Mental Health Awareness and Care Tips
Sunday, October 10th, marks World Mental Health Day. The overall of objective is to raise awareness of mind wellbeing issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support about it. It is a day for sharing, listening, and advocating. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what it means to be mentally healthy. Plus, share some tips on how to take care of your mind.
What is Mental Health?
Being mentally healthy doesn’t mean you don’t have a mental health problem. Instead, it means you can:
- make the most of your potential
- cope with life
- play a full part in your family, workplace, community and among friends
Ultimately, your mental well-being is just as important as your physical health.
Life is unpredictable: sometimes we feel down or stressed or frightened. Usually, these feelings pass. However, sometimes they develop into a more serious problem. The health of our mind is always changing, growing, reacting, and adapting. There is a stigma about mental illnesses and problems, but it’s healthy to know and say how you’re feeling!
Problems with Well-Being
Mental health problems range from universal worries to serious long-term conditions. Those with the later can still experience life to the fullest, especially if they get help early on.
The symptoms of these problems divide into tow categories:
- Neurotic: severe forms of “normal” emotional experiences such as depression, anxiety, or panic.
- Psychotic: interfere with a person’s perception of reality.
1 in 6 people in the past week experience a common mental health problem. Additionally, anxiety and depression affect 1 in 10 people at any given time. Remember, getting help is the first step. Don’t be afraid to be honest with your feelings.
Good Mental Health
Remember, being mentally healthy does to mean the absence of a mental illness. Rather, it is characterised by a person’s ability to:
- learn
- feel, express and mange a range of positive and negative emotions
- form and maintain good relationships with others
- cope with and manage change and uncertainty
How to Take Care of Your Mind
Are you on the journey of caring for your mental health? Check out these practical tips!
- Talk about your feelings. Having emotions is not a sign of weakness. Instead, talking about them is part of keeping on top of your wellbeing. Sometimes, just being listened to is the support we need.
- Keep active. Exercise release chemicals in your brain that make you feel good. What’s more, regular movement boosts your self-esteem and improves your sleep.
- Eat well. We need a range of nutrients to keep our bodies functioning. Superfoods, like spinach, are wonderful at providing those much needed vitamins and minerals. Also, don’t forget to drink plenty of water!
- Keep in touch. Us humans are social creatures. Therefore, having a support network of people you care about keeps you grounded and helps you to solve practical problems. It’s worth working at relationships that make you feel loved or valued.
- Ask for help. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, reach out to the resources available to you. Use local services to help your with your actionable problems.
- Take a break. A change of scene or pace is excellent for you mental health. What a break actually is varies moment to moment and person to person. Sometimes, you need to be active while other times it means doing nothing at all.
- Do something you’re good at. Enjoying yourself decreased stress levels and boots your self-esteem. Concentrating on a task like gardening, or learning a new skill, helps your forget your worries for a while and change your mood!
- Accept who you are. It’s healthier to accept you’re unique than to wish you were someone else.
- Care for others. Friendship is a symbiotic relationship. Usually, if you’re able to make your friend happy, you make yourself happier in the process.
Take care and remember to reach out to professionals if you need help!
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