Healthy Mental Health Choices - Dr. Sangeetha Madhu, Aayesha Bano and Neha Vishwakarma

Mental health influences each and every part of our lives and thus, maintaining mental well-being is an important part of everyday life, and needs to prioritized. Mental health includes the health of one’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors, lifestyles, and relationships, and not just being free of mental illnesses. It is an important determining factor about how we feel and think, handle stress, relate to others, make choices and cope with life. Thus, it becomes very important to make choices in our daily lives to ensure that we take care of our mental health and preserve it.

There are a number of small and quick everyday choices we can make to enhance our mental health and life:

·            Staying positive and having a balance between positive and negative emotions

·            Taking a break from negativity and negative information.

·            Practicing gratitude - being thankful for the good things in life, big or small.

·            Taking care of one’s physical health – exercise, diet, etc.

·            Building social connections, developing strong healthy relationships with others.

·            Developing coping skills to deal with stressful situations.

·            Practicing mindfulness and relaxation techniques.

·            Experiencing life eventsfully.

·            Developing a sense of meaning in life.

·            Creating a healthy lifestyle.

These practices act as protection from the stressors of daily life. However, sometimes the stressors can overpower our resources to deal with them and lead us to experience symptoms of mental distress, such as difficulty sleeping, change in appetite, unwanted weight changes, lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, loss of interest in thing that one usually enjoys and inability to perform daily activities and responsibilities, to name a few. In such situations, it is important to seek support from other people and professionals. In case you are unsure of from where to seek help or treatment, you can start by contacting a primary health care provider. Making healthy mental health choices is the key to maintain well-being, and now is it the best time to take steps towards a better life.

References

Medline Plus. (n.d.). How to Improve Mental Health. https://medlineplus.gov/howtoimprovementalhealth.html

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (n.d.). Caring for Your Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-for-your-mental-health

NHS website. (2022, March 28). 5 steps to mental wellbeing. Nhs.Uk. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/

Self-Care - Dr. Sangeetha Madhu, Aayesha Bano and Neha Vishwakarma

Self-care, or practicing to take care of ourself and our body, is an essential part of taking care of oneself. It is a process of engagement in multidimensional strategies to promote healthy functioning and enhancing well-being. Regularly fueling your body with healthy, nutrient-dense food and taking care of your basic physical and mental health needs is a part of self-care.

There are a number of domains that one can cover to ensure care of mind, body and spirit. These include:

·      Physical care: This would include having a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, indulging in required physical activity, and taking care of illnesses and ailments appropriately.

·      Mental care: This might include doing things that keep us mentally sharp and active, for e.g., solving puzzles, reading a book, or any activity that keeps the mind engaged and intrigued.

·      Emotional care: This would involve dealing with uncomfortable emotions like anger, anxiety, or sadness. This can be done by indulging in activities that help one acknowledge and express one’s feelings regularly and in a safe space, or in activities that help processing emotions.

·      Social care: This includes maintaining close connections with friends and family, by investing appropriate time and efforts in the relationships.

·      Spiritual care: Nurturing the spirit is equally important, and that can be practiced by involving in anything that helps one develop a deeper sense of meaning and understanding of self.

Self-care can be practiced in many ways – from ensuring a good night sleep every night and an early morning walk every day, to consulting a professional for healthcare. Self-care helps to build resilience towards stressors in life that one is unable to prevent. Having an effective self-care routine can lead to a number of benefits such as reducing anxiety and depression, improving happiness, increasing energy, reducing burnout, developing stronger interpersonal relationships, finding a sense of purpose in life and also increasing the overall quality of life.

References

Martínez, N., Connelly, C. D., Pérez, A., & Calero, P. (2021). Self-care: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 8(4), 418–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2021.08.007

Mental Health America. (n.d.). Taking Good Care of Yourself. https://mhanational.org/taking-good-care-yourself.

Scott, E. (2022, May 23). 5 Self-Care Practices for Every Area of Your Life. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/self-care-strategies-overall-stress-reduction-3144729