Your daily habits could be wrecking your mental health - here’s how to fix them

The way you start and structure your day plays a huge role in your mental wellbeing. Small, seemingly harmless habits - like checking your phone first thing or skipping breakfast - can set off a chain reaction that affects your mood, energy, and stress levels.

The good news is that you don’t need to overhaul your entire life to see improvements. Simple, strategic tweaks can have a big impact, helping you feel calmer, more in control, and more resilient to daily stress.

The stress loop - how modern life is making you more anxious

For many people, stress feels like a normal part of life. But modern habits are keeping stress levels high, even when there’s no immediate reason to feel anxious.

Cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, follows a daily rhythm, naturally rising in the morning and tapering off at night. But common lifestyle choices - poor sleep, irregular eating, excessive screen time - disrupt this rhythm, leading to chronic stress and low resilience.

Erratic blood sugar levels can also play a role. When meals are skipped or loaded with refined carbs, blood sugar spikes and crashes, triggering cortisol release and creating a cycle of energy dips, cravings, and mood swings.

Breaking free from this loop means taking a closer look at your own daily habits and making small but powerful adjustments.

How your morning routine could be ruining your mood

Morning habits set the tone for the entire day. Some of the most common ones can actually increase stress levels, making it harder to stay focused, productive, and emotionally balanced.

• Phone before food - scrolling through emails or social media first thing in the morning spikes cortisol, putting the body into stress mode before the day has even begun.
• Caffeine on an empty stomach - coffee first thing might feel like a quick energy boost, but without food, it can cause a blood sugar crash later in the morning, affecting mood and focus.
• Skipping protein at breakfast - protein provides the building blocks for neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. A low-protein breakfast (or skipping breakfast entirely) can leave you feeling sluggish and irritable.
• Lack of daylight exposure - natural light helps regulate the body’s internal clock and supports serotonin production, essential for mood and sleep. Spending the first hours of the day indoors can throw off this natural balance.

Making simple changes to the morning routine can help stabilise energy, improve focus, and set the stage for a calmer, more productive day.

5 daily habits that will boost your brain and lift your mood

1. Get light before screens - exposure to natural light in the morning helps regulate cortisol and serotonin levels. Stepping outside for five to ten minutes shortly after waking can improve mood, energy, and sleep quality. If you have time for a walk, that’s great. Even sitting outside with your morning cuppa will work.
2. Eat within an hour of waking - a balanced breakfast with protein, healthy fats, and fibre helps keep blood sugar steady, reducing mid-morning energy crashes and irritability. The stress hormone cortisol is naturally higher in the morning. Extending a fast until later in the morning – particularly if you’re already stressed – will cancel any positive gains you think you’re getting.
3. Move more, but gently - exercise is beneficial for mental health, but intense workouts can raise cortisol levels if the body is already under stress. Low-impact movement, like walking or stretching, can be a better choice for stress resilience.
4. Prioritise protein and healthy fats - protein-rich foods help produce two of the important brain chemicals that support mental wellbeing, dopamine and serotonin, while healthy fats support brain health and inflammation control. Good choices include eggs, nuts, seeds, oily fish, and avocado.
5. Set a wind-down boundary - evening habits influence how well the body handles stress the next day. Limiting screen time, dimming lights in the evening, and avoiding late-night work can support better sleep and stress regulation.

Small changes, big impact

Improving mental wellbeing doesn’t require a complete lifestyle overhaul. Focusing on small, sustainable habit shifts, such as getting more natural light, stabilising blood sugar, and setting healthy boundaries with screens, can make a noticeable difference in how you feel.

Trying just one of these habits for a week can be enough to see positive changes. The key is consistency over perfection. Making small but intentional choices each day can help break the stress cycle, improve resilience, and support long-term mental wellbeing. 

So where will you start? What jumps out at you?