Wellness is the process of being conscious of living a healthy and happy life. Mental wellness refers to managing your responses to the problems and stresses occurring in your daily life. In contrast, physical wellness means strengthening your body’s response to diseases.
Mental and physical wellness cannot be detached. So every step you take and the habit you develop must be able to provide you with both mental and physical wellness effects.
Regular exercise
Exercise is a great way to manage your mental and physical wellness. Exercise strengthens your response to fighting mental and physical health issues simultaneously. Some psychological and physical wellness benefits of exercise are:
- Physical activity boosts feelings of happiness, joy, and creativity. As you hit a gym or go for a walk, your body’s level of feel-good hormones increases. Resultantly, you feel happy and satisfied. Endorphins and Endocannabinoids are the hormones released as a result of a session of physical activity. It was believed that endorphin works alone to reduce pain and increase the feeling of pleasure. But recent studies suggest that it might result from a combined working of Endorphins and Endocannabinoids.
- Exercise enhances your bone and muscle strength, increases your ability to fight off diseases by boosting your immune system, keeps your weight in check, and prevents blood pressure hikes.
- Exercise also improves cognitive functions and sleep and reduces anxiety.
- Regular physical activity lowers the risk of type-2 diabetes, obesity, dementia, and depression.
- Exercise also improves your balance, thereby reducing the likelihood of accidents caused by falls.
Take supplements containing natural ingredients
Taking supplements often helps if your health concerns are due to a lack of certain elements in the body. For instance, a natural ingredients-based supplement called d-hist is great for seasonal challenges caused by environmental allergens. However, allergies are not the only issues that can be cured by consuming the right kind of supplements. They can be used to ensure normal gastrointestinal balance, healthy thyroid function, and a strengthened immune system, among many other issues. These supplements blend modern and holistic medicine to provide mental and physical wellness benefits.
Eat a balanced and healthy diet
Eating a balanced diet steers you on the road to attaining positive mental and physical wellness. On the contrary, consuming food containing high levels of processed sugar and salt additives is unsuitable. Similarly, consuming processed food in place of fresh and natural ingredients does not meet the full nutritional needs of your body.
Most processed foods are empty calories that make you obese. Processed also food stresses your pancreas, triggering a negative insulin response. This, in turn, increases the production of the stress hormone cortisol and increases inflammation. These uncalled-for responses of your body can cause negative moods and stress due to high levels of cortisol (primary stress hormone).
Why so?
Well, if released in the right amount, it buttresses your body’s response to stress by increasing the release of sugar in the bloodstream and its use by the brain. However, an increased level of this hormone affects your body negatively by increasing stress.
Instead of processed food, your body needs plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, poultry, and fish. These ingredients contain necessary elements such as proteins, omega-3, vitamins, minerals, and carbs for positive mental and physical wellness.
Take proper sleep
People demonstrating poor mental and physical health often report insufficient sleep or reduced sleep quality. Sleep deficiency also affects your brain’s ability to concentrate on tasks, make critical decisions, or solve complicated problems. Ultimately it affects your performance at work. Lack of sleep also causes you to lose balance and makes you drowsy, increasing the chances of falls and car accidents.
Not sleeping for enough hours daily can also cause memory issues. During sleep, your brain makes connections to process and retain new information. It also makes you moody and quick-tempered. You are more prone to fighting and shouting with a sleep-deprived mind. On the contrary, research states that proper sleep, especially, deep-sleep improves your brain health and helps you process emotional information.
If you want to ensure that you don’t get into problems caused by a constant lack of sleep, prioritize your sleep. Develop a good sleeping environment. At night switch off all the lights, log out from electronic gadgets, keep noises and distractions at bay, and put on relaxing music that induces sleep. If you feel tired after a hectic day, taking a warm bath before sleeping helps you unwind, improving your sleep quality.
Final thoughts
A happy and healthy life requires you to take a holistic approach to your health, giving equal importance to mental and physical wellness. Poor mental health and wellness can cause many physical health problems. Similarly, compromised physical health is not good for your psychological well-being. So, you need to care for both. Some ways to ensure mental and physical wellness are mentioned above. Once you decide to make positive changes in life, following these days become easier.
Zuella Montemayor did her degree in psychology at the University of Toronto. She is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
