Promoting mental health: beyond illness
By Melanie Teves Bell, Ed.S., LMFT
Why should you worry about having a positive outlook on life or choose activities to increase your emotional well being? The answer is simple. It could save your life. Many people make decisions to focus on the positive, begin exercising, and eat better, get more sleep all in an effort to feel better or cope with an illness. Becoming and staying healthy, both physically and emotionally, is not just about taking care of an illness or feeling better, but even more about preventing ourselves from becoming ill or feeling worse. Wellness activities can happen at any stage in life and most are simple to remember everyday.
Tips for promoting mental health
• Talk about your feelings. By putting our feelings into words, it allows us to think more clearly about a situation.
• Be active. Exercising makes us feel better through the release of uplifting chemicals.
• Eat right. Mood and food are essential for good mental health.
• Get enough sleep. Most people need a minimum of eight hours of sleep per night, not only for overall health, but, for instance, your skin will notice the difference too.
• Drink right. Avoid alcoholic beverages before sleep and avoid drinking too much; alcohol is a depressant drug.
• Stay in touch with family, friends and loved ones. Maintaining close relationships helps improve mood through regular social contact.
• Educate yourself. Gain knowledge and understanding about any illness or diagnosis you have been dealing with.
• Seek professional help. Everyone can experience feeling down, anxious, depressed or unable to cope with a situation once in a while. It is normal to seek professional support and guidance from a counselor or even your primary care physician. Sometimes a referral to a psychiatrist may be needed.
• Environment change. Even a small change of scenery can change your mood or lift your spirits and clear your head.
• Thinking matters. Negative thoughts can lead to an unhealthy mood, so stop any negative thinking before it consumes your thoughts.
• Spend time outdoors. Outdoor environments, grassy areas, water, and gardens all help elevate people’s moods. Have you ever seen an unhappy person at the beach?
• Let the light in. Try to get at least short periods of strong daylight each day this has been shown to make a difference in mood.
Tips for Reducing Stress
• Learn to delegate tasks. Ask family or coworkers to help complete parts of a large task or assignment.
• Practice saying “no.” If you are not sure you can do something or already feel overwhelmed, ask for more time or state that now is not a good time.
• Give yourself “me” time. Make time to relax, enjoy a good movie, book, or take a walk.
• Make priorities. Separate “to do” items into what must be done now or what can be done later.
• Recognize small successes. Be positive and give yourself credit if you complete half of what you set yourself out to do each day.
• Breathe. Activate your body’s natural relaxation response by focusing on breathing exercises.
• Try new or different things. Discover new or exciting things to help you relax.
• Stop smoking and reduce caffeine intake. As you can see, positive mental health is influenced by three key factors: you, your environment and life events. The “you” part is associated with your personality which includes coping skills, personal values or beliefs, cultural aspects, social skills and your sense of self-worth or self-esteem. Your environment relates to relationships with family, school, work or social interaction. Life events are things that occur that either positively or negatively affect the way in which we see ourselves and the world around us. To manage your mental health and promote a positive well being, focus on three areas:
1. Change your outlook on life
2. Ask for help when you need it
3. See the strengths, not the weaknesses in yourself and others
The next time a friend, family member or coworker asks “How are you feeling today?” what will your answer be, and how did you get there?