7 Lifestyle Factors that Can Affect Your Mental Health
By Marcus Clarke
Mind and body are so intertwined that the slightest imbalance in one can affect the other in significant ways. So too are mind and environment, mind and emotion and mind and socialisation. In fact, your lifestyle can impact upon your mental health in so many different ways, I thought it prudent and timely to call attention to some of the ways. I present to you seven lifestyle factors that can affect your mental health.
#1 Exercise and activity level
There are doctors and experts everywhere telling us that we should be active for the sake of our physical health. What you may not realise is the impact exercise and activity levels have on mental health.
Getting active is an immediate way to de-stress, but long-term exercise can also help to lift mood, stave off depression and increase self-esteem. Research suggests all it takes is 20 minutes of focused exercise to achieve significant positive results.
#2 Diet
What you eat can greatly affect your mental health. A well-rounded, healthy diet has long been linked with positive mental health.
Scientific research has found a correlation between certain nutrients and whole food groups and a decreased risk of depression. Fish, spinach and nuts are claimed as super-foods that can affect an immediate mood boost, while the long term effects of a well-balanced diet include increased energy, focus of thought, clarity as well as physiological benefits.
#3 Physical health
Your physical health can have a significant effect on your mental health. Certain factors such as smoking, consumption of alcohol and chronic illnesses have been linked with mood disorders, depression, anxiety and self-esteem issues.
The ramifications of being challenged with chronic pain or disability can also impact upon mental health. Optimum physical health is recommended to ensure ideal mental health.
#4 Social media usage
Social media can be a great source of community, knowledge, learning and ‘connectedness’.
Social media can also however, evoke feelings of anger, jealousy, sadness or isolation. Experts recommend using social media in limited, controlled and responsible doses to ensure negative effects on mental health are avoided and to get the most advantageous use out of these programs.
#5 Work environment
An entity that has the potential to consume much of our ‘awake’ time, work has the potential to be a major source of positive or negative impact upon our mental health.
With the potential to be exposed to maladaptive culture, workplace bullying and harassment, discrimination and stress, it is important to take care in the work environment to ensure it does not become a contributor to dubious mental health.
#6 Relationships
Friendships, romantic relationships, parental and familial relationships impact on a significant proportion of our lives. These relationships can be a source of great positivity on our mental health.
Sometimes however, the relationships in which we find ourselves can be toxic and harmful and have devastating repercussions on mental, and physical, health.
#7 Medications
Whilst we like to think of medications as only ever being beneficial, the truth is that some medications may have side-effects that can be detrimental to mental health.
While obviously ceasing certain medications can be unwise without medical expertise, you should nonetheless be aware that certain side-effects of medication can include irritability, depression, fatigue, sadness and even suicidal ideation.
We can see that mental health is not a singular phenomenon. Rather, mental health is like a game of Jenga; a tower built on a solid foundation of interlocking blocks. Remove too many of those blocks and watch the tower fall, but with a solid structure in place with limited ‘holes’ the structure can stand tall and solid and withstanding almost any hit it takes.
Marcus has a degree in psychology, a masters degree in health psychology and has worked within the NHS as well as private organisations. Marcus started psysci a psychology and science blog in order to disseminate research into bitesize, meaningful and helpful resources that are interesting and insightful and often help people on the right track to improving their lives.
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