Improve your mental wellbeing with the Vitality mental wellbeing programme

Now, more than ever, it is important to take care of your mental wellbeing.

Emotional and mental health concerns are a prevalent and vital part of everyday life as they impact our thoughts, behaviours and emotions. In South Africa, roughly 1 in 6 people suffer from a mental illness.

"For Vitality, improved mental wellbeing and resilience must be integral to overall wellbeing. Research tells us that early screening and caring for our mental health includes adequate sleep and mindfulness, in addition to the well-established impact of exercise and good nutrition," says Dr Mosima Mabunda, Vitality's Head of Wellness. "This is what drove us to integrate mental wellbeing into our Vitality programme."

The Vitality mental wellbeing programme helps you gain a more detailed view of your overall state of mental wellbeing. Plus, it rewards you for taking proactive steps to understand, improve and maintain your mental wellbeing.

Here's how it can help you.

Step 1: Understand your mental wellbeing and earn Vitality points

Knowing why you feel a certain way is the first step to getting better. You can now understand key elements of your mental wellbeing, including resilience, depression, anxiety, wellbeing, drinking and sleep, with our online assessment.

You'll learn more about your mental wellbeing, and Vitality members can earn 500 Vitality points twice a year for completing these assessments.

Step 2: Improve your mental wellbeing and earn Discovery Miles

Once you've completed your assessments, we can recommend valuable ways to help you track and improve your mental wellbeing. Plus, you can now get rewarded for achieving your mental wellbeing goal on Vitality Active Rewards.

As with your exercise goal, you can earn Discovery Miles when you track your sleep and complete mindfulness sessions every week using a Vitality-linked mental wellbeing app or device. You can access your mental wellbeing goal under Vitality Active Rewards in the Discovery app.

Step 3: Maintain your mental wellbeing and stay rewarded for life

Now that you've taken steps to understand and improve your mental wellbeing, how do you keep it up every day? By making mindfulness part of your daily routine. Anyone can visit the Vitality Mental-Wellbeing channel for expert videos, podcasts, articles and other useful resources to help you maintain your mental wellbeing.

Get ready for #MindfulMonday with the Vitality wellness team

Get ready for our upcoming #MindfulMonday episode with Miss South Africa, Shudufhadzo Musida. Vitality dietitian Terry Harris, Team Vitality Club Manager Khethiwe Mlangeni and clinical wellness specialist Dr Seranne Motilal will share practical tips and ideas on how to improve your mental wellbeing.

Each of them will demonstrate how healthy eating, physical activity, sleep and mindfulness contribute to mental wellbeing. Plus, Chef Dereck Nair from the Vitality HealthyFood Studio will give a healthy cooking demonstration.

You will need:

1. An exercise mat for the workout segment
2. A comfortable place to sit and the Calm app for the mindfulness segment
3. The following ingredients for the cooking segment:

• 400 g cut butternut
• 1 medium red onion
• ½ can lentils, canned, rinsed and drained
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs flat leaf parsley
• 40 g wild rocket
• 1 round low-fat feta cheese

Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages for more information on our upcoming Mindful Monday episode.

Get healthy. Get mindful. Get rewarded.