Mental health and wellness have an impact on every area of your life, from your physical well-being to your social interactions to how you move forward with your life and career goals. Problems in this area can affect your health as well as your social and psychological wellbeing. You can attain Mental Wellness, but like physical health, it's something you need to work at with small steps that take your life in a more positive direction. The mind-set re-evaluation at Naples Vitality in Naples, FL can help you overcome psychological barriers to fulfilling your potential.
Your mental wellbeing affects every area of your life because it shapes how you respond to the stresses and challenges you face every day. It also gives you the resilience and positive outlook needed to be productive in your career and fulfill your life goals. Because your mental health also affects your physical wellbeing, good mental health helps you stay physically fit and active.
The reverse is also true, and if you are experiencing mental health problems, they will spill over into other areas of your life. In fact, they can completely take over your life, holding you back from fulfilling your potential. It's a little like falling into a pit, and sometimes you need some help getting out.
People can experience mental health problems at any stage of their lives. They can affect children, teens, adults and seniors. Mental health problems disrupt emotional and behavioral patterns, which will have a ripple effect. Mental health problems are never just limited to the individual but affect the family, community and workplace as well.
Someone suffering these mental health issues may withdraw from social interactions and become moody, disorganized or distracted. This will have an impact on the well-being and safety of others, as well. Mental and physical wellness, on the other hand, help you become the best you can be for yourself and towards your family and community.
Mental health problems can be caused by many different factors, including biological issues, negative life experiences and family history. Genetic inheritance can cause problems to surface, as can brain chemistry.
Physical or mental trauma and abuse can also push people down the steep slope. However, it's important to know that people can and do recover completely. The road to Mental Wellness can be a difficult one, and it helps to have support from qualified professionals, family, friends and community.
Mental health problems can affect every part of a person's life. There are usually some early warning signs that individuals and their family, friends, co-workers and neighbors can identify. These include changes in emotional and behavioral patterns, such as withdrawing from social interactions and experiencing mood swings. Feelings of helplessness may manifest in fights and arguments.
Difficulties may appear in family and work relationships. Changes in eating and sleeping patterns, addictive behavior like smoking, drinking and taking drugs, and the inability to perform basic daily tasks can all be due to mental health problems. Physically, the person may have very low energy and experience aches and pains without any apparent cause. In extreme cases, hallucinations may occur.
All of these are warning signs that the individual needs help to pull out of a state of depression. Feelings of being alone can be both a cause and a symptom of mental illness and reflect the reality that it can be difficult to start the journey towards Mental Wellness alone. Fortunately, there is help available so you can re-evaluate your mindset and live more positively. There are many steps you can take, on your own and with professional help, that will help you move your life forward in a positive direction.
Like physical wellness, you need to make an effort to achieve good mental health. There are some tried and tested methods, and these include getting professional help, connecting with others, physical activity appropriate to your age and fitness level, getting better sleep, etc. Help and support from qualified professionals and the important people in your daily life can get you back on your feet, metaphorically speaking, and moving towards your life goals.
One of the best ways to achieving good mental health is by connecting with others. This can be through social interactions, volunteering to help those in need, joining a sports team, or building a support network. Over time, it is possible to learn coping skills that can help us transcend the stresses of living and withstand major life challenges.
Building a regular routine and a positive lifestyle will help you regain control over your emotions and actions and thereby over your life. Even small steps can help and add up towards achieving a major goal.
There are some field-tested strategies for achieving good mental health. It takes some effort on your part to begin and maintain a routine of positivity, however. You can take some of these steps yourself, while for others you may need professional help and support. It's never too late to start, and you can begin implementing any of these steps today:
Our surroundings have a major influence on our mental state and physical well-being. Negative events and memories live on in our subconscious and affect our actions and choices. You can make a conscious decision to make your environment a positive one; to free yourself of negative influences.
This can mean spending more time with pets and people you care for, focusing your reading and entertainment choices on positive and uplifting books, films, television shows and music, and thinking carefully about all the things for which you are grateful. Spending time in the garden or other natural surroundings is another way of bringing positive feelings into your life.
This does not mean that you should turn your back on the pain and suffering of others but that you should have a way of handling these in your life. In some ways, you are creating an emotional safe zone for yourself to give you the ability to deal with negative news and emotions. By isolating and identifying negative elements, you can handle them instead of letting them control you.
Mindfulness is another time-tested strategy for dealing with negative emotions. It means making a conscious decision to be aware of and living in the present moment and to make conscious choices instead of going through your life on autopilot. Mindfulness lets you recognize and identify negative happenings and emotions and prevents them from controlling you.
Like most important things, mindfulness takes practice, and there are plenty of books, online resources and apps that can help you regain control over your own thoughts and actions.
This is one of the biggest steps you can take towards emotional well-being. Positivity begins with having compassion for yourself, which you can then extend to others. Feelings of self-hate are a common sign of mental health problems, and these must be overcome. Most people are their own worst critics, and can talk, criticize and ridicule themselves into silence and inaction.
The key to building self-esteem is compassion for your own faults. Learn to forgive your mistakes and seek out your own positive attributes and achievements. Like mindfulness, you can learn self-compassion. You can find books that will guide you through the process or seek professional help. Self-compassion is also the foundation for loving others.
We are hard-wired to help others, and there is biological evidence that helping others produces a “feel good” chemical reaction in the brain. Mental health professionals call this the “helpers' high”, and you can reach this by helping others. Pick a cause and set aside time each week to volunteer. You can visit the elderly, read to kids at the public library, or help out at the local animal rescue and shelter.
You can also express your love for others by doing things for the people in your life. Apart from the ethical value of such actions, they have actual physical wellbeing benefits as well. Doing good deeds will actually reduce stress and lower blood pressure, and scientific studies have shown that altruism is correlated with a longer life expectancy.
Mental and physical wellness are closely connected. Mental health professionals nowadays emphasize exercise and nutrition as much as other kinds of treatment for depression and mental illness. A balanced diet and regular exercise are important steps that you can take. By cutting out unhealthy foods in your diet, like sugar and starchy foods, you can shift your mood and feelings in a positive direction.
Exercise releases endorphins, which are “feel good” hormones. Just 10 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day can help lift your mood. You don't need any elaborate equipment or even a gym membership. You can just take a quick walk or run or turn up the music and dance. Exercise will help you sleep better, which in turn helps to regulate the emotions.
While you can start all of the steps discussed above on your own, you may need professional help to turn your life towards true Mental Wellness. A professional mindset re-evaluation can help you identify the kinds of changes that will be most beneficial. Professional guidance can cover areas like stress management, personality development, and creating a healthy lifestyle. You can also receive help in developing daily rituals for a positive mindset.
Professional guidance will help you identify those areas of your life where you can begin to make positive changes. These might seem like small steps but will help you become the best version of yourself. A happier and healthier life is the key to achieving your life goals and your full potential.
You may receive advice on creating a healthier weekly menu that will contribute to your physical and emotional wellbeing. Your wellness professionals may also recommend some dietary supplements as well as lifestyle changes. They may help you plan out a physical fitness routine, a sleep schedule that lets you get enough rest, and reminders to stay hydrated.
If you feel you need professional help in starting your journey to Mental Wellness, call to schedule a consultation with the practitioners at Naples Vitality in Naples, FL. You'll find the support you need to make lifestyle changes and to maintain your new and positive routines. Achieving mental and physical wellness will help you face up to challenges in all areas of life.
Known for his successful approach towards chronic wellness issues, Dr. Linell King and the team at Naples Vitality combine an integrative, functional medicine approach informed by advanced lab testing.
Our unique approach to diagnosing and resolving chronic health issues recognizes that lasting health depends on resolving the underlying root causes of your symptoms. Click here to learn more »
One of the unique aspects of Naples Vitality is that we look at the body in a holistic manner... evaluating the imbalances between different organ systems, rather than looking at organs in isolation.
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