How to Take Control of your Mental Health
Here are a few tips to help you manage your mental health more confidently if you frequently feel confused, unfulfilled, or as if something is “missing” and it occasionally causes you some degree of distress.
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For the vast majority of the history of modern medicine, “health” was essentially understood to be the absence of disease. If you weren’t sick, you were healthy, mental health was viewed in the same way: if you weren’t a crazy person, you were thought to be mentally well.
But as science in medicine and psychology developed, it became obvious that mental health included a wider range of emotional and social factors that don’t necessarily have much to do with mental illness. Including personally (psychologically, emotionally, cognitively, etc.) and interpersonally, (community and family, romantic relationships, professional fulfillment, etc.).
The way we handle stress, make decisions, how interact with others, our sense of fulfillment and purpose in the world, and the list goes on.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
GENETICS
According to studies, our genes significantly influence how healthy and how mentally we are. For instance, nearly 50% of your help us make determine your baseline level of happiness by your genes. You’ll probably have the propensity to be a grumpy lunatic if your parents were grumpy lunatics.
Of course, you also have a larger risk of developing a mental disease if a close relative of yours does.
Before you start thinking that this seems a little too fatalistic, keep in mind that a sizable portion of the environmental influences that affect your mental health are also within your control.
LIFE EXPERIENCES AND TRAUMA
Shocking news: traumatic events and extremely negative experiences might damage you.
You’re more likely to have good mental health if you have great things, such as a job you like, friends and family you can depend on, and a healthy body. Your mental health will suffer if you despise yourself, your life, and the people in it.
Trauma of some kind is inevitable. We all experience failure in some fashion. According to research, almost everyone goes through at least four or five traumatic experiences in their lifetime. Any number of things, from losing a job to losing a loved one, health concerns, or, in extreme circumstances, physical and psychological abuse, could fall under this category.
The intensity of a trauma’s effects on us can also vary depending on when it occurs. Early-life trauma has a greater probability of causing issues throughout our lives. However, adulthood trauma can also have a detrimental impact.
But, even how awful it is, trauma doesn’t have to ruin us for as long as it does. The majority of people don’t even notice when trauma affects their mental health. In reality, it appears that tragedy can encourage personal growth for the majority of people.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
Here are a few tips to help you manage your mental health more confidently if you frequently feel confused, unfulfilled, or as if something is “missing” and it occasionally causes you some degree of distress.
CREATE DEEPER SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
Having a strong social network is one of the best indicators of mental wellness.
All of these things will only temporarily improve your mood: money, sex, prestige, and status. You’ll soon return to the miserable same point.
You shouldn’t seek out external sources of approval to fill a sense of emptiness, I promise. I’ve already done that. I’ve got vomit stains as proof.
Instead, having a social and psychological safety net of just a few individuals, or even just one person, to turn to when things go hard. The fact is that connections like these need to be maintained over time.
DEVELOP HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS
Almost always, implementing good living practices into your day will be beneficial to your mental health. After all, the only reason the “mind-body” connection exists is that the brain is a component of the body. Therefore, caring for your body also means caring for your brain.
The big areas too, actually, like for real focus on are:
· GET SOME SLEEP
· EXERCISE
· HEALTHY EATING
MEDITATE
You can discover harmful thinking patterns and explore them more thoroughly with the aid of meditation. It helps you become more aware of both your body and your inner dialogue. It can assist you in slowing down, thinking deeply, and being more present while being less reliant on life’s ups and downs daily.
SPEND TIME IN NATURE
You may improve both your mental and physical health by spending time in nature. It could be as easy as taking a couple of weekly walks through a nearby park (double gold star for combining with fitness).
Whatever it is, being in nature just seems to quiet people down, especially those of us who live our entire lives in busy, noisy city environments.
It helps me better understand the scope of everything — my life, my issues, etc. — for myself. You come to understand that you are a component of something that is much larger than yourself and that remains long after you are gone.
GET PROFESSIONAL HELP
Your mental health cannot be cured by a magic pill. But even little adjustments in the areas I’ve so far mentioned can make a big difference.
You could feel the need for assistance from outside sources even after that. If this is the case, I urge you to consider counseling while continuing to lead a better lifestyle.
Even while therapy is not a cure for your problems, it can be a useful tool for helping you get to a position where you can better control your mental health.
