Our mental health is one of the most delicate parts of our wellbeing. Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social health. This aspect of our life controls how we think, feel, interact with people, make choices and handle life in general. Here are 5 ways to develop and care for your mental health.
Stay Positive
Positivity is the key to sanity. Thinking negative thoughts can cause depression, panic and anxiety, which is detrimental to your mental health. This does not mean that you cannot feel sadness or anger, it simply means that you should control how you react to these emotions. Dwell on things that make you happy, avoid unhealthy discussions and remain optimistic about life.
Take care of your physical health
Your mental health is greatly affected by your physical habits. Research has shown that physical wellbeing improves cognitive function and increases your life span. Being continuously ill can create a sense of worthlessness and keep you worried. So try to avoid habits that will make you ill or unhappy. Avoid sedentary life practices, eat good food that nourishes the brain, get enough sleep and reduce stress as much as you can.
Interact with people
Most of the time we get carried away with technology and social media that we forget to interact with real people. Watching TV all day long is bad for your mental health. Your social skills are pivotal to your mental wellbeing. Sedentary habits or being lonely creates a lot of room for destructive thoughts. So make new friends, go on camping trips, spend time with family and friends to boost your social skills.
Learn new skills
Keeping the brain active is one way to exercise it. When you have something new to learn it gets you excited, which is a positive emotion. Learning new skills can also help to boost self-worth and self-confidence. It helps to develop a sense of purpose because you have something to look forward to. So learn a new skill or pick up a challenge that will involve your cognitive function.
Avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs
Excessive drinking reduces your thiamine level which can cause severe memory problems, coordination problems and confusion. Smoking is also one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Drugs often leave you depressed and in withdrawal. In the long run, all these bad habits will affect your mental health which will affect your social and emotional wellbeing.
When dealing with mental health, you have to be careful of developing habits and subscribing to bad practices. The brain keeps a lot of information so try to feed and educate it with good information and habits that will keep you healthy.