Self Care Tips
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Get regular exercise – exercise and activity produce chemicals in the body that promote emotional well-being and can help reduce stress
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Get enough sleep
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Find ways to cope with stress – use positive coping skills to help you with your stress level
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Include meaningful activity in your daily life, such as learning, creating, working or volunteering
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Meditate or do guided imagery
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Be social and stay in touch with family, friends and your community
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Eat healthy meals and snacks – choose fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat dairy foods
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Avoid alcohol and drugs
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If you smoke, try to quit
Common Mental & Emotional Health Problems
Anxiety
Anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling of fear, uneasiness, or concern that something bad may happen. Anxiety can cause physical symptoms such as trembling, shaking, muscle aches, restlessness, insomnia, rapid heartbeat, sweating, and clammy hands. If anxiety interferes with your daily activities, you may need treatment with medicines (such as antidepressants or antianxiety medicines) and/or professional counseling.
Depression
Depression is a condition that causes you to feel sad, lose interest in activities that you used to enjoy, withdraw from others, and have little energy. It's different from normal feelings of sadness, grief, or low energy. Depression can also cause people to feel hopeless about the future and to even think about suicide. If you think you may be depressed, tell your doctor. Treatment can help you enjoy life again.
Grief
Grief is a natural response to the loss of someone or something very important to you. The loss may cause sadness and may cause you to think of very little else besides the loss. Grief itself is a natural response that doesn't require medical treatment, but if you find that your grief is making it difficult to function, contact a grief counselor, bereavement support group or your doctor.
Loneliness
Loneliness is the feeling of being isolated, or alone. It comes from a gap between the relationships you have and the ones you need or want. It can come from a lack of close, personal connections with other people, or it can come from not having enough regular social contact with others. People in mid-life may start to see changes in their own health and the health of their friends. And people in the late stages of life may experience changes in where they live, a decline in health, and the death of friends or family members.
Kaiser Permanente Members
If you’re having a hard time mentally or emotionally, we’re here to help. Learn more about how you can get care for yourself or a loved one.
Classes
Self Care Apps
Digital self care apps — Calm and Headspace Care — are available at no cost to help with stress management and daily wellness.
Bright Light Therapy
Many people with depression routinely have worsening moods during the late fall and early winter months when the hours of daylight drop in comparison to the rest of the year. Patients treated in the Hayward / Union City Kaiser Permanente Department of Psychiatry can be referred by their psychiatrist for light therapy in our clinic.
Resources
Help for Suicidal Thoughts
If you or someone you know talks about suicide, self-harm, a mental health crisis, a substance use crisis or any other kind of emotional distress, get help right away.
You can:
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Call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988
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Call 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
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Text HOME to 741741 to access the Crisis Text Line
Kaiser Permanente Resources
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Find Your Words: A website designed to make it easier to open up about mental health and ask for help if you need it.
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Stress Less Guide: A mini-workbook to identify harmful stress in your life and create healthy behaviors to help you feel better.