Anxiety / Stress (Unsplash)
If you want to improve your mental health, try daily affirmations. Just 20 seconds a day of positive thoughts about yourself can greatly improve your mental situation, this is according to a study from the University of California Berkeley. This is also known as micropractices.
Al Franken once had a recurring bit that he did on Saturday Night Live back in the 1990s. He played Stuart Smalley, a motivational speaker who had a short program. In the sketches Stuart Smalley would get people to make a daily affirmation saying to themselves, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
Al Franken did this for laughs more than 30 years ago. But now we have reason to believe that this is not just a joke, it is a truth. Micropractices are about making gradual, incremental progress. They’re not meant to be a complete overhaul of your lifestyle. There are micropractices for various aspects of well-being, including mindfulness, stress reduction, focus, and emotional regulation.
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Micropractices are small, easy-to-implement actions that can contribute to your overall well-being. They typically take just a few seconds to a few minutes to complete, making them ideal for incorporating into your busy life.
Micropractices are fantastic tools for supporting your mental health. These tiny actions can be easily integrated into your day and have a cumulative effect on reducing stress, boosting mood, and improving overall well-being.
The study from the University of California Berkley was of 135 students split into different groups. One said a daily affirmation every day for a month.
“This practice involved placing your hands over your heart and belly while thinking kind thoughts to yourself,” study co-author Eli Susman, a psychology researcher at the University of California Berkeley, told Fox News Digital. “It’s essentially a practice of being a caring friend to yourself when reflecting on moments that evoke being hard on yourself.”
“Micropractices are like tiny training sessions that are based on the most potent parts of well-being practices, such as meditation,” Susman said.
“They’re designed to be easy to access and don’t require a lot of time or effort to use.”
Those in this group were found to have reduced stress and higher levels of self-worth.
