Understanding Lifestyle and Mental Health

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Our lifestyle has a major impact on our physical as well as mental health. People around the world face a variety of issues due to their bad lifestyle. The modern world that seems to be beautiful to all of us is also powerfully responsible for causing a high level of anxiety and depression.

Certain factors of lifestyle have a direct impact on the chemistry of our brain. With this, they contribute a lot to our mental illness, which is a real health issue in the modern era. Those with mental health problems stay frustrated and stressed. Many times it becomes tough for them to recognize their condition at the right time. This prevents them from managing the condition and taking preventive actions at the right time.

Many people have a misconception that lifestyle has no link with mental health. But the fact is, the way we live our life, impacts our mental health in different ways. Just like our life, our way of living and habits also change with time. But if you are among those who wonder how lifestyle and mental health impact each other, then here are some things that will help you understand the link between them.

What Is a Healthy Lifestyle?

A healthy lifestyle is a state about which almost all of us have heard a lot of time but pay attention to it as per our individual interests and requirement. As per the WHO, a healthy lifestyle means keeping yourself engaged in regular physical activities, limiting consumption of alcohol, eating healthy food, and refraining from smoking to stay healthy and prevent being overweight. A healthy lifestyle needs consistency and cannot be achieved overnight. It not only just covers physical exercise, but also a variety of other things such as food, preventive healthcare, work, social activity, and relationship with the environment.

Physical Exercise

Physical exercise in the form of walking, jogging, running, weight lifting, etc. all affects our physical as well as mental health. In terms of physical health, physical exercise helps to keep our bodies in shape. It does not just help us maintain our weight but also prevents the risk of a variety of diseases and health problems that results just because of less or no exercise, excess weight, etc.

Regular exercising not just helps us stay fit and healthy but is also important to maintain our mental health. The addition of exercise to our day-to-day lifestyle helps us live a healthy life. On the other side, a bad lifestyle or a lifestyle that does not include exercising increases the chances of mental stress, anxiety, etc. Those who do not exercise regularly, stay unfit and face more health issues due to which they keep looking for how to manage depression, stress, anxiety, etc.

Social Activities

Lifestyle also covers the social activities of each individual. The way we live in our society, treat others, and also others’ treatment/behavior towards us impacts our mental health. Enjoying life to the fullest, staying healthy, avoiding stress, and being happy with others is something that is essential for each individual.

Read Also: Self-Care: How to Give Your Mental Health a Boost

Having a good relationship with others helps to make sure that we are happy and living a good life. But on the other side, lack of interest in social activities, bad relationship with others, and low social interactions increase the chances of depression, stress, and anxiety that affects our mental health and keep us disturbed. With this our lifestyle impacts our mental health.

Balanced Diet

Healthy eating habits such as eating a balanced and nourishing diet helps us stay healthy. Such types of habits prevent the risk of being overweight, underweight, fat, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, diabetes, etc. But on the other side, an unhealthy lifestyle or eating habits like high intake of sugary products, insufficient or high intake of food, have negative effects on our both physical as well as mental health.

The food we eat impacts our mood as well as our health. This makes it essential for us that we are eating healthy and having a good lifestyle. One of the best ways to stay healthy with a balanced diet is avoiding high intake of sugar, fats, oil, etc. Staying away from low-nutritional, oily/fatty meals and preferring nutritious food, a balanced diet, etc. help us stay healthy and happy.

Sleeping Habits

Our lifestyle also includes our sleeping habits. Poor sleeping habits have a major impact on our mental health. These days such habits seem to be common, but they have a negative effect on our mental health. Improper sleeping habits keep us disturbed throughout the day. They do not just affect our mental health but also our physical health. Improper sleep changes our mood dramatically. It also provokes relapse as well as mania.

This makes it essential for us to make sure that we are sleeping properly. Getting enough sleep that is needed by the human body, helps to reduce the chances of mental and physical health issues. The use of mental health apps can also help you improve your sleep, and stay fit and healthy. These apps come with a variety of features and make it easy for you to organize your sleep time and improve your mental health.

Smoking And Alcohol

The consumption of smoking and alcohol is counted as a bad lifestyle. No doubt they both are quite common these days, but also have verse effects on our mental and physical health. About half of the population that suffers from mental/psychological problems are either drinkers and/or smokers. Smoking and consumption of alcohol increase the chances of health problems such as problems of the lungs, heart, colds, etc. This further affects our mood and changes our mental health. So make sure to avoid both, as much as possible.

Final Thoughts

A good lifestyle itself ensures that you are and will live a healthy life. Your health depends on what you do and how you live your life throughout the day. Having a good lifestyle is not just help you have good mental health, but is also important to have good physical health. So make sure you are living a good life that involves, good eating, regular exercising, proper sleep and is far away from smoking and consumption of alcohol.

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