Looking After Your Physical and Mental Health

We recognise that the past eighteen months have been an immensely challenging one for all our members, and we want to encourage you to keep active and to take care of your mental wellbeing. Below are some resources that might help.

Exercises you can do at home or outside:

• Guides to easy and gentle sitting, strength, flexibility, and balance exercises are available on the NHS website
• Basic Yoga poses – Yoga is a good way for people of all ages to improve their strength and flexibility and can also be relaxing and good for your mental wellbeing. Take a look at some basic yoga poses you can do at home from WebMD – and if you’re interested in learning more, Yoga with Adriene is a great free series on YouTube that includes easy yoga with kids (as an added incentive, the videos often feature her dog Benji too!)
• Strength and Flex – a 5-week plan delivered via a podcast from the NHS designed to improve your strength and flexibility
• Couch to 5K – a 9-week plan from the NHS designed to help you get running. Download a podcast and listen as you run, building up your time spent running each week
• Scottish Ballet Health at Hand – a series of accessible videos that you can do at home, originally designed to support NHS and Care staff. Choose from Relax, Rejuvenate and Energize!

Looking after your mental health:

• NHS Recommended Mental Health Helplines
• Anxiety UK, which has specific resources for anxiety related to Covid-19 and the challenging circumstances it has created around us
• The Samaritans are available to everyone, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year – click here or call 116 123 anytime
• Breathing Space – access support online or by phone, and learn what to do if you’re worried about someone else
• NHS Mental Wellbeing, including Audio Guides that can help boost low mood, reduce anxiety, promote good sleep and more.
• Coronavirus and Your Mental Wellbeing – resources from SAMH.
• We especially love SAMH’s twelve top tips to maintaining good mental health while home working, including making time for a little fresh air and listening to music you love.
• GCVS (Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector) have a webpage filled with helpful Wellbeing Resources: from self-confidence tips and digital wellbeing advice to self-assessment tools and information about Long Covid.
• The Compassionate Mind Foundation, founded by Professor Paul Gilbert at the University of Derby, has resources, recordings and videos to help people understand the way their minds work and challenge self-critical thinking patterns with more balanced, compassionate ones
• Especially for our school librarians or anyone else working with young people, this new free online resource designed by The Mental Health Foundation Scotland, Digital Bricks Learning and Children’s Health Scotland promotes mental wellbeing in children. The themes are split into ‘bitesize topics’ through which you can learn at your own pace, developing skills in support, early intervention and how to promote mental wellbeing for your young library users.
• How to support loved ones and friends who may be struggling – having challenging conversations, listening empathetically, showing that you care and further steps for support if they need it.
• If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, you can contact Scotland’s helpline or Refuge (both websites include a quick exit button).
• Practice Mindfulness
• Looking after your mental health while staying at home, including advice on following only good-quality media sources – our librarians know the vital value of evidence!
• Do some simple breathing exercises to help you calm down or to reduce stress: NHS Breathing Exercises; ‘Box Breathing’; 4-7-8 Breathing
• Check out these online Mindfulness and Wellbeing courses from FutureLearn
• If you’d like to speak to someone either online or in person, the Counselling Directory lets you search a database of accredited counsellors according to location, type of client and/or what issue you’d like to discuss. Their website also offers self-help resources for some of the most common mental health concerns.

Time for some fun? Light-hearted activities to break up your day:

• To give yourself a brief break or distraction during your day, try TED-Ed Riddles by the TED talk team – tell us when you solve the ‘Giant Cat Army Riddle’, we’re so proud at having (eventually) cracked it!
• Or take seven minutes to unwind with ‘The World’s Most Relaxing Video’, a calming wander through nature. Here’s a Scottish version too!
• No one is better placed than a library professional to recommend some brilliant reads – why not browse this collection of book reviews written by CILIPS members?
• Historic Environment Scotland have a webpage dedicated to ‘Unidentified Images’, items in their archive whose contents they have yet to identify. Recognise any of the places or people featured?
• Looking for literary podcasts? Here are excellent episodes from The Scottish Poetry Library, Glasgow Women’s Library, Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, New York Public Library, American Libraries (the Dewey Decibel Podcast – see what they did there?), The British Library, London Library (with lots of celebrity guests), North Lanarkshire Libraries  and a great compilation of library-inspired listening from CILIP!