The Royal Mental Hygiene Challenge

What is Mental Hygiene?

Daily habits to support your mental health and wellness for as little as 10 minutes per day. Check out this infographic or watch the video below to learn more. 

The term “mental hygiene” refers to daily activities that support and maintain mental health. Public health guidelines tell us that we need to do small tasks daily to maintain our physical and dental hygiene, like showering and brushing our teeth. We are now extending the same concept to mental health. Just like going to the gym is about building up our strength, mental hygiene is about building up that mental muscle. It’s an important way to maintain good mental health and build the resilience we need to help face challenges in the future.

Experts at The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group have developed a list of 17 research-based mental hygiene practices that can help boost your overall sense of wellness when practiced daily. Some of these include deep breathing, journaling, guided meditation, gratitude exercises, self-compassion, mindfulness, and spending time in nature, to just name a few. Check out our full list of exercises with instructions, how-to videos, and printable worksheets by registering to participate in the 2025 Royal Mental Hygiene Challenge.

What is The Royal Mental Hygiene Challenge?

To spread the word and get people excited about mental hygiene, we decided to turn the concept into an annual public challenge for the month of March! It’s easy – just pledge to incorporate 10 minutes of mental hygiene practices into your day from March 1-31. You can use some of the resources developed at The Royal to help you throughout this journey to building healthy habits.

Participating in this challenge may help motivate people to prioritize their mental hygiene and help turn these daily practices into lifelong habits that contribute to overall wellness. 

All challenge-related materials have been developed in both English and French, and it is entirely free to participate.

How to Register for the Challenge

Challenge yourself and others to practice at least 10 minutes of mental hygiene from MARCH 1-31. Kick-start some healthy habits for your mental wellness!

Participants can sign up to join The Royal Mental Hygiene Challenge by completing the registration form via this link. 

Once you've completed the registration form, you will be redirected to our participant toolkit which has everything you need to complete the challenge.

Do you want to promote mental hygiene to your audiences?

We encourage other organizations to promote the mental hygiene framework as a wellness tool for their audiences! If you're interested in learning more and gaining access to our marketing toolkit, send an email to michaela.berniquez@theroyal.ca.