Mental wellbeing and healthy lifestyle choices are both important and both will impact your overall health. Mental health includes how you feel generally, how you handle stressful situations and how you manage life in general, including decision making. And that might involve how and when you go for some Fair Go bonus codes. Mental health and the lifestyle choices you make are connected in many ways as we will see below.
Lifestyle choices and mental wellbeing
It is good to choose healthy practices like having a positive mindset, eating healthy foods and exercising and these things maintain and improve our overall wellbeing. But often mental health issues sometimes require more than simple lifestyle management.
Some people suffer from depression and/or anxiety or addictions of some kind. All these issues impact our mental wellbeing. Some lifestyle changes can play a major part in improving, and may even prevent disorders from developing in the first place.
Issues contributing to mental health disorders
Mental disorders play a big part in many people’s lives. According to the Center for Disease Control, over 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental health problem during their lifetime. Our mental health is not fixed and as we proceed through life it can change.
There are many reasons why mental disorders occur and they are far from straightforward. There is a link between mental health and lifestyle, but there are other factors involved like biology, lived experiences and the history of your family’s health.
Biology
There is ongoing research on the many biological causes of mental disorders. We know that mental health and lifestyle choice is often out of our control and research continues to help us understand how mental disorders develop.
Some of the biological factors that impact mental health are as follows:
- Chemical breakdowns or imbalances
- Brain infections
- Brain defects or brain injury
- Damage to the brain during birth, ie lack of oxygen
- Inadequate nutrition
- Being exposed to toxins in the environment
Mental health is also subject to family heredity and genetics. If there is a history of mental illness in the family then the risk of developing mental illness is higher. These are things that we have little control over. However, lifestyle changes may help to reduce some disorders associated with biology.
Personal life experiences
People who are continuously faced with difficult or stressful situations are more likely to develop some form of mental health disorder.
Therefore, those who have gone through a traumatic experience, be it child abuse or sexual abuse, being the recipient or witness of continual violence, living through a war situation or some natural disaster or being homeless and living consistently in poverty. Losing a loved one can also impact mental health and cause some mental disorders to develop.
These mental health disorders that are the result of some life experience are not necessarily permanent. Often, with time and support these disorders, like depression, can dissipate and perhaps never occur again. However, this is not always the case. We often see people with post-traumatic stress disorder getting worse over time and it is important for these people to get more therapeutic help.
Genetics and family history
The family into which you were born plays a big role in determining your physical and mental health. Genetics play a big part in determining whether you are at risk of developing a mental illness. If a family member has a mental disorder, the risk of you also developing an illness is higher.
Children brought up by a parent with a mental disorder and living in an unpredictable environment are also more likely to develop some mental disorder due to the instability that they have experienced.
In addition, children that learn bad habits such as poor nutrition or are raised by parents that may be suffering from addiction or are self-medicating have a higher risk of developing some form of mental disorder.
A healthy lifestyle and its effect on mental health
We know how important lifestyle is for your physical health. For instance, lack of exercise, smoking and poor eating habits increase the risk for all kinds of physical ailments. The same is true for your mental health. Your lifestyle choices will impact your mental wellbeing so choosing healthy ones will certainly benefit you.
What is a positive lifestyle made up of?
A healthy lifestyle does include good nutrition and regular physical exercise but it also involves other things such as the following:
- Managing stress
- Nurturing good relationships
- Looking after your health, good habits
- Being involved with a community
- Enjoying a good work/life balance
The connection between the body and the mind
There is a real link between body and mind. We often see the physical results or symptoms of mental illnesses. For example, someone suffering from depression can also have physical symptoms like fatigue or problems with digestion to name only two. Choosing healthy lifestyle habits will put you in a better position to manage any challenges that may present themselves to you.
Ways to enhance your mental health by improving your lifestyle
- Changing to an anti-inflammatory diet promotes good physical and brain health.
- Regular exercise is good for your mental health and physical health.
- Educate yourself on what it takes to reduce stress in your life and improve your overall mental and physical wellbeing.
- Make sure that you get enough sleep. Having a good sleep routine is crucial for emotional and mental health.
- Having a good support system is vital for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- Keeping a journal is an excellent way to manage stress in your life and to better understand your own thought processes.
