Bachelor NZ star and father-to-be Art Green has opened up about the tools and techniques he uses to positively impact his mood and mental health, referring to them as his “mental health toolbox”.
The health and fitness advocate shared a candid post on Instagram, listing eight of his mental health tools and how and why he uses them which includes cold water, mediation, exercise and gratitude.
“Cold water is one of my favourite tools that sits in my mental health toolbox,” Art begins in the extensive caption, which accompanies an image of him sitting in lake, surrounded by nature.
“I have a bunch of these tools that I pull out and use at various times to positively impact my mood and mental health. See below for some of my tools and how and why I use them.
“Message me if you have any questions about this stuff, love to offer insights ✌ ,” he adds.
Art Green’s mental health tools
Cold Water
“Everyday, either a 2min cold shower or swim,” writes Art.
“Focusing on controlling my breath and staying relaxed. Promotes emotional resilience, reduces stress, makes me feel f&@kn awesome, and has a bunch of physical benefits.”
Meditation
“10-20mins, meant to be everyday by realistically every second day.
“Decrease stress and anxiety during the day and increases my empathy. I first developed a meditation practice thanks to @joyful.collective,” Art shares.
Exercise
“Most days – I use this as a mood booster and as a stress relief. Even a 15min walk is better than nothing.”
Nature
“As often as I can, starting the day with a walk (leaving my phone at home) always sets me up for a great day.”
Good food
“I minimise the amount of refined grains and sugar everyday as I know these make me tired and negatively affect my mood.”
Breathing
Art says: “A couple of mornings a week or when I’m feeling stressed during the day I practice Wim Hof breathing techniques to centre and reset my over thinking mind.
“For more info checkout @elementhealthnz.”
Talk to someone
“I have a couple of people in my life that I know I can always call to talk about anything and everything – sometimes I don’t feel like talking but 100% of the time I’m glad I did.”
Practice gratitude
“I don’t do this enough,” admits Art.
“Just sit and think of anything and everything you’re grateful for (can write it down also) – it’s impossible to feel anxious or fearful when feeling grateful.”
Art concludes the post with a thank you to Jimi Hunt, a mental health speaker and advocate, who he says was the one who introduced him to the idea of a mental health toolbox.
Art and his wife and fellow Bachelor NZ star Matilda Green are both huge advocates of health and mental wellbeing, recently launching a podcast together called Well & Good with Art & Matilda.
Mental health is a topic which crops up repeatedly during the podcast with Matilda sharing that, like Art, meditation is also one of the main ways she looks after her mental wellbeing.
“Meditation really has changed my life, which I never thought would happen,” she recently told Good Health & Wellbeing.
“I was a bit sceptical beforehand, but it really is life changing.
“It helped me with stress, to be able to put things into perspective, and I find that I deal with stressful situations a lot differently now than I used to,” she says.
“They say that you practise it when things are good so that you can handle when things are bad, which I really love.”
Art and Matilda are currently expecting their first child, a boy, making the exciting announcement at their wedding in February.
The couple later revealed the sex of their baby in April in an Instagram post telling their followers: “We found out we’re having a….. BOY! 💙💙 We are so bloody excited!”