Top Ten Bad Habits and Other Things that Can Deteriorate Your Mental Health

The development of bad habits can be often be subtle and addicting, and most of them can be not only consequential to physical health, but they can also impact our overall mental health. Our mental health and physical health is determined by our routine. Especially in the time where the majority is stressed, and you're looking forward to improve your mental health, we present the following habits you should eliminate, (or at least put them in moderation.)
The Top Ten
1 Drug Abuse

Drugs and alcohol are addicting, but sadly are often used as a shortcut for alleviating stress and depression, as well as an escapism to reality, but come with countless consequences to both physical and mental health lasting in the long term. Drug abuse is never a good habit. If you are stressed and willing to choose recreational drugs as an easy way to rid of your anxiety, seek help.

Probably should be first. It's such a sick scheme.

I feel like this deserves to be higher than 10.

2 Negativity

This is more common among teens, and young adults. Yes, you may have some negative thoughts circulating in your mind, and that's perfectly normal for everyone. However, if you continue to allow yourself of those negative thoughts, it may become a habit and you may eventually fall to a downward spiral to the point that it becomes difficult to overcome, thus impacting your overall mood and mental health.

Ah yes, negative thoughts are extremely bad for one's health overall. I used to have thoughts like this before, but I kind of stopped having these thoughts.

Well, negativity can be harmful to immune system.

3 Social Media

We often spend hours scrolling in Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram, plus watching YouTube videos as a primary source of entertainment. Sure, being on the flow and getting likes and fame is a pleasurable thing, but it is actually detrimental to our mental health. Those likes you get? They barely mean anything. Unless you are famous, try quitting social media for a week, and see how many people miss you. I guarantee most of the people will forget you sometime.

Normalizing the stuff like instagram, facebook, and twitter has indeed plagued our society heavily. I'm not saying it's all just bad people in today's world, but rather garbage choice guidance and normalization by society. If you want ways to communicate remotely, pick stuff specifically dedicated to that such as Skype or iMessage. I can highly predict society would be better off in that fashion.

4 Not Exercising

Not only can a lack of exercise drain your physical health, but it can also have a consequence to your mental health. Even if you're not on the mood, try exercising for at least thirty minutes or more a day; even light to moderate exercise such as jogging around the neighborhood helps. Trust me, you'll get a huge boost of energy, motivation, and overall health, and you'll eventually build up discipline once you develop the routine. The sheer benefit of exercising improves you in the long run.

Doing exercise helps release stress and releases endorphins.

5 Procrastinating

This is a problem that many people struggle to deal with, (me included) and it's sadly due to lack of motivation. Waiting it out by turning to other "less important" activities such as watching YouTube videos as an escapism for your anxiety can actually do worse, and may pressure you into worrying about your work, and it leads to stress. If you need to do it, do it now, you have the will. Setting a proper routine and small but achievable goals also is effective of ridding your procrastination.

6 Porn

Many people you see on the internet act like watching this stuff is normal. It really shouldn't be treated like this. I assume this is only said because they don't want to feel embarrassed. Deep down inside, it is still causes a sense of guilt and self hatred. Think of it this way. The industry is exploiting you for views and potential money, while also corrupting your mindset from a natural unique self you and only you have. It's not too late to become a better person, try abstaining from it if you ever feel like garbage. Heck, participate in NNN coming up very soon even. Sure it's some internet challenge, but it does have its benefits.

It may seem harmless and not really a problem if you watch a few minutes of it in occasional times, but it will at most times sink yourself into addiction if you indulge too much of it. There's a difference between porn and actual sex, and it will hurt the perception and expectations of how you see what sex is. It's normal and natural usually, but if its starting to affect your life or relationship, definitely stay away from it. Or if you sadly fell victim into this addiction, and willing to escape it, definitely get a website blocker and avoid it at all costs.

7 Being a People Pleaser

Yes, it's good to help and meet people's standards, but if you do make effort to help people out, while sacrificing your valuable time and resources, you may eventually put yourself into stress and pressure you into additional work. Sometimes, it's better to prioritize on looking on your self, listen to your gut and learn how to say "no" in some situations.

I've learned over a long time that you should be generous but that doesn't mean letting people take advantage of your generosity.

Overall be a nice guy but don't let people exploit you.

I hate it when you're the one making all the effort just because it's the decent and right thing to do and all the time it gets thrown back in your face.

8 Drinking Alcohol

While it's generally good to have a booze once in a while, it actually has some positive benefits if you manage your drinking intake in moderation. However, it can be addicting. While it might be okay for you to get drunk, however, getting drunk repeatedly will affect your mental state, and in the long term if you abuse it enough, leading to kidney damage, increased chances of cancer, and stroke.

I had a friend who would drink from sun up to sun down, and it killed him.

9 Eating Junk Food

Ah, junk food, one of the things that make you unhealthy. It's good to eat fast food once in a while, but not when it comes to a habit. Not only eating junk food can deprive your physical health, but also your mental health. Fried, processed, and sugary foods makes you more prone to depression, and they have little to no nutritional value. Try sticking to more healthier alternatives such as vegetables and fruits, and at least decrease the intake of how much junk food you're eating.

I love chips and I don't feel bad about it.

10 Watching the News

The news typically sheds a lot of negative thoughts, but the mental toll the news gives is rooted by poor choices on news sources. Take it this way: negative news is reported because humans have an inclination to do something good and to make informed decisions which should be the idealistic perspective of people's views regarding the media. Some people have this mindset that anything negative will distress them regardless if it's affecting them or not, and that is the time a break is necessary. Of course it's necessary to take a break but in the long term it's not convenient. Would you either avoid all kinds of news in exchange for ignorance? Instead, you should change your perspective and treat the news as a source of being informed. Check your sources for any kind of bias, and do check your facts when it's necessary. If you get your news sources from social media it's very likely to take a huge toll on your mental state as it's specifically targeted to you, that's what most people ...more

No joke. This will warp your perception of the world and make you a more negative and angry person. Doesn't matter if it's left, right, or center, the news is all horribly bad for your health (yes even local news).

The Contenders
11 Smoking Tobacco

Not only smoking will damage your lungs, but will also affect your overall mood and mental state in the long term. We all know the effects of smoking, right? Smoking is one of the most addictive substances, and it's no doubt to escape through this addiction, sadly, and unfortunately an overlooked problem in teens. If you fallen to this addiction, it's better to at least seek similar but better alternatives (such as replacing a cigarette with chocolate when you have the urge). If you can't control it, it's better to seek a therapist or at least someone else to help you.

12 Self-Induced Sleep Deprivation

The habit of sleep deprivation often is caused by the addiction of social media and often being disorganized, and it explains why you have difficulty sleeping. I've used to fell victim of this habit, but managed to fix it up by this technique - don't use any electronics for two hours before going to bed, read a book instead. There's another solution to eliminating this habit, and this goes for those who have unstable sleep schedules. However, it requires some will in order to do this solution - skip a day of sleep and pull an all-nighter, and during the cycle of day, try not to crash before your desired time (let's say 7:30 PM); personally, this method worked for me. Another alternative that you can try is cycle your sleep schedule one hour forward per day, from 5:00 AM, to 6:00 AM, to 7:00 AM, and so on to your desired time. It takes longer than the first mentioned method, but fits for those who tend to get more sleepy throughout the day.

I would have just said sleep deprivation whether or not it's self induced.

13 Isolation

It's understandable why people tend to isolate themselves especially in this pandemic. While the feeling of being isolated is loved by introverts, it can actually be detrimental to our mental health, leading to anxiety and in severe cases depression. As we are social beings, we must interact with people such as family from time to time. Texting and video-chatting may be good, but it's better to interact in person. Just remember to social distance.

14 Perfectionism

Mistakes are a pet peeve for some, and you're more likely to achieve something if you are careful about it. Having this mindset is good for some, and it's always satisfying to put your skills to the best. However, the habit of not making mistakes can also impact your health in a negative way, and it puts you into stress due to seeing high-expectations of yourself. It's better to ease yourself up and accept it, and learn from it when mistakes go by. Remember: we are human, all of us are not perfect, we all make mistakes at some point.

15 Playing Video Games

Playing video games are generally normal and can be rewarding, unfortunately for some, that's where the addiction starts, and it's called gaming disorder. Although, if your life seems to be too involved in video games, and you can't control it, you might be risking your responsibility. This may be fine for kids and those who have a dedicated career to games, but if you're (assuming you are a typical person) a grown up and it seems to be affecting your life in a negative way, definitely seek help.

I used to spend hours on FIFA. Every time I would go home from school, I would load up my Manchester United career mode, and play around 5-7 games.

16 Binge-watching
17 Cheating
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