The Science Behind: Mental Health (Cover-Ishita Baghel)
What exactly is mental health?
Mental health is the overall psychological and emotional condition of a human being. It controls how one may feel, think, or behave in different situations. It also influences the way a person makes choices, copes up with pressure or stress, and how social they are with others. So, it is necessary to ensure one develops a strong, positive, and sane mindset.
What happens when you have poor mental health?
Having poor mental fitness leads to harmful and damaging mental disorders. Mental disorders include anxiety and depression. Some common mental illness symptoms include having sleeping problems, low energy, excessive anger, personality changes, drug or alcohol usage, and differences in eating habits. These symptoms can get severe if not taken care of immediately, and they can lead to anxiety, depression, eating, and psychotic disorders. Anxiety disorders are when people constantly feel scared and uncomfortable. Depression disorders are when a person goes through negative mood swings and frequently feels unhappy. Eating disorders can include a person binge eating or undereating. Finally, psychotic disorders are when people show signs of confused speech or thinking. It is common that you may feel mentally low once in a while, but it shouldn’t be long-term. It is important to focus on how to rebound back to normal rather than letting your mental state get worse.
How can you boost your mental fitness?
The three main and most effective things you can do to boost your mental health are...
Value and love yourself.
Do different types of activities to calm the mind.
Have good physical health, and maintain a good diet.
When you don’t love yourself, you provoke negative thoughts into your mind that can cause you to feel worthless or depressed. Activities like meditation, prayer, and yoga can help your mind keep calm and can reduce symptoms of anxiety and stress. Lastly, having good physical fitness and a healthy diet is important because "a sound mind will be in a sound body".
What makes a sane person different from a crazy one? What is the trick to keeping calm and sane all the time?
A crazy or insane person usually defines themselves as their feelings. How they feel at that certain time is who they are. But for a sane person, their feelings are only a part of them, and they do not control them. A sane person can look within themselves and decide how they want to feel in situations. They are very observant of how they feel and have good control of their mind. They can ask themselves questions like 'how am I feeling right now?' The brain of a sane person tends to have "good stress" which keeps them motivated to learn and be curious, unlike others who have stress for unnecessary reasons.
So, how can you keep sane?
1) Have self-consciousness.
2) Keep healthy relationships.
3) Think positive and have "good stress".
How is the Covid-19 pandemic currently affecting our mental health and sanity?
The answer is simple. The COVID -19 crisis is unpredictable, and no one is sure about what is going to happen next. The worry and confusion people have about the virus and the concern for their health is causing fear and anxiety for all. For the mind, having uncertainty and a mix of negative emotions can lead it to make it feel like "the sky is falling!" To add on to that stress people are feeling, social distancing is making it difficult for people to understand that they are not alone in this situation. It is hard for people not to be together in person and keep contact virtually.
Overall, it is extremely crucial that during this time in lockdown, you don’t lose your sane mindset. Everyone is going through this together, and the more we try to think positively, the better. As they say, “keep calm, and everything will be alright”.
Take care of your mental health,
Aishwarya Krupashankar :)
Sources:
https://www.sane.org/information-stories/the-sane-blog/wellbeing/covid-19-complex-mental-health
toronto.cmha.ca/documents/benefits-of-good-mental-health/
www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/building-better-mental-health.htm
www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
medlineplus.gov/mentaldisorders.html
www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes/syc-20374968