The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10th October each year.
Mental health professionals have been working hard to ensure that mental health is on the same par as physical health.
World Mental Health Day is a day to talk about mental health in general, to share personal experiences of mental health and tips on how best to look after it.
Read more: The importance of self-care and how to know if you are 'burnt out'
We all have mental health and much like physical health it is important to regularly maintain it. Mental health includes emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing, it effects how we think, feel, act and can even impact some of the choices we make in life.
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Day is “Make Mental Health and Wellbeing a Global Priority”.
Mental health and wellbeing come hand in hand, when our wellbeing is healthy, we tend to be stronger of the mind and vice versa, therefore, it is essential to consider our wellbeing to maintain positive mental health.
As a therapeutic counsellor I have had many discussions around this topic.
Here are a few considerations you may find useful to help nurture wellbeing and maintain positive mental health.
Social Wellbeing – Connect with others, good relationships, social connection, and healthy relationships can contribute to good mental health. If you feel alone reach out to a friend or join a local community organisation.
Physical Wellbeing – consider your lifestyle - small simple changes can make a huge difference to our mood and mind, choose healthy food choices, move often, and keep hydrated. These very basic lifestyle attributes can form healthy habits.
Mental Wellbeing - when you have a dip in your mental health or feel particularly overwhelmed treat yourself as you would if you had a dip in your physical health, treat yourself with care, lean on others, rest, hydrate and eat well, if you had a physical ailment the likelihood is you would give your body what it needed? Mental health issues should be treated similar.
Emotional Wellbeing – check in with your feelings regularly, be aware of your emotions and reactions. Manage stress levels and take breaks when you begin to feel overwhelmed by your emotions.
Make your mental health and wellbeing a priority.
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