One thing connects your physiological, emotional, and social well-being. It is your mental health. It is that one thing that governs how you feel think, and act. Though it is internal, its physical manifestation is conspicuous. It determines your mood, attitude, behaviour, stress handling, and relationship with others and directly influences your choices.
Sound mental health will help you in everything you do. It will help you to realise your full potential, work productively, cope with the stress of life, relate with others well, and make a substantial contribution to society. Since mental health influences all parts of your life, its importance cannot be overstated.
Here, you’ll find the importance of mental health and the roles it plays in each aspect of your life.
- Mental health and your physical health:
You will agree with me that most people give precedence to their physical health. This is simply because it is something they can immediately see. One thing that is quickly forgotten is that your mental health is directly linked to your physical health. If you are down mentally, your physical health will suffer. Mental illness can bring stress. Stress can bring down your immune system.
Consequently, your ability to fight diseases may be compromised. Even if the illness didn’t bring you down, it can still make you sad or cause anxiety. Sadness, feeling of guilt, and anxiety can make it grim to stay active and move about. Even when you are physically sick, healing comes first and is enhanced by sound mental health. You’ve got to guard your mental as it can make or mar your physical health.
- Your mental health and your emotional wellbeing:
Your emotional well-being is an integral aspect of your overall mental health. Your emotional well-being is tied to your mental health. If there is a problem with your mental health, the first place to notice is in the emotions. They tend to go haywire first before other symptoms become noticeable. Out-of-order mental health can make you feel down, disturbed, and irritated. You have to take good care of your emotional well-being if you want to be more productive, effective at work, and live well. To maintain sound emotional health, you must consciously take care of your mental health.
- Your mental health and your relationships:
Your relationship with others is directly affected by your mental health. You can only relate well with others when your mental health is sound. Mental maladies have many symptoms, making it very hard to relate well with people. Such symptoms include physiological and emotional disorders displayed through hostility, passive-aggressiveness, and inability to join social activities.
Mental illness can cause conflict with family and friends alike. It can make you act differently to your acquaintances for no ostensible motivation. Only when you are mentally stable can you have a stable working relationship with others. To maintain a good relationship with others, ensure you maintain sound mental health.
- Mental Health and Social life:
Your mental health directly influences your social life. Poor mental health can predispose to adverse societal behaviours. Mental health is one of the main causes of violence and crime in our society today. People with mental issues have been known to experience neglect, abuse, and other behavioural issues. Mental health issues can make things complex for you quickly as you might struggle to find societal support and acceptance. It can also cause you to withdraw and become isolated from society. However, sound mental health has a significant positive societal impact. The basis of a great social life is sound mental health.
- Mental health and productivity:
Positivity is directly linked with sound mental health. You cannot be productive if you do not have a positive attitude to work. Sound health will boost your productivity. Mental illness causes depression which decreases your inclination to work. This also reduces your overall productivity. Your finances will also be affected when your productivity is low. Whether self-employed or employed, mental illness can make you lose customers or your job entirely. It can also thwart your relationships with colleagues, superiors, and employees. It is pertinent you take good care of your mental health to guarantee productivity and secure your financial security.
- Your mental health and quality of life:
Your mental health directly affects the way you see your life. Since it affects your attitude, it can affect the way you respond to the thing you enjoy doing. This is the reason two individuals will be in similar situations, yet one will be satisfied with his life but the other won’t be. Mental maladies can cause you to lose interest in living up to a point where it will be difficult to perform basic tasks. It can cause perceived loss of control, sadness, guilt, hopelessness, anxiety, and a feeling of worthlessness. However, sound mental health gives you a sense of control, joy, virtue, hope, assurance, and a feeling of merit.
- Your mental health and the rest of your life:
Reading up to this level will point one thing out to you. Your mental health affects all areas of your life. Your mental help affects how you cope with life itself. Mental illness can cause your relationship to suffer, performance (in school or at work) to become low, cause withdrawal and isolation. It can cause you to lose interest in food, lose focus, lose touch with reality, and life may seem overwhelming. Mental illness can also bring you to a very low point in life where you turn to substance abuse and can bring suicidal ideas to your mind.
The importance of your mental health goes on and on. One thing you should bear in mind is that your mental health is crucial to your overall well-being. You must have gotten the idea now that your mental health directly affects every part of your life. If you have any issues with your mental health, kindly reach out for help.
Do well to maintain sound mental health.
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