How to Have Positive Mental Health

Having positive mental health is an important part of maintaining your overall health.  While it may not be as conscious as say caring for a broken bone or mending a cold, keeping your mental health positive can affect your overall health.  Your mental health is the sum of your emotional, behavioral and cognitive well-being.  Therefore, it is important to focus on these areas for maintenance and improvement of your mental health.  Many people refer to mental health when they consider illnesses such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.  However mental health is much more complex and diverse than certain disease.  Mental health can refer to your overall well-being and how you view yourself.  Here are some tips from NAMI (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) of lifestyle habits to consider when focusing on positive mental health.

–Maintain a support system.  You need a support system of someone(s) you can talk to about your feelings and who can support you along the way.
–Stay active and eat healthy.  Focus on daily exercise and healthy foods that will keep your body energetic and strong.
–Get good sleep.  Focus on getting an appropriate amount of sleep each night and taking time to rest.
–Focus on positive thinking.  What you think can affect your behavior and how you view yourself and others.
–Ask for help.  Don’t assume you are alone in what you are going through.  Reach out to someone, there is always help available to you.
 
As with any health concerns, speak with your healthcare provider before considering lifestyle changes with your mental health.  For the source from NAMI and for additional resources please click here:  https://www.nami.org/getattachment/Extranet/NAMI-State-Organization-and-NAMI-Affiliate-Leaders/Awareness/AKA/Mental-Health-Fact-Sheets/Maintaining-a-Healthy-Lifestyle.pdf