Mental Health Matters
Our mental health is the basis of how we think, react and respond to different things and people in our environment so we all should know how to get and maintain good mental health.
Definition
According to mentalhealth.gov, mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act and also helps to determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence right into adulthood. When we encounter mental health problems, our thinking, mood and behaviours can be greatly affected.
Factors that Contribute to Mental Health Problems
For everything that we experience in life there is a cause and an effect and when it comes to mental health, it’s no different. Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry, traumatic life experiences such as abuse, crime and violence and or a family history of mental health problems are all things to consider.
Early Warning Signs of Mental Health Issues
If you or someone you know is experiencing one or more of the following feelings or behaviours, it may be an indication of a mental health issue.
- Eating or sleeping too much or not enough
- Pulling away from people and usual activities
- Having low/no energy or interest to do things you usually enjoy
- Feeling numb like nothing matters
- Feeling helpless/hopeless
- Smoking, drinking or using drugs
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on the edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
- Yelling or fighting with family and friends
- Having severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
- Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head
- Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
- Thinking of harming yourself or others
- Inability to perform daily tasks like going to work or school
Mental Wellness
When we are mentally well, we are able to realize our full potential, positively cope with the stresses of life, work productively and make meaningful contributions to our communities. We also want to live life fully and with purpose instead of just existing.
Tips for Good Mental Health & Wellness
These tips can help you to build or maintain good mental health and are in no particular order so please use what you can.
- Get to know yourself so you can tell when something is off with you
- Exercise faith and prayer
- Build your tribe of supportive people
- Exercise
- Seek professional help if you need it from guidance counselors, a trusted pastor or therapist
- Be patient with yourself
- Speak kindly to yourself
- Eat healthy foods
- Spend some time in nature
- Pay attention to your thoughts and keep them positive
- Help others, it will make you feel better
- Get enough sleep
- Start a daily journal, express yourself through music, art or poetry
- Consume positive content often
Your Mental Health Matters
If you don’t have good mental health, your quality of life is reduced to almost nothing so do your best to take care of your mind first so that everything else can fall into place in your life. Feel free to check out mentalhealth.gov for more supporting information as some of the content shared here came from that website and this article just briefly covered mental health.