Maintaining a healthy mentality: Why you should care about your mental health.
When we talk about mental health and maintaining a happy lifestyle, what do we actually mean?
Do you feel like you need to focus more on balancing the stresses in your life, or want to help a friend with their emotional well-being? If so, this article is for you. Most people facing stress don’t put much effort into evaluating their mental health and trying to change their mental wellbeing for the better. But do we really want to live a life full of negative thoughts and emotions without trying to change it? In this blog post, we’re going to talk about why we should actively work towards improving our mental health, and discuss the different approaches to doing that.
So let’s talk about mental health..
According to the world health organization (WHO) “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” When we experience positive emotions and happy thoughts, it improves our cognitive abilities and creativity, it also contributes to our physical health. This stresses the fact that mental health is the foundation for our productivity and ability to contribute to our community. It is also a factor to our happiness. For example, would bottling up the stress from work and taking it out on your friends and loved ones be healthy for them? Of course it wouldn’t.
Why should we care about mental health?
If we take a closer look at the effects of mental health, people who live their lives on positive thoughts and use methods to improve their wellbeing, live longer, happier, and fuller lives. They are more productive in their work environment, and capable of socializing with the people around them. On the other hand, being constantly exposed to stress and negative emotions can lead to slower cognitive development and constant feeling of heaviness, and even sometimes can lead to health problems or mental illnesses.
How to improve mental health
Luckily, research has helped us discover different ways to better our wellbeing and fight these negative thoughts.
1. Having a balanced diet
A good diet isn’t just important for our bodies, it’s also important for our brains. If a brain is like a train, diet would be the coal fueling it to stay functional. Certain mineral deficiencies, such as iron and vitamin B12, can result in a low mood. Try to eat a balanced diet. If you’re a particularly stressed or anxious person, try limiting or cutting out caffeine as it can make you feel jittery and anxious.
2. Avoiding alcohol, smoking, and drugs
After having a few drinks you can feel more depressed and anxious the next day, and have a hard time trying to concentrate or focus. If you’re a smoker, your body and brain can go into withdrawal and make you irritable and anxious when you’re not smoking. Other drugs will often leave you in a state of anxiety and low mood.
3. Sleep, sleep, and sleep
Sleep is one of the most important factors for our physical and mental health. Sleep helps regulate the chemicals in our brain that transmit information. These chemicals have an important role in managing our moods and emotions. If we don’t get enough sleep, we can start to feel depressed or anxious.
There Is No Magic About Building Well-Being
These methods, among many others, can take time to start improving your wellbeing and mental health. But remember that being realistic and setting achievable goals for yourself is the key. You CAN make life more pleasurable, you CAN strengthen your relationship with your loved ones, you CAN improve your wellbeing. The truth is, most people struggle with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But the more time we work on these skills, the easier it is to be resilient, and continue moving forward.
