3 non-negotiable self-care rituals that improved Dakota Johnson's mental health
Dakota Johnson has won over a younger generation of fans thanks to her wry and sarcastic sense of humour. But despite her evident funny bone, Johnson still has bad days and has been vocal about her struggles with anxiety and depression.
The latter of which resulted in Johnson being awarded with a HOPE award for Depression Advocacy by the Hope for Depression Research Foundation.
“We are honouring Dakota because she has spoken candidly and openly in the media about her experience with depression and anxiety since being a teenager,“ HDRF Founder and Chair Audrey Gruss told FAME. “This kind of candour and sharing is part of the answer to the complex crisis of depression.”
Whilst accepting her award at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation luncheon in November, Dakota Johnson recounted to those in attendance a conversation between her and her boyfriend, Chris Martin.
“A few weeks ago, I was having a low day, and my partner said to me, ‘Are you really struggling?’ and I said ‘No?’”.
“He said, ‘Baby, you are wearing a Cats T-shirt.’ As in Cats the musical,” she continued. “So it turns out, I really was struggling. But that moment lifted me up and pulled me out of it.”
“Most of the time as you can probably tell, I speak about depression or anxiety in a very self-deprecating way,” she explained. “Perhaps, I sometimes find it easier to look it in the eyes if I mask it in comedy...Because, sometimes if I don't laugh, I will cry.”
Image credit: Getty
But, comedy isn’t Johnson’s only method of self-preservation when it comes to dealing with her mental health. According to a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the actress swears by three self-care rituals that have become non-negotiables in her wellness routine.
1/ Sleep
“I'm not functional if I get less than 10 [hours of sleep a night],” she told the publication. “I can easily go 14 hours.”
“I don't have a regular [wake-up] time,” she continued. “It depends on what's happening in my life. If I'm not working, if I have a day off on a Monday, then I will sleep as long as I can. Sleep is my number one priority in life.”
2/ Meditation
“I meditate every day, twice a day,” she shared with the WSJ. “I do transcendental meditation. I've been really into breathwork recently and that's been helping me a lot with anxiety.”
3/ Get in the bathtub
“I will get in a bathtub at any moment, any time of the day,” Johnson joked. “If in the middle of the day, I'm like, ‘Oh God, what is this world?’ I'll get in the bathtub. I find water really grounding.”
Much like Dakota Johnson, Selena Gomez has channelled her personal experience with mental illness into her advocacy work and documentary My Mind & Me.
Image credit: Getty
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
