What is Mental Health? Why is it Important by Shivangi – Blogscart

Let me first describe what is health?

Health is a balance between person and the environment. A good health leads to good life and bad health creates problems in our lives. A balance between physical and mental health is very important as it affects the lifestyle of a person the way they think and act. Health is a state of our mind and body in which one is able to function well physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.

Definition of health by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. The definition was proposed by Dr. Andrija Stampar, a prominent scholar from Croatia in the field of social medicine and public health and one of the founders of the WHO.

Absence of disease or illness is not only important. The whole life circumstances and situation describes health.

According to 1986 world health organisation

“A resource for everyday life, not the objective of living”. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.

Types of health :- Two types of health are frequently discussed.

• Physical health
• Mental health

➢ Physical health is your bodily functions and processes. balanced lifestyle such as Good food, regular exercise, balanced diet, nutrition, all contribute to your good health. If your lifestyle is not balanced your health will suffer and will contribute to many diseases. To have good physical health a person must avoid all types of toxic substances such as tobacco, alcohol consumption etc.

Sound body leads to a sound mind.

➢ Mental health is as vital as your physical health. It impacts our lives emotionally, physically, behaviourally and socially. sometimes we are not able to cope with our problem and it takes a toll on our mental health and due to this we are not able to do our work efficiently. It impacts people from all walks of life be it CEO of any company, businessman, students and so on. A good mental health is important to lead our life peacefully.

Nurturing our mental health can prevent us from serious mental health issues like depression and anxiety. As we nurture our physical health by having healthy food, exercise etc. just like that we need to nurture our mental health by giving it positive thoughts, good quality sleep using mindfulness techniques. Mental health impacts relationships with our closed ones, mother-child, husband-wife, brother – sister etc. That’s why a good Mental health is important. Your psychological, emotional and social well-being impacts every area of your life. Positive mental health allows us to deal with daily stressors of life, try to save your mental health at any cost. Some of the quotes which can help us.

You Don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you. – Dan Millman

Take your time healing, As long as you want. Nobody else knows what you have been through. How could they know how long it will take to heal you? – Abertoli

One small crack does not mean that you are broken, It means that you were put to test and you didn’t fall apart- Linda Poindexter

Self care is how you take your power back.- Lalah Delia

Maintaining it is important to live a happy and healthy life. To nurture our mental health, we must laugh, walk, be grateful, pray, eat well, sleep well, do something challenging, face your fears, go to temples, churches etc. Do something constructive. A important contributor in mental health is the person’s environment person’s environment and circumstances can cause negative effects on psychological well-being. Lifestyle can also impact your mental health. Bad lifestyle such as smoking ,poor diet, substance abuse, alcohol consumption.

Some signs of mental health problems such as reduction in energy levels, over or undereating, anger, guilt, worry, mood swings, unnecessary fights, difficulty in performing daily activities.

Mental health is vital for leading a happy life.

According to the university of oxford “For 2017, this study estimates that 792 million people lived with a mental health disorder. This is slightly more than one in ten people globally (10.7%)”. Similarly a study by the national alliance of mental health showed that.

• 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.
• 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
• 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.
• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34.

Mental health impacts on how we interact with our friends and family. It affects our physical health, mental illness can induce stress and that can affect our immune system and due to weak immune system our body won’t be able to fight with many diseases. Having negative thoughts can make low mood, irritated and disturbed all the time. Mental health is related to our financial stability and productive if we won’t have calm mind that will affect our productivity and that may bring instability in our life. Mental health affects our quality of life bad mental health can cause us to lose interest in things, ups and downs etc.

So that is why a good and healthy state of mind is very important, mental health awareness is important to end the stigma and taboo. Learning about it and teaching others about mental health will bring a much needed change in our society.