The Road to Mental Wellness With Desert Rose

I’ve been writing this column for over a year now and I don’t think I’ve ever actually defined mental health. So, this week we will take a look at what mental health is.

Mental health shapes your emotions, thoughts and actions. It helps you connect with others, handle stress, make choices and find meaning. It can change over time. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act as we cope with life. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood and aging.

Mental health refers to your emotional well-being, which impacts how you feel, think and act. It helps you:

Build relationships and social connections

Cope with stress

Find purpose and meaning

Make decisions and solve problems

Manage your emotions

Use your strengths

As mentioned above mental health affects everyone at every age, but each person’s journey is different. Some people have a smooth path. Others may face bumps along the way, including emotional responses to life changes. If these emotional responses become extremely distressing or interfere with your ability to complete your daily activities, they may turn into mental health conditions. Taking care of your mental health isn’t just good for your mood; it’s essential for your whole body.

Your mind needs care just like your body does to stay healthy. But your mind and body don’t work in isolation. They’re part of the same system. When your mental health is off, your physical health may also take a hit, and vice versa. Stress, anxiety and depression might cause headaches, stomach problems or fatigue. In some cases, you may be more at risk of conditions like heart disease and stroke if long-term mental health issues don’t get care. On the other hand, dealing with chronic health conditions (like chronic pain or diabetes) can lead to mental health struggles.

There are a lot of things that may affect your mental health, like:

Difficult life experiences (like poverty, stress, trauma or abuse)

Access to support or care when you need it

Family history of mental disorders (genetics)

Chemical imbalance in your brain

Daily choices (like the foods and beverages you eat and drink, physical activities and smoking)

The coping skills you learned

Some of these factors are outside of your control. But there are some changes you can make in your daily routine to support your mental health when you need to. It’s normal for your mental health to change. Things like stress at work or school, moving, grief or a new diagnosis can all trigger mental health challenges. In the middle of tough times, it might feel like things won’t get better.

Why is mental health important?

Mental health is important because it can help you to:

Cope with the stresses of life

Be physically healthy

Have good relationships

Make meaningful contributions to your community

Work productively

Realize your full potential

When it comes to your emotions, it can be hard to know what is normal and what is not. There are warning signs that you may have a mental health problem, including:

A change In your eating or sleeping habits

Withdrawing from the people and activities you enjoy

Having low or no energy

Feeling numb or like nothing matters

Having unexplained aches and pains

Feeling helpless or hopeless

Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual

Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, angry, upset, worried, or scared

Having severe mood swings that cause problems in your relationships

Having thoughts and memories that you can’t get out of your head

Hearing voices or believing things that are not true

Thinking of harming yourself or others

Not being able to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school

If you think that you may have a mental health problem, get help. Talk therapy and/or medicines can treat mental disorders. As always, if you or someone you love feels suicidal or that they are in a crisis there is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 for confidential, free, 24/7/365 help. You can also chat at 988lifeline.org. Another resource is the Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741. The Crisis Hotline: 844-755-5325 Until next week, I’m Desert Rose signing off and wishing you all good mental health.