A lifestyle
choice can have a major impact on a person's physical and mental health. Certain lifestyle factors may directly affect brain chemistry
and contribute to mental illness. Mental illnesses are real health issues in the modern era.
Healthy lifestyle choices along with appropriate treatment options will work
more effectively and can help improve your mental health. Let's explore this!
 |
| How does your lifestyle affect your mental health |
How Your
Lifestyle Affects Your Mental Health: 10 Lifestyle Factors That Can Affect Your
Mental Wellbeing
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental
health is a state of wellness that allows the individual to realize his
capabilities and adapt to regular stressful situations and also enables him to
work in producing, effective and contributing to his community and his
environment.
Mental
health is not only free of diseases and disabilities but also a state of
complete physical, mental, psychological, and social integrity.
Mental
health includes social, psychological, and emotional wellness, as it affects
the way of thinking, feeling, and behaving in an individual and also affects
his social life and his decision-making.
Mental
health is not associated with a specific age, but rather is important in all
stages of life from childhood to different stages of maturity.
Lifestyle Choices and
Mental Health
Good mental
health provides a sense of well-being and inner strength and it helps you to
enjoy life and cope with problems.
A healthy
lifestyle can be beneficial for mental health. Healthy
lifestyle choices along with appropriate treatment options will work more
effectively and can help improve your mental health. Thus,
identifying healthy lifestyle options that enhance mental well-being and reduce
psychological problems are beneficial for preventing major psychiatric
disorders.
Eating
healthy foods can improve mood and restore the structural integrity of brain
cells needed for cognitive function.
Getting
enough sleep improves your mental health and makes your body more able to
recover from diseases.
Exercise can
be very effective in treating mental health problems.
Meditation
and relaxation techniques can help improve your ability to control your temper,
tolerate frustration and manage stress and anxiety.
Quitting
smoking and avoiding drug use may be one of the best things to do for your
mental health.
A healthy
relationship can help people avoid depression, anxiety and neurotic personality
traits.
10 Lifestyle Factors
Affecting Mental Health
There are
several factors that affect a person's mental health, way of thinking, behavior
and feeling. Certain lifestyle factors may directly affect brain chemistry and
contribute to mental illness, including:
1. Unhealthy Eating Habits
Unhealthy
eating habits such as insufficient intake or high intake both have negative
effects on our physical and mental health.
Therefore,
it is preferable to stay away from fatty and low-nutritional meals and go to a balanced diet, nutritious food, and focus on foods that stimulate
brain activity, which can positively affect the mood.
Healthy
eating lifestyle and quality of food affect human physical health and thus
the psychological and mental health.
2. Lack of Physical Activity
Not getting
enough physical activity or lack of exercise may affect our mental health and
can cause psychological problems such as dementia and depression.
Exercise
actively contributes to solving mental health problems and helps improve and
adjust the mood and relieve depression, anxiety, and stress. as well.
Exercise or
physical activity is not only important for physical health and weight loss, it
is also highly important for mental health.
It is
important for the individual to try to move as much as possible, such as going
up the ladder instead of using the elevator and going out to practice walking
from time to time instead of using the car.
Studies
indicate that workout and exercising regularly helps improve brain function,
protect memory as well as improve thinking skills.
3. Lack of Sleep
Poor sleep
can have a negative effect on your mental health. Lack of sleep can
dramatically change your mood and provoke relapse and mania.
Sleep
deprivation causes irritation and anger and may reduce your ability to deal
with stress and depression.
Getting
enough sleep needed by the human body and organizing sleep times improves
mental health and makes the body more able to recover from diseases and even
makes the challenges of the day less effective.
4. Poor Physical Health
Poor
physical health may lead to an increased risk of developing mental health
problems. Physical injuries or symptoms can affect what you think, how you
feel, and what you do.
Physical
illness increases the risk of developing severe depressive episodes. Some
physical health conditions such as infections, genetic disorders, congenital
abnormalities, gluten sensitivity, brain injury, spinal cord injury, nerve
injury can lead to specific types of neurological and psychological disorders.
Making
healthy lifestyle changes can help you improve your physical health as well as
your mental health at the same time.
5. Smoking
About half
of the people who suffer from psychological problems are smokers. The health
problems caused by smoking, such as problems of the heart, lungs, and colds,
may lead to mood problems and changes in mental health, so stopping smoking is
one of the best steps to improve mental health.
6. Exposure to Abuse
Exposure to
abuse, whether psychological, physical or sexual, is one of the most important
factors that motivate psychological problems to emerge.
Therefore, a
safe and healthy family and social environment contributes effectively to
achieving mental health.
7. Social Interaction
Social
isolation has long been known as a key trigger for mental illness and can lead
to feelings of loneliness, fear of others, or negative self-esteem.
Remember!
Having a bad company may ruin one's happiness and life. Having a good
friendship shows that you can trust your friends so that they can support you,
spend time with you, and be honest with you.
Spending
time with people you care about and engaging in community and volunteer work
that makes you feel important and influencing others, are the most
important things that are recommended when talking about mental health.
Spending
time with friends significantly improves mood and the love of others makes it
easier to deal with the challenges of daily life.
8. Emotional Attachment
It's natural
to love and want your partner or things. Excessive emotional attachment is
unhealthy when it begins to disrupt your life. In the case of relationships, an
unhealthy emotional attachment can also disrupt your partner's life.
Bad
emotional relationships negatively affect mental health, and it is best to get
rid of them and end them and stay with a partner that makes life look better
and more beautiful.
A healthy
emotional relationship can improve mental health and mood, and contribute to
easing nervous features in the individual's personality.
9. Work Environment
Work is good
for mental health, but staying in a job you hate affects your mental health and
can make your life miserable. A negative work environment can lead to physical
and mental health problems.
Employees,
both men and women, who report workplace stress, work pressures, bullying and
lack of ability to make work-related decisions can be more at risk of
developing depressive symptoms.
A positive
work environment makes employees feel good and excited about coming to work and
understanding their work roles and responsibilities and this provides the
motivation to sustain them throughout the day. When employees are happy and
excited, they invest all their energy to ensure the best results.
10. Meditation and Relaxation
Techniques
Practicing the
wrong meditation technique could be a harmful experience for you and can lead
to waves of anger, fear, or jealousy that are sitting deep inside you, and
this will make you feel uncomfortable.
Unhealthy
relaxation techniques can result in poor concentration, uncontrollable
thoughts, worrying, and difficulty in making decisions.
The
continuous practice of different relaxation and meditation techniques actively
contributes to increasing the ability to endure frustrating situations, deal, and control emotions, and manage anxiety experienced by the individual.