Blog – Caroline Crosbie

The Big 5: Five Everyday Habits That Protect Your Mental Fitness

July 2026

I believe that most of us spend far more time looking after our physical health than we do our mental health.

We think about exercise.
We think about cholesterol.
We think about our weight.

But how often do we deliberately protect our mental wellbeing before something starts to go wrong?

Not enough I reckon.

Is it because we often conflate mental health with mental illness, and in doing so inadvertently push the notion of thinking about our mental health to back of mind?

Maybe. But in all reality, we shouldn’t because…

One in five Australians will experience a mental health disorder in any given year.

Not a statistic to take lightly.

And it’s for this very reason that an article on mental wellbeing, referencing The Big 5, caught my attention the other day.

The Big 5 represent five simple habits that Psychology Professor Nick Titov and his team at Macquarie University identified as having the greatest impact on protecting mental wellbeing.

Their research suggested these habits should be practised at least three to four times each week.

Here’s why…

Out of a total of 500+ actions that positively impact one’s mental health, they narrowed the most important actions down to five measurable ones (The Big 5), and had half of the subjects in a trial of 70 people (all of whom were mentally well) restrict the Big 5 to once or twice a week for two weeks.

This is what they found…

Alarmingly, almost 70% of those in the restricted group (vs a control group) developed mild to moderate symptoms of depression, whilst nigh on 60% developed symptoms of anxiety.

And this is only after a 2-week period, which begs to question what might have happened had they prolonged the experiment.

Titov believed it would have resulted in diagnoses of clinical depression.

So, no doubt you’re probably champing at the bit to know what the Big 5 are.

Ready for the drumroll?

Here goes…

To begin with, the Big 5 aren’t complicated. They’re the everyday habits that quietly keep your brain resilient and they include:

Meaningful activities – doing things that give you purpose, enjoyment or accomplishment.
Healthy thinking – recognising unhelpful thinking patterns before they gain momentum.
Goals and plans – having something positive to work towards.
Healthy routines – regular sleep, movement and daily structure that help regulate your nervous system.
Social connection – genuine human connection that protects against isolation, loneliness and stress.

Now here’s what struck me most about the research.

The participants didn’t stop doing these five things altogether.

They simply did less of them.

Even so, within just two weeks, many began showing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Now that’s a cause for concern and a bold reminder that protecting our mental wellbeing isn’t about making dramatic changes.

It’s about consistently doing the ordinary things that keep us well.

Mental wellbeing isn’t built in a day.

It’s built every day.

That’s exactly what we explore under an AIRBORNE canopy.

Sometimes all it takes is stepping away from everyday distractions to gain fresh perspective, reconnect with what matters most, and put a few simple habits back in place.

Small changes.

Repeated often.

That’s where resilience grows.

So, which of the Big 5 do you think you neglect most when life gets busy?

Wherever your eyes have landed is perhaps a great place to start.

Till next month…

Take care,

30+ years of experience — a holistic, personalised approach helping you reclaim calm, clarity and the sustained wellbeing that’s always been yours.