What Is Mental Health? How Can We Understand It Better?

Mental Health:

Mental health includes our emotional, physical, and social well-being. Mental health affects your way of thinking, behavior, and acting. Our mental condition or mental state changes how we perceive things, which can easily affect our health. It transforms our way of living, our work, and, most significantly, our relationships. Mental health is essential in every stage of life, whether it’s your childhood, adolescence, adulthood, or aging. It is high time we consider its significance and talk about it regularly. Mental health or mental illness is nothing to be ashamed even being ashamed of it will make it worse. Mental health is essential for leading a happy and stress-free life

Everyone has their fair share of mental health issues. Everyone has some mental health issue; it doesn’t make us weak or spineless. Still, it makes us more potent than ever because of the daily problems, like the stress we face in our relationships or the frustrations we face in our work environment. And the pain of not having enough money to fulfill our family’s needs, or the helplessness in this high inflation and being anxious daily to meet ends meet. I understand you because I am with you. I am at the same level of mental breakdown. You are not alone.

But there are some ways I always overcome it for my daughter and my family for my own mental peace. Because self-love is the best kind of love, why don’t you brace yourself and shower yourself with love? Do something for yourself or do some activity you love in the olden days

so it makes you feel younger and you will overlook all your worries. For me writing always make me feel better. I have numerous obligations as a wife, a mother, and a daughter-in-law, but I always manage to take some time for myself, whether for 10 minutes or 1 or 2 hours. Because if I don’t take this time for myself, then ill be lashing out at everyone, and I don’t need it.

I know it’s hard for you because mental issues will attack you in all forms, whether depression, anxiety, panic attack or anxiety attack, or worse mental breakdown. In the following paragraphs, I’ll explain some activities or self-love that always make me better about myself, and I hope it’ll help you conquer your goal of reaching peace with your mental health.

1.STAY CONNECTED WITH OTHER:

Having friends and other social connections is good for your health and well-being. Social connection and talking to others lower the risk of depression and anxiety, help us regulate our emotions, increase empathy, and improve our immune system. By ignoring our need to connect, we only put our health at risk.

It is difficult for some people to open up to their family and friends. In this scenario, stay connected with someone through social media. Talk to someone; it’ll make you feel better. And once you demolish your barrier to speaking, it’ll be comfortable for you to speak to your friends and family.

For me, the most comfortable I ever feel talking is my sister. She always stays connected with me for my emotional well-being; truthfully, I have no filter when speaking to her. The bond we share is unimaginable. Through all my most traumatic experiences, she was there for me. Talking to someone always makes it feel better, I’m advising you. Be thankful to Almighty for all the people around you who treasure you and want to connect with you.

2.ACKNOWLEDGE NEGATIVE FEELINGS AND EMOTION:

Remember one thing negative emotions are crucial to well-being. But not all negative feelings and emotions are good for health as they create the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness, which generate chronic stress resulting in poor immunity. Acknowledge your feelings one at a time. For example:

• Write a journal and name It a feeling journal
• Name your emotions and navigate your feelings and start your sentence with “I feel joy/sadness/angry” whatever you feel.
• Name your emotions; how many different emotions can you name
• Act courageously with negative feelings
• Note something good about yourself habitually

Go and grab a journal to navigate your feelings. Nothing in this mortal world is unimportant; even the littlest emotion we feel is essential. I have owned my “feeling journal” for like two years, and it permanently settled my feelings; not better, but it makes me a better person today than I was tomorrow.

3.MANAGE STRESS WELL:

Controlling and managing long-term stress can reduce your risk for other conditions like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and depression. You can handle or relieve stress by Planning ahead. Choosing which tasks to do first. Stress is a feeling of

emotional and physical tension. It may come in many forms, like some event triggers your mind or thoughts that make you enraged and frustrated. Physical exercises are an excellent way to release some stress. Go for a walk; it’ll give you time to process and do yoga or mindful exercises. Or you can install some mind-refreshing applications on your cell phone. In this way, where ever you are, you will be able to do some mind-refreshing or stress-free exercises. Stress-free exercises are deep breathing and will make you feel some control over your stress.

Do eat well. Have a balanced diet. And take some time for yourself to regulate your sentiments and feelings. Stress can be damaging in many ways, but if you have some “me time,” it will improve everything. And last but not least, work smarter, not harder.

4.RESPECT YOURSELF:

This topic will be lengthy as I have a list of some things you can do to respect yourself. Respecting yourself means taking care of yourself socially, emotionally, physically, and mentally. If you have a mental illness, you will find it challenging and even impossible, but take one step at a time.

I know you can and will do it

• First, you need to stop comparing yourself with everyone. Even though I still reach myself with some girls, I know I have some excellent qualities, and everybody is imperfect, so why am I beating myself to be perfect? Admire yourself.
• Start saying NO. don’t do anything out of your comfort zone. It is good to give yourself some space. Saying no does not upset relationships. It can be helpful to keep saying no, but in different ways, until they get the message.
• Stop criticizing yourself. Ask yourself, would I talk to a loved one or friend this way? We need to stop beating ourselves up and be kinder to ourselves.
• Give yourself a challenge. Sometimes we are afraid to do something to please people. Respect yourself and give yourself a goal. And you will be able to do something daring.
• Surround yourself with supportive and positive people. They will respect and appreciate you. Optimistic people tend to make everyone feel good about themselves. They don’t care to criticize your choice and doing. They have a positive impact.

5.DON’T SKIMP ON SLEEP:

Skimping on Sleep may allow late-night workers, conversation, or binge-watching. But it may trigger depression and anxiety, or other mental conditions. Sleep deficiency affects our ability of decision making. It also makes us irritable and can cause other chronic issues or hormone imbalances. Inadequate Sleep can also affect our academic education, work life, and relationships. As you can see, Sleep and mental health are closely connected.

• Sleep is one of the pillars of health, along with diet and exercise. Set aside eight hours for Sleep just like you would for work, mealtimes, or an exercise class.
• A relaxing routine each night helps your brain produce melatonin, a hormone associated with Sleep. Try dimming the lights, reading a book, or having a hot tea. Equally as important is a consistent wake time every morning. And yes, that means weekends too.
• Watching TV or scrolling through TikTok before bed may be tempting, but the light emitted from screens suppresses melatonin production. Try turning off those screens an hour or two before bed and switching to a book instead.
• Try to limit caffeine consumption to one or two daily servings, and don’t have any past noon. Caffeine is a stimulant and can take hours to wear off.
• Regular physical activities can help you get better rest at night and even help soothe sleep-related problems. However, avoid exercising too close to bedtime, or you may become too energized to fall asleep.

CONCLUSION:

I aim to provide some light on the topic of mental health, and if you are suffering from it, my article will help you. I also struggle with mental health issues. But it doesn’t make you weaker it makes you stronger. It also allows you to lead a happy life. You have to balance it. Because of misconceptions surrounding mental health issues, people often suffer in silence and don’t seek treatment for their conditions. Mental well-being is essential for affected and non-affected. As Julian Seifter has said, “You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle.”