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Showing posts from January, 2020

How to protect yourself and others from cyberbullying

With most of the world’s population now using the internet and social media on a daily basis, cyberbullying has become widespread in today’s society. Not only is this form of online bullying targeted at children, but adults can also find themselves becoming the victims of online abuse. How to recognise cyberbullying In order to tackle this serious issue, we must first learn to recognise the signs of cyberbullying so that we can take necessary steps to avoid and prevent it. Cyberbullying is when someone uses digital technology such as the internet, social media, mobile phones and gaming platforms to upset, abuse, threaten, slander or harass an individual. For example: Abusive, threatening or offensive messages Posting inciting messages in online forums or communities Spreading rumours online Posting private and personal images of another person without their consent Creating fake social media profiles to smear someone’s character or harass them This kind of intentionally...

Sexuality, gender and mental health

Understanding our sexuality is something that we all will have experienced at some time in our lives, but this can be particularly difficult to understand if we find that we don’t fit into society’s 'norms'. Although gender and sexuality are much more widely accepted in today’s society than they used to be, there are still many issues you might face when coming to terms with who you are. Unfortunately, discrimination due to gender or sexuality is still prevalent and can lead to bullying and mental or physical abuse, which can be extremely damaging to your wellbeing. There are many issues that you may be concerned about: Fear of how people will react, especially family members, close friends and work colleagues Rejection or hostility Fear of being bullied or abused Not everyone is confident in themselves and it may be that you have low self esteem as a result of the issues you are facing. Feeling afraid and vulnerable can have a huge impact on mental health if you don’t hav...

Put the past behind you and create a new you

Life is filled with ups and downs. Sometimes we have wonderful experiences that bring us joy and other times we will go through bad situations that cause us heartache, but it’s how we use the latter experiences to learn and move on that’s important. If you’ve gone through something traumatic, such as a failed relationship, the death of someone close to you or losing your job, these kinds of experiences can have a negative impact and seriously harm your wellbeing. If we allow our past to take a grip, it can affect our future decisions so it’s vital that we learn from the past rather than live there. Remember that every situation we face in life will have a different outcome so try not to let one bad experience define your future or who you are. If we don’t learn to put the past behind us, we will continue to endure sleepless nights, anger, resentment, anxiety, stress and depression. Rather than pushing our thoughts to the back of our mind, we should try and confront negative issues, dea...

Exercise your way out of anxiety

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You may have recently joined a gym or local exercise class as part of your new year's resolutions. However, life often gets in the way and you will probably not be surprised to hear that many people have given up on their goals before the end of February. What might continue to spur you on, is that losing weight, shaping up or gaining strength are not the only reasons why we should incorporate regular exercise into our daily lives. Research suggests that exercise can improve mental health and wellbeing and further studies have shown that anxiety in particular can be effectively managed in many cases with exercise. The 'anxiety study' by Aylett, Small and Bower (2018) included both high and low intensity exercises - walking, running, treadmill training and aerobic sessions. Low intensity exercise includes less strenuous exercise such as comfortable walking or stretching. High intensity exercise was things like running, aerobics etc. Both forms of exercise were found to...