WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
Mental health is defined as one’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It impacts how you think, feel, and act. It helps you determine how to handle stress, relate to others, and make decisions and choices. Mental health is necessary at every stage of life, whether be it at childhood or adolescence or throughout adulthood.
Over the course of your lifetime, if you experience any type of mental health problem, then it also effects your thinking, mood, and behavior. Many other factors contribute to problems related to mental health like:
- Biological factors such as genes or brain chemical functions
- Life experiences such as trauma, shock or any kind of abuse
- Family history of mental health problems.
- Stress, worry, anxiety and depression
WHY MENTAL HEALTH IS IMPORTANT?
In nowadays busy competitive world, where everyone is ambitious and work oriented, it becomes very difficult to be stress free. Nowadays stress has become everyone’s part of life and people have become habitual to it. Now people don’t feel uncomfortable leading a stressful life. But as it is always said "No health is without mental health". Mental well-being is an integral part of a balanced healthy life which we all must remember. According to recent studies, more then 40 million people suffer from mental health issues and to your surprise, stress and depression are the key symptoms for mental health problems. So it is very necessary to maintain mental wellness as it impacts your thoughts, behaviour and emotions.
Mental health is important because:
- It effects your behaviour which can effect your relationship with others
- It effects you physically which is directly linked to you bodily health
- It effects your thinking abilities which is linked to your work and ambitions
- It effects you emotionally which is linked to your creativity and productivity
WARNING SIGNS:
As every disease has some symptoms, so as this disease. But we need to pay more attention to the symptoms as they aren’t physical. So some of the early signs of mental health issues are:
- Eating or sleeping more often or more less
- Staying away from people and usual activities
- Feeling low or not energetic
- Feeling numb or like nothing bothers
- Having unexplained aches and pains
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more then normal
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, scared or frustrated
- Yelling or fighting without any reasons with family and friends
- Experiencing extreme mood swings that cause problems in relationships.
- Having constant thoughts and memories you don’t get out of your head
- Hearing voices or believing things that are not for real.
- Thinking of harming yourself or others
- Unable to perform routine tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work.
MENTAL WELL-BEING BENEFITS:
Some of the benefits pf mental well-being are:
- Realize your full potential
- Overcome the stresses of life
- Better work productively
- Make meaningful contributions to their communities
TIPS FOR BETTER MENTAL HEALTH:
1. COFFEE:
Start your day with a cup of coffee. As coffee contains caffeine so coffee intake is linked to lower risks for getting depressed. If you don’t like coffee, then go for some another caffeinated drink like green tea. Coffee acts as mild booster which triggers mental performance like alertness, attention, focus and concentration. It also boosts your energy levels and keeps your mood uplifted.
2. SAY YES TO EXPERIMENTING:
Experiment with a recipe, or write some poem or paint, which triggers you mind and pose challenges for you. When you try something new, then your creativity and productivity improves and it also helps to improve your thinking abilities. When you experiment your brain functions better to crack the challenge posed and hence it stimulates brain function. So say yes to experimenting.
3. GO MORE SOCIAL:
Spending time with a friend or any loved one lowers the stress hormone cortisol and boosts oxytocin which stimulates the feeling of happiness in you and then it makes you feel better. So go for more hangouts with friends or for a date with your loved ones. It will make you feel better and will contribute to your mental well-being.
4. STAY POSITIVE:
Staying positive that’s adopting more positive thoughts not only helps you destress but also helps you to stay confident. Positive thinking lowers the risk of depression and anxiety. It also improves your psychological and emotional health. Positive thinking also better your skills to face challenges and hardships and also helps you overcome your fears.
5. GET PLENTY OF SLEEP:
Getting enough sleep is equally important for your health as eating, drinking and breathing. It allows your body to restore itself and our brains to consolidate our memories and process information. As it is often said that sleeping is important as the brain rests at that time. So poor sleep is not only linked to physical health problems such as a weakened immune system but also effects mental health and gives rise to problems like anxiety and depression.
6. EAT HEALTHY:
Through several studies, it has been found that brain responds to what you eat . So eating healthy not only improves your physical health but also boosts your mental wellness. Healthy food improves your energy levels and also triggers better brain functioning. It also help reduce stress and depression and hence boosts your mood. So there is an unsaid relationship between what you eat and how you feel? So always eat healthy to have a better mental well-being.
7. AVOID SMOKING AND DRINKING:
Drinking and smoking is not always associate with symptoms that lead to physical problems but they can also impact on your mental health. When you have had a few drinks on, you tend to feel more depressed and anxious the next day, and it becomes harder to concentrate. Excessive drinking for prolonged period can cause you a thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is essential for our brain functioning and a deficiency of it can cause severe memory problems, motor (coordination) problems, confusion and even eye problems. When you smoke, then your body and brain go into withdrawal which makes you irritated and anxious.
8. MANAGE STRESS:
Stress is often unavoidable, especially in this competitive and ambitious world but leaning to know the reasons for your stress and how to get rid of it is the key for maintaining a better mental health. Try to manage your work and worries by making a list or a schedule of when and how you can resolve every issue. And if you break down due to your worries and stresses, then write them down and make yourself realize that they are manageable and you are capable. Make a list of all the things that are stressing you out and keep telling yourself that they are manageable and you can do it.
9. DO WHAT YOU ENJOY:
Try to make time for yourself and do the fun things that you enjoy. If you like going out for a walk, painting or like watching a particular TV show then set aside time to enjoy with yourself. If you don't spend time doing things you enjoy then you will become irritated and unhappy and will get stressed with your boring schedule.
10. ASK FOR HELP:
One of the most important things to remember is that to keep yourself mentally healthy. You need to recognize when you are not feeling good or feeling low and to know when to ask for a help. There is no shame in asking someone for support or help if you are feeling low or stressed. Everyone goes through this is some point of their life where they don't feel as good as they want it to be. So at that time don’t hesitate to open up about your problem and ask for help. You can try speaking to your friend to to anyone you feel comfortable with.
So with this, I end my blog and hope you liked by tips on this.
I hope you found my blog interesting and helpful and I would again like to tell you that don’t feel shameful at all in asking for help. Don’t feel humiliated or hesitate to open up about your problems.
I hope my blog made you feel better in some way. If you have any queries or anything to share regarding this blog, then please feel free to write in the comments section.
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