Secret of Mental Health, How To Improve Mental Health?

The mental health is just as important and vital for a sound mind as it is for a healthy physical body. A healthy body can only be home to a healthy mind – this is something that we have all heard at least once in our lifetime. So what is the actual connection between the mind and body? How does one affect the other and vice versa? In this article, we explore the possible connection between human mind and body and everything that is relevant to it.

Connection Between Mind and Body

You must have heard that helping your body stay in good shape and health is also directly proportional to helping the mind to stay healthy as well. There is enough scientific evidence to support this fact too. When you are strongly encouraged to maintain an active physical lifestyle, you are actually being told to benefit your body and mind too.

· Promotes Supply of Oxygen To The Brain
The more physically active you are, the more amount of oxygen reaches out to your mind and helps it to function optimally.

· Mind Controls The Body
The human brain actually controls all functions of the human body. Hence, even if you want to raise your arm to hold a cup of coffee and drink it, the mind will send signals to your body to do so.

· Boosts Endorphins Level
Being physically active helps you to increase the endorphins levels in the human brain. This chemical release promotes the feeling of happiness.

· Active Lifestyle Correlated To Happier Mood
People who are physically active and enjoy a healthy lifestyle tend to also feel happier and stay in good spirits.

· Physical Well-Being Helps To Battle Mental Illness
Mental illness is on the rise these days. People have weak relationships and so many stressors that it all ends up in making them mentally weak and ill. To battle mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and stress, it is strongly advised to engage in more vigorous physical activity. Likewise, depression and stress can adversely impact your physical well-being too.

· Active Lifestyle Related To Intelligence
A recent research study has been published by the National Academy of Sciences that states that an active lifestyle is a direct predictor of higher intelligence levels. So the more active you are physically, the more you will be able to reason and solve problems.

Mental And Physical Fitness Is Important

As human beings, we have always been overly concerned about the physical condition and state of ourselves. Whether it is appearance or physical well-being, physical health is paid much deserved attention for as long as one can remember. Metal fitness has however, come into the limelight only recently. The importance of mental and physical fitness is undeniable. Both are interlinked to one another and are individually pivotal as well.

Mental And Physical Health As We Age

Aging is an irreversible and unstoppable process. It is a natural phenomenon that needs to be accepted as it is. However, the truth is that physical health deteriorates as we age and the mental health also goes down the lane as well. The mental and physical health declines only if it is left unattended to. Many people who pay attention to the physical health often tend to ignore the mental health. If attention is given to the mental health and its good condition is maintained, the brain stays health in the long run too.

Impact of Poor Mental Health On Body

For decades, mental health and well-being failed to get the rightful attention that it deserved. However, in the recent year’s post-2000 we have seen a significant rise in the awareness for mental health amongst the people. These days, all of us are equally concerned about our minds as we are for our bodies. However, there is still so much left to be learnt and explored about the mental and emotional health in connection with the human mind. The impact of poor and adverse mental health on the human brain is real and cannot be denied or overlooked.
Just to begin with, the poor emotional and mental health can make your physical immune system very weak. Being stressed for instance increases your chances to get a cold by 3 times.
Let’s explore some of the common things that are experienced by the human body as a result of poor emotional and mental health condition.

• Stress and depression leads to severe muscle pain in the shoulders, back of the neck, chest and down the spine. Although stress is not something that you can see but the impact it has on your body is pretty evident.
• High blood pressure also known as hypertension is a common symptom or outcome of poor mental health. You think too much, worry a lot, have too much stress on your head and shoulders – you are most likely going to complain of hypertension. The first thing that patients with high blood pressure are told to avoid is in fact stress.
• Insomnia is a mental condition in which the person is unable to go to sleep for hours, days or even weeks. Lack of sleep not only adversely affects the mind but also the body too. Insomnia often results in weight loss, dark eye bags, headaches, shoulder muscle pain and visual eyesight issues as well.
• Weight gain and loss is also a common outcome of depression. Whilst depression is in the head and weight loss or gain is on the body, both are deeply connected to one another.
• The sex life is also not secure from mental health issues. Infertility and the ability to get an erection during sexual intercourse for men is commonly reportedly as a common outcome of shock, stress or depression.
• Cardiac health problems are also commonly reported for people who have a poor or deteriorating mental health.

Nutrition Impacts Mind

We eat for our body but by doing so we are also fueling our minds. A healthy and nutritional diet reduces the risks of health threats and it also boosts the well-being of our brain. We all associate eating well with reduced risk of diabetes, hypertension and cancer for instance. However, little is it known that by eating clean and healthy we are also fighting mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and many other health problems.

Sleep Impacts Physical Behavior

Sleep is the resting position of your mind. The need of sleep for well-being of physical and emotional health is pivotal. Some people compromise on their sleep without realizing the adverse impact it would have not only on your mind but body too. Lack of sleep results in an unexplainable rise in the hormone levels. The elevated hormonal levels cause your mood and stress to become worse with time. Moreover, the lack of adequate sleep is also linked to many emotional well-being concerns including depression, anxiety and suicidal behavior.

How To Improve Mental Health?

Since there is such an important connection between the mental and physical health, it is therefore very strongly advised to work on improving your mental well-being. By working on improving your mental health you will not only benefit your mind but your body too. There are many ways in which you can work on improving your emotional well-being.

1. Be More Expressive About Your Thoughts And Emotions
The thoughts and emotions that build up inside our head can clog both our body and mind. There are many times when we prefer to keep the feelings of depression, sadness bouts and anxiety inside us rather than expressing them. The result is not only poor mental health but also much adverse impact on the physical well-being as well. A very important thing to do is to talk more. Be vocal about what you are thinking and how you are feeling. Share your sentiments, thoughts and emotions with your family, near and dear ones.

2. Lead A Well-Balanced Life
Another very important thing that you need to do is lead a life that is well-balanced. You cannot expect to be too hyper, too dull, too extrovert or too introvert and call it normal. Balance is the key to a sound mind and healthy body. You should never go to low or high extremes about anything in life. It is best to lead a well-balanced life with everything in much rightful proportion.

3. Take Care of Your Body And Mind
We work so hard in life, do hours and hours of work on daily basis only to create a good life for ourselves and family. However, what we fail to do is take care of ourselves and this results in us being unable to enjoy all that we worked so hard to earn in life. It is hence so important to take care of your body and mind. Meditate, exercise, eat well, sleep well, pamper yourself and stay calm. This is all so important to ensure you are always in a great space of head and physical condition.

 
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