs.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a good way of meeting people, and helping others can also help improve your mental health. It is also a good idea to check that you will receive adequate support from the organisation you are volunteering at.
Talking therapies
Talking therapies allow you to explore and understand your feelings of loneliness and can help you develop positive ways of dealing with them. For example, therapy can provide a space for you to discuss the emotional problems that make it hard to form satisfying relationships.
Look after yourself
Think about how some of the following are affecting how you feel and whether you can do anything to change them:
· Try to get enough sleep. Getting too little or too much sleep can have a big impact on how you feel.
· Think about your diet. Eating regularly and keeping your blood sugar stable can make a difference in your mood and energy levels.
· Try to do some physical activity. Exercise can be really helpful for your mental wellbeing, and some people find it helps improve their self-esteem.
· Get outside. Spending time in green spaces can help your wellbeing.
· Spend time with animals. Some people find spending time around animals can help with feelings of loneliness. You could try visiting a local community or city farm – the organisation Social Farms and Gardens has a list of outdoor community projects across the UK, many of which have animals available to the public.
· Avoid drugs and alcohol. While you might want to use drugs and alcohol to cope with difficult feelings about yourself, in the long run they can make you feel worse and can prevent you from dealing with underlying problems.
· Be careful when comparing yourself to others. It’s easy to compare ourselves to others and at times, we all do it, but it can help to be aware that things are not always what they seem from the outside.
For example, on social media, we often only see what other people want to share about their lives, which can make us feel like we are the only ones feeling lonely. It’s important to remind yourself that you don’t know how other people think or feel when alone or when their social media feeds are turned off.
As a part of Mental Health Awareness Week, OneWellness Clubs offer a reduction in two of our services for one week only. Our accredited Mental Health Awareness Course and Introduction to Mental Health webinar are designed to improve your workplace culture when it comes to the subject and provide an awareness so you can support those around you. More information and to book your course or webinar can be found here https://corporate.onewellnessonline.co.uk/services/wellbeing-services/
Feeling lonely can be very stressful and can significantly impact your general wellbeing, making it even harder to make positive steps to feeling better.
We hope all the above will help you prevent feeling lonely and help you try, introduce and follow positive wellbeing habits when you need support or in your day to day life.