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Mental Health and Wellbeing

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Waiting for surgery or treatment can be a difficult and distressing time. Symptoms that affect your body can also sometimes affect your mental well-being. It’s important to recognise how you are feeling and take steps to reduce stress and anxiety. This will help you before, during and after treatment and can support a good or better recovery.

We recommend exploring the NHS 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing, which are 5 simple steps you can take daily to support your everyday mental health. The Five Ways to Well-being are:

1. Connect with other people – Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing.  They can: 

  • Help you build a sense of belonging and self-worth 

  • Give you an opportunity to share positive experiences 

  • Provide emotional support and allow you to support others 

2. Be physically Active – Being active is not only great for your physical health and fitness. Evidence also shows it can also improve your mental wellbeing by: 

  • Raising your self-esteem 

  • helping you to set goals or challenges and achieve them 

  • causing chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood 

3. Learn new skills  - Research shows that learning new skills can also improve your mental wellbeing by: 

  • helping you to build a sense of purpose 

  • helping you to connect with others 

4. Give to others – Research suggests that acts of giving and kindness can help improve your mental wellbeing by: 

  • creating positive feelings and a sense of reward 

  • giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth 

  • helping you connect with other people 

5. Paying attention to the present moment (mindfulness) -

Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". Mindfulness can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.  Read more about mindfulness, including steps you can take to be more mindful in your everyday life.

Some free useful online wellbeing resources can be found: Some free useful online wellbeing resources - Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board

Additional Resources

 

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