Your wellness encompasses both physical and emotional health, although most of us are guilty of solely focusing on the physical aspect of our health. Many of us neglect our mental and emotional health, which is just as important!
Chronic stress, anxiety, and depression are becoming increasingly common issues, with many people suffering from mental and emotional distress. Our fast-paced lifestyles of today are often found to be the root cause of many different mental health problems. However, relationships with family and friends can also cause emotional stress.
Stressful situations, problems, and challenges are always a part of life. We have to learn how to deal with or accept them so that our emotional health doesn’t suffer. That may be difficult of course.
However, there are ways in which we can improve our emotional well-being that will help to deal with the different hurdles we have to face in life. Here are some of those ways you can try, to help improve your emotional health and wellbeing.
Take Good Care of Your Body
A healthy emotional state starts with a healthy body. Taking good care of your body by eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and letting go of unhealthy habits such as smoking and excessive alcohol intake, can help keep stress levels down. It is also important to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Lack of sleep is known to negatively impact mood and mental abilities.
Lessen Your Worries and Stop Stressing About Them
Worry. Everybody worries about something. It’s built into us, or so it seems. We may not even realize that we are in a constant state of worry. Worrying about this, and thinking too much about something else. Constant worrying, thinking, and ruminating about things we can not control or change can affect our emotional health negatively.
What happened in the past and what will happen in the future are two things we lack complete control over. We need to be able to accept these variables and learn to focus on now and keep moving forward.
Constant worrying makes us anxious, moody, and withdrawn. All these actions can damage our emotional health. Worrying can also make us develop negative thoughts and trigger fear and depression symptoms.
Be Mindful – Practice Mindfulness Techniques If Necessary
Mindfulness is a technique that can help us destress and be calmer. It makes you think about the present, not about the past or potential future problems.
Mindfulness practices, such as grounding, deep breathing, meditation, and yoga, help us to focus on the present moment and identify how we feel, and why. Several scientific studies have proven mindfulness to be an effective way to fight mental health issues.
For example, deep breathing is an effective way to relax our nerves. When we breathe deeply, the air we inhale puts pressure on the vagus nerve, which is directly connected to the heart and other organs. The pressure gently massages the nerve which then slows down our heart rate and helps us enter a more relaxed mental state.
Be Kind to Yourself
We often practice kindness towards others, but sometimes we forget to be kind to ourselves. Negative self-talk is a reflection of our fears and insecurities. We need to be mindful of how we feel about ourselves. We need to give ourselves more self-love instead of self-recrimination.
Stop judging yourself negatively as that will only make you feel worse. Be kind to yourself and learn to be your own best friend.
Start a New Activity or Hobby
How many times have you heard of taking up a hobby when mental health is at stake? If you have that’s no surprise, if you haven’t, well now you have! Hobbies are a great way to unwind and relieve stress. It can also unlock a skill that you may not even know you have. A purposeful activity, something that you enjoy and feel passionate about, can help you in many ways.
Hobbies give purpose to your activities. They can motivate you to be more productive. Seeing the outcome of your ‘hobby-talents’ can also give you a source of pride and boost your self-esteem. Your feelings of success can become addictive in a positive way.
Hobbies allow you to socialize too because you can join a group of like-minded people. All these positive attributes help your emotional health.
Your emotional health is worth caring for because it is just as important as your physical health. How you feel about yourself and the world around you can directly affect your total health and wellbeing. There are many ways in which you can improve your emotional health, so get started right now.
