Small lifestyle tweaks can go a long way in supporting mood stability and managing bipolar disorder day to day.
Symptoms of bipolar disorder can feel confusing, so it comes as no surprise that managing the symptoms of this often-misunderstood brain-based health condition can seem like an enormous undertaking. At times like this, the old advice is best: Take it one step at a time.
There are three widely recognized pillars of treatment for bipolar: medication, talk therapy, and lifestyle management. Working with each of these aspects to address and prevent symptoms allows for the best treatment outcomes.
Of these, creating a lifestyle that encourages mood stability can be especially challenging, particularly if you try to change everything all at once. Instead, try taking many smaller steps over time to navigate the challenges and successes that come with a bipolar disorder diagnosis, so you can work to improve your daily life and overall mood stability. Here’s how to get started:
1. Track Your Symptoms and Habits
Knowledge is power. And when it comes to bipolar disorder, self-knowledge is particularly powerful. If you can better understand what symptoms you are facing and what behaviors are related to those bipolar symptoms, you are undoubtedly on the road to improved bipolar management.
RELATED: 6 Ways Self-Tracking Helps You Stay Ahead of Bipolar Symptoms
bpHope columnist Julie A. Fast refers to this as learning to be your own “bipolar detective.” She recommends making a list or keeping a journal, especially when instability threatens.
From there, Fast goes into “management mode”: “I realized that if I could memorize what my mood swings look like, I could teach myself why I either can’t move or can’t slow down, why I either sleep too much or can’t sleep enough, and why I either isolate or feel compelled to be sexually promiscuous. Now as soon as I notice any thought or behavior that is on my symptoms list, I go right into management mode to prevent things from getting out of hand.”
2. Create a Mood-Stabilizing Atmosphere at Home
When hypomania or mania is on the horizon, it’s easy to feel alarmed and out of control. A calming environment can help ground your senses and promote stability. Some simple ideas include playing soothing music, using soft lighting, adding cozy elements like pillows or blankets, clearing clutter, or diffusing calming scents like lavender.
When bpHope blogger Julie Whitehead recognizes that she is feeling unbalanced — particularly if she’s waiting for her supporters to arrive and help mitigate manic behaviors — she creates a soothing experience that engages the senses. To feel safe and more stable, she plays calming music, pulling from a collection of nature music that she has set aside specifically for when she needs to address a manic state of mind or is feeling stressed.
RELATED: How Decluttering Helps Bipolar Symptoms — and 10 Ways to Start
She also engages with her body, embracing the present moment and encouraging a sense of peacefulness: “I also do simple yoga positions for relaxation. My favorites for those times when I’m feeling extremely anxious or borderline manic are the ‘cat’ and ‘cow’ poses — I get down on my hands and knees and alternate arching and lowering my spine, with my hands lined up under my shoulders and my knees lined up under my hips.”
3. Embrace a New Hobby
Engaging our mind — and sometimes our hands — in something that we find enjoyable (when we’re not already deep in bipolar depression) can help to distract us from our present troubles and restore a sense of inner peace. Better yet, allowing our creativity to run free can help to balance out the sinking feeling of looming darkness.
Whether it’s using adult coloring books, woodworking, repairing vintage cars, refurbishing old furniture, or learning a new skill, the process is often even more rewarding than the final output. Spending hours crafting something meaningful and enjoyable may result in both a beautiful painting and a renewed sense of peace and achievement.
Of course, try not to put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to these personal hobbies and challenges. Sometimes, if the creative spark won’t catch, just thinking about the next potential craft or preparing a workstation can help provide a sense of accomplishment.
4. Create a Sleep Sanctuary
One of the most common triggers for a bipolar mood episode is disrupted sleep. For that reason alone, it’s worth committing yourself to developing — and maintaining — good sleep habits. And there are many ways to promote regular restorative sleep.
The best way to start is to wake up at the same time each morning and go to bed at the same time each night, seven days a week. Practicing healthy sleep hygiene involves working with your body and mind, not against them, to establish a routine that becomes second nature and can withstand the occasional long night or late morning. In fact, bpHope blogger Carin Meyer follows her own seasonal rules and calendar to allow for better sleep regardless of sunlight exposure.
RELATED: Sleep Strategies to Help Your Bipolar Symptoms
Again, it’s about starting small. As bpHope writer and blogger Sasha Kildare shares, “Having a repetitive bedtime routine signals the brain to wind down. I turn on a bedside lamp, shut off the brighter ceiling light, tuck myself in, and open up a hard-copy book or magazine — nothing on a screen — to read until my eyelids droop.”
Keeping a simple but consistent bedtime and morning routine can go a long way to improving mood stability.
5. Prioritize What Promotes Good Health
As blogger Anne shares, there is a financial burden that comes with having a bipolar diagnosis (beyond the cost of risky behaviors caused by mania, such as gambling and shopping). To address the day-to-day expenses that come with managing bipolar, she recommends making use of what assistance is available, whether from pharmaceutical companies or government-based support programs, and spending money where it counts.
For example, she feels best when she eats a diet centered on local produce, organic foods, and protein from sustainable sources. However, the costs do add up, as she recognizes. As she put it, “We’ve consciously chosen to spend less in other areas of our budget in order to make up for this higher expense. My morning eggs might be free-range, but my threadbare slippers make up for it.”
Consider investigating your expenses and income to see how you can better support your health in the long run. It’s not an indulgence so much as an investment — in yourself and your mood stability.
UPDATED: Originally posted December 29, 2022
