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You are here: Home / Archives for mental fitness

mental fitness

5 Alternative Health & Wellness Practices That Can Boost Your Mental Health

November 7, 2021 by Joi Leave a Comment

Benefits of Yoga for Mental Fitness

by Nicole McCray

When you think about boosting your mental health, one of the first things that come to mind is probably traditional talk therapy. And while there’s no question that talk therapy can be extremely helpful in many cases, it’s not a one size fits all solution that works for everyone.

Sometimes, you just need some strategies to help you stay grounded and manage daily stress. And sometimes, you need help getting through trauma or recovering from past events. There’s no denying the everyone is dealing with more stress now than ever before and taking care of your mental health is more important than ever.

Taking care of your mental health is every bit as important as taking care of your physical health, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. These alternative health and wellness practices might be just the answer you’re looking for.

Whether you incorporate one or all of them into your wellness routine, they’re all beneficial on their own – or they can be used in conjunction with traditional talk therapy for boosting mental health.

1. Kinesiology

Kinesiology is an alternative therapy that boosts mental health by helping the patient diffuse negative energy and implement positive strategies to overcome stress, anxiety, and depression. It utilizes muscle testing in combination with many of the basic principles of traditional Chinese medicine to assess body function and energy.

The goal is to identify emotional, chemical, energetic, and structural imbalances in the body. Muscle testing techniques are used to create a natural biofeedback system. Information is relayed via the nerve pathways throughout the body and the brain meridian systems.

A leading NYC-based kinesiologist explains that “Muscle testing can be used to identify underlying blockages that are causing mental and physical health issues. When these blockages are addressed, the body can begin to heal itself.”

Kinesiology has been used to help patients work through past and present emotional issues and take positive steps to address the triggers of their anxiety. It can help the patient move away from negative thinking patterns and develop and implement effective stress-management techniques.

2. Mindfulness

When it comes to wellness practices that can boost your mental health, mindfulness is one of the best places to start.

Evidence shows that it can reduce depression, anxiety, and overall stress. But what is mindfulness exactly? It’s actually not as complicated as you might think.

Mindfulness is a simple lifestyle change that focuses on living in the present moment with an attitude of openness and acceptance. It requires monitoring your own emotions, self-talk, and negative perceptions, as well as stress and anxiety. The key is to deal with these emotions positively before they take root.

To try mindfulness for yourself, the next time you feel anxiety, stress, or negative thoughts and emotions beginning to spiral out of control, slow down and take some deep breaths. Observe your thoughts and feelings, then center yourself and explore positive solutions before you move on. It’s kind of like stopping a runaway train before it gets out of control.

Other ways to practice mindfulness include meditation, prayer, deep breathing exercises, and guided imagery.

3. Yoga

Yoga is another mindfulness practice that can be incorporated into daily life to reduce anxiety and stress. It has been shown to improve mental focus, support healthy sleep patterns, and promote an overall sense of peace. It is often used for daily stress management, but it also makes a wonderful accompaniment to talk therapy and many of the other strategies we’re discussing here.

Yoga can benefit your mental health by calming the central nervous system, which relieves anxiety and promotes a state of relaxation. Many people who practice yoga regularly find that it builds self-trust and self-confidence as it strengthens the connection between the body and mind.

4. Nutrition Therapy

Did you know that there are at least 40 different chemicals in the body that play a role in mental health?
Psychiatrists are beginning to take notice of the importance of nutrition for their patients. They are using bloodwork to identify which of these chemicals are out of balance and prescribing supplements to overcome deficiencies.

It may sound like a fad, but there’s actually a lot of evidence to back up nutrition therapy. The use of supplements and dietary strategies has been shown to help patients who suffer from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and severe mental disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Of course, holistic and alternative practitioners have been talking about the importance of nutrition for centuries. You don’t have to be under the care of a psychiatrist to utilize the curative powers of nutrition therapy. Many alternative practitioners will be happy to help you develop a diet and supplement plan to support your mental health.

5. Creative Therapies

Creative therapies are an excellent outlet for patients looking to boost their mental health naturally. Art, music, and dance therapy provide a relaxing and invigorating way to relieve stress and shift mental focus away from stress triggers.

Evidence shows that creative therapies have curative properties for both physiological and psychological ailments. They have been used to help patients overcome trauma and promote healing, particularly when used in conjunction with conventional treatments.

Wrapping Up
Of course, you should consult with your health care professional before making any major changes in your health regimen, especially if you think you may be dealing with a mental health issue. If you’re looking for a way conventional treatment or simply support your mental health daily, these alternative therapies and practices can bring some extra joy and balance to your life.

Filed Under: Articles by Various Authors, Fitness, Mental Fitness, Self Care Tagged With: benefits of yoga, kinesiology, mental fitness, mindfulness, nutrition therapy

Checklist for Your Mental Health During Covid-19

November 21, 2020 by Joi Leave a Comment

Mental Fitness During Covid-19

Infographic Credit: BPI-Philam

Maintaining our mental fitness and emotional health should be as important to us during the pandemic as staying physically healthy. After all, what good is one without the other??

The infographic, here, and the content here can serve as an excellent reminder to do just that.  I hope you’ll take time out of your busy day to check both out and share them with others in your life.

Stay well, stay safe, and stay YOU! ~ Joi

Filed Under: Infographics, Mental Fitness Tagged With: covid-19, mental fitness, mental health

Preventive Mental Health Care: What You Should Be Doing to Keep Your Mind Healthy

November 8, 2019 by Joi Leave a Comment

October is National Depression Awareness Month, and it’s easy to show support by sharing facts and figures — like the statistic that 6.9% of adults in the U.S. had at least one major episode of depression in 2015 alone. As we take the time to focus on spreading awareness of this debilitating struggle, though, it’s also critical to focus on solutions as well.

Often the symptoms of mental illnesses can be soothed before they become unmanageable through simple, home-oriented remedies. Here are a few suggestions to foster a daily lifestyle aimed at proactively keeping your mind healthy over the long term.

Watch What You Eat

Junk food is bad for you. No surprise there, right? It can lead to inflammation in your body, which can directly affect your brain’s stress levels and learning ability. If you want to stay mentally healthy, you need to make sure that you’re feeding your mind the nutrients that it needs.

This can be done in many different ways, and there are countless foods and diets designed to help with mental health. The important thing is that you do your research, pick a diet that you feel is right for you, and then stick to it. As is always the case with these kinds of things, it never hurts to ask your doctor for input as you go.

Get Up and Go Outside

One of the tried-and-true methods for keeping a robust mind is to always be incorporating exercise (and by extension, endorphins) into your life. Some common exercising options include:

  • Going for a run.
  • Working out at the gym.
  • Taking a yoga or pilates class.
  • Doing a 7-minute workout.
  • Going for a walk.

Whatever you choose to do, make an effort to get moving on a regular basis. If possible, try to do so outside, too. Getting outside and engaging with Mother Nature can do wonders for your mind. It can help you relax, find peace, and detox from the endless procession of devices and gadgets that we are continually tethered to.

Get Good Sleep

Poor sleep is always bad for your mind, and it only gets worse if you’re struggling with the symptoms of a mental illness. You can’t sleep poorly all week and then “catch up” on the weekend, and time spent in bed also doesn’t equate to time spent sleeping, either. If you struggle to get adequate sleep, it’s important to take steps to address the issue. You might consider:

  • Avoiding naps and caffeine too late in the day.
  • Creating a bedtime routine that encourages your body to rest.
  • Spending time meditating before you go to sleep.
  • Setting up your bedroom as a peaceful, technology-free zone.

Utilize the Oils

Sweet Orange and Eucalyptus Essential Oils

While modern medicine can be a Godsend in many situations, often you can address minor mental health concerns with a gentler approach. Essential oils have been heralded for quite a while now as some of the best home-medicinal tools to help care for your mind. Not only that, but different oils can help in various ways.

Frankincense oil, for instance, can relieve anxiety and stress. Lavender can help with sleep, depression, and restlessness. Peppermint oil can improve memory and alertness. All it takes is putting some water and a few drops of your oil of choice into a diffuser, and you can begin to reap the benefits.

Along with essential oils, there is also CBD oil. The increasingly popular over the counter cannabis product is known for its ability to help with mental health. CBD oil can relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. It also helps with sleep and can generally enhance your cognitive function.

Look for Cognitive Distortions

Stress is a normal part of life. Trying to completely eliminate stress in your life is a fool’s errand — and it can seriously affect your mind. Instead of fighting stress, it’s important to learn how to react to it properly. This starts by taking the time to create an integrated approach to treating anxiety.

While this includes things like good sleep, healthy eating, and exercise, it all starts with self-awareness. Take time to study your thought processes and look for harmful cognitive distortions like:

  • All-or-nothing thinking.
  • Emotional reasoning.
  • Discounting the positive.

As you learn about yourself, try to break away from harmful habits of thinking. This will help you release the pressures of stress and anxiety before they build up and become a problem.

Cultivate Your Social Life

Finally, consider spending time building your social life. Mental illnesses flourish in solitude, and having a network of family and friends to lean on can be an essential part of keeping your mind healthy over the long term.

In the modern world, you can do this in numerous ways. Physically visiting with others is still the best way to cultivate relationships. However, you can also make phone calls and even write letters or send text messages. Just make sure you’re genuinely looking to build relationships and aren’t being superficial in your interactions.

Maintain Your Mental Health

Mental illnesses are common, and there’s no shame in needing to look for a medical solution. However, often the extremity of medicine isn’t necessary if a little time is spent beforehand investing in a mentally healthy lifestyle.

From food choices to exercise, quality sleep, coping mechanisms, and a good social life, there are plenty of tools available to ensure that your mind flourishes over the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.


Filed Under: Articles by Various Authors, Mental Fitness Tagged With: improve your mental health, mental fitness

The Importance of Sleep for Your Mental Health

September 26, 2019 by Joi Leave a Comment

Tulip and Huck

by Brooke Faulkner

Sleep. It’s not just a morning love affair with your warm cozy bed, it’s essential to your survival. It is as important as eating, breathing, and keeping an adequate water intake. Slumber is a way to refresh your eyes and your body while the brain restores itself. It helps your mind clear out the unnecessary “clutter” that accumulates within it throughout the day. Sleep helps you in your waking life to make decisions, create and organize memories, make creative connections, and learn/remember how to perform specific physical tasks.

Despite the importance of sleep on our functioning, it is severely lacking. In the US, 70 million adults suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and movement syndromes (commonly known as restless leg syndrome) are only a few of the most common 70 different types of known sleep disorders.

Over half of all insomnia cases in the United States directly correlate to psychological stress, anxiety, and depression. Chronic sleep problems affect 50 to 80 percent of patients seen in a psychiatric practice, compared to just 10 to 18 percent of the general U.S. population.

The point: those suffering with depression and anxiety are more prone to sleep disorders, and those with sleep disorders are more prone to suffer from anxiety and depression.

Cause or Effect?
For many years, sleep problems were thought to be a symptom of mental problems, but new studies suggest that the opposite may be true. New or worsening mental health conditions may actually stem directly from a lack of sleep.

A lack of sleep can cause a decrease in alertness and diligence along with a general decline in mood and energy. Sleep issues such as insomnia have more than just drowsy effects on your brain. They have negative effect on other parts of the body like the central nervous system, the immune system, the digestive system, and the respiratory tract.

Whether a lack of sleep is causing an increase in mental illness issues, or the mental illness issues are causing a lack of sleep, both exacerbate one another, and trying to pinpoint which came first will really only keep us going in circles. So instead of searching for the answer to which came first, let’s focus on what is easily within reach. Sleep; let’s get some.

Focus on these to improve sleep:

Sleep Hygiene: This involves creating a series of different habits that are necessary to have a restful slumbrous sleep.

  • Make sure you are spending an appropriate amount of time asleep.
  • Limit daytime naps to 30 minutes or less.
  • Avoid caffeine and other stimulants like nicotine before bedtime.

Live Stressless:

  • Try quieting the mind with meditation.
  • Use essential oils.
  • Try an at home yoga class.

Feng Shui your bedroom:

  • Keep technology out of the bedroom.
  • Find a comfortable temperature for sleeping.
  • Create a mindset before bed that you will help you have a successful night’s sleep.

Mental health issues can go far deeper than a sleep problem and often need specific treatments on their own to be resolved or relieved. But correcting one pillar of health, one habit that directly affects mental stability, can help make overall treatment more effective. At the end of the day, it may not be the end-all-be-all but treating a sleep problem can help to alleviate the mental health issues an individual is suffering from. By addressing what is within your control, and acknowledging the status of your own mental health, you can help yourself contribute to an effective treatment.


Filed Under: Improve Your Sleep, Mental Fitness Tagged With: benefits of sleep, importance of a good night's sleep, mental fitness

Creativity is Intelligence Having Fun: Well Said, Albert Einstein

August 18, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

"Creativity is Intelligence Having Fun." - Albert Einstein
A while back, I was sent a new book to review on my blogs (How to Draw Cool Stuff) and while enjoying the heck out of it, I started thinking about the benefits of creativity on your mental and emotional health. Basically, getting in touch with your creative side (cooking, drawing, gardening, writing, crafting special coffee drinks, painting…) awakens an area in your brain that may have been dormant since art class in the tenth grade.

It’s never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never a good thing when any part of your brain is dormant.

CNN reports that taking part in creative endeavors protects neuron growth by promoting the production of new neurons – which delays dementia.  Put another way, it’s a wake up call to your brain cells – one it needs greatly. Wake up calls such as this, of course, not only keep you sharp – they also help protect you against the various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease.

Other Ways Being More Creative is Good For You

  • Getting in touch with your creative side boosts self-confidence and even self-esteem.
  • Being creative reduces stress.
  • Drawing, cooking, gardening, painting, etc.. are excellent ways to alleviate anxiety.
  • Individuals who eat out of boredom or as a result of inactivity often find that they shave a great number of calories and even lose weight when they take up a creative new hobby.
  • If your creative new hobby involves learning new things (such as the wonderful art lesson the book pictured below provides), the mental benefits are doubled.  Learning new things is the best way to strengthen your brain and ward off mental decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.

If it’s been a while since you got in touch with your creative side, I hope you’ll let this serve as a motivating shot in the arm to pick up those pencils, gardening tools, coffee brewing gadgets, or paint brushes.

Your brain will thank you for it.

~ Joi (“Joy”)

Read my How to Draw Cool Stuff Review on my mental fitness blog! It’s a great book for kids and adults – and, trust me, it’s as cool as advertised.

 

How to Draw Cool Stuff
 

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Books I Love, Mental Fitness, Problem Solving, Self Confidence Tagged With: creativity, mental fitness, prevent Alzheimer's, quote, quote graphic

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