Patterson River Secondary College Newsletter

Healthy Habits

Food and Mood

When you think of improving your mental health, you may not think about changing the food you eat, but there is a strong link between what we eat and how we feel!

We know an unhealthy diet can be associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, but now we are seeing a healthy diet (with a variety of fruit, veggies, nuts and whole grains) can actually improve mental health.

This is a pretty new and exciting area of research. In fact, two recent studies investigated whether healthy food could reduce depression symptoms. And the results were clear. People who ate a healthier diet improved their depression symptoms more than people who focused on only social support.

Here’s how eating well can improve your headspace:

· Help you get a better night’s sleep

· Give you more energy

· Improve your concentration

· Make you less likely to crave foods with high sugar, salt or fat

 

For further information about food and mood: https://headspace.org.au/young-people/eating-for-a-healthy-headspace/

 

For further ideas, search for ‘healthy platter ideas’ online or the link below: https://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/eat-rainbow

Reading: a great way to de-stress

While students are busy with their school work, this time of physical isolation can also be a time of stress for many.  Using this time as an opportunity to read for pleasure is one way to de-stress.  And it doesn't need to be expensive as many websites today provide free and legal access to books … making it easier to build your own digital library.

Thousands of books have entered public domain this year, making them available to read, download and share. This is due to an amendment in the US copyright law, which states that works published between 1923 and 1977 can enter public domain 95 years after their creation.

‘… Famous books published in 1923 – including works by Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf … and Kahlil Gibran – are now free to access. You can download titles such as The Murder on the Links, The Prophet, and Jacob’s Room at one or more of the following sites’:

  1. Authorama
  2. Duke Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
  3. Free Computer Books
  4. International Digital Children's Library
  5. Librivox (audio books)
  6. ManyBooks
  7. Project Gutenberg
  8. Questia Public Library
  9. Read Print
  10.   Wikibooks

Do you know any other resources for free books? 

LINK: https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/books/11-best-sites-to-legally-download-free-books

Extract source: This article originally appeared on Over60.