Mental Health Awareness

Ways of raising Mental Health Awareness

Social anxiety and stage fright are only two examples of obstacles that prevent students from succeeding or growing. Anxiety might cause your mind to race ahead into the future. When you have stage fright, you are scared and humiliated about performing in front of a crowd.

I used to be such an affable person when I was in pre-school. My social and communication abilities were adequate. Not until I developed my own personal safe haven. I became more cautious and separated from everyone, and I began to question whether I was worthy enough, asking myself, "Have I already accomplished one of my objectives or am I simply fooling around?" ". I constantly put on a severe front to avoid any disputes, but happily, despite my character, there are still those who remain with me and were the ones who helped me restore my interest in life.

So, if you're one of those people who has forgotten what life is all about, get help from those you can trust. Make new goals, and don't be scared to start over because one thing is certain: it will be worthwhile.

1) Have faith in your trustworthy peers and ask for their assistance.

If you have friends or siblings your age, discuss social anxiety and stage fright with them. Share some of your anxieties with them and ask for their help. Make a recommendation if you have an idea for how they can assist you.

2) Aim for a 30-minute workout at least once a day.

Physical activity can assist you in "letting off steam" before or after each day's lessons. Exercise also boosts the synthesis of endorphins, which are feel-good chemicals that make you happy.

3) Establish a stress-reduction program to keep anxiety under control.

A high-stress lifestyle can erode your confidence and cause you to doubt your talents. Relaxation techniques and a self-care regimen can help you combat stress.

4) Tell someone you trust about your feelings.

Keeping your emotions bottled up instead of letting them out can make your illness worse. As a result, talking to someone about what you're going through is crucial. Talking to someone else can also assist you in seeing your emotions objectively.

5) Keep a journal of your feelings.

Maintaining an emotion journal can assist you in recognizing that your emotions are transitory rather than permanent. When you start to feel anxious, sad, angry, or any other emotion, write it down, along with the details that go with it. This will allow you to keep note of what triggers your anxiety or depression, as well as help you consider how you want to deal with these emotions in the future.

6) Avoid isolating yourself.

It may seem as if is all you want to do is isolate yourself from your friends and family, but you must overcome these thoughts. Isolating oneself will exacerbate your problem while also harming your physical health. Taking the time to truly engage with someone else can assist you in regaining your sense of self.
Do not be concerned about anything; instead, present your requests to God in every situation via prayer and supplication, together with thanksgiving.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic rise in mental health issues. Students are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety while also struggling to cope with new ways of learning and feeling connected to others.
If you’ve been suffering from anxiety and depression, here are some ways to improve your mental health and stay strong this year.

1. Eat healthy

Attaining a healthy diet comes with a variety of benefits, such as a boost in your mood and energy level, improved memory, and better overall brain function. Diets containing vegetables, fruit, and whole grains have been linked to a decrease in symptoms of depression and fatigue. Resist the urge to binge eat or snack on unhealthy foods and try to make healthier food choices.

2. Get plenty of sleep.

A lack of sleep may leave you feeling tired, unfocused, and overwhelmed. When you lack good sleep, your body is not able to produce enough serotonin and dopamine to keep stress, anxiety, and depression at bay. For better sleep, turn off all tech devices. Lights from a cell phone, computer, or television trigger your mind to stay awake, making it harder for you to fall asleep.

3. Be active.

Regular exercise, such as walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling, has been proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improve mood and blood circulation. Make a commitment to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day to maintain clarity and focus.

4. Build a strong social support network.

Reaching out to others can help you overcome feelings of isolation. Your support network can include friends, family members, neighbors, professors, resident advisors, your school counselor, and anyone else you feel can help you solve a problem. Stay in touch with those in your network and help them feel supported by being an active member of theirs.

5. Engage in hobbies.

Whether you enjoy painting, hiking in the mountains, reading a book, or fishing, take time to step away from the demands of your busy life and focus on a hobby or activity you enjoy. Doing so may help you hit the refresh button, providing you with clarity, calmness, and a much-needed break.

6. Disconnect from negativity.

Since mid-March, television viewing and video game usage has increased dramatically, leading to weight gain and depression. “When stressed out, we often engage in negative behaviors such as eating too much, too much screen time/tv, possibly alcohol or other drug use.” Limiting exposure to television and the news can help decrease anxiety.

7. Volunteer when possible.

With a busy school schedule, you may feel as though you won’t have much time for volunteering, however many organizations offer flexible opportunities to volunteer. While social distancing protocols vary by state, there are still a number of no-exposure or low-exposure ways to give back.

8. Reward yourself.

Recognizing your value and worth, reaching your goals, and accomplishing difficult tasks are just a few of the things that prove that you are doing a great job. Make sure you acknowledge your accomplishments along the way and reward yourself for all your hard work! Feeling proud and confident about your progress can help you feel excited to continue your journey.

9. Be grateful.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, it can be difficult to feel gratitude. Document things you are grateful for in a journal and try to add a new item every week. It doesn’t have to be something big. Perhaps it’s someone you are happy to have in your life or something nice someone said to you. When you feel stress building up, read your journal and focus on the positive things in your life. People who regularly express gratitude for the positive things in their life are shown to be happier overall, leading to lower rates of stress and depression.

Have you ever asked yourself what exactly do you feel? If you’re okay and if you can still go on? Have you ever asked yourself if your mental health is still fine?

Mental Health…

It includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. It is an important part of our well-being as it plays many roles in each aspect of our life. It influences the way we look at ourselves, our lives, and others' lives. Throughout our life, if we experience mental health problems, our mood, thinking, feelings, behavior, and the way we interact with others is affected. Mental illness occurs from the interaction of multiple genes and other factors such as stressful events, childhood trauma, environment, negative thoughts, and unhealthy habits which can influence or trigger an illness in a person who has an inherited susceptibility to it. Mental illnesses are of different types and degrees of severity. Some of the major types are depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders. Living with mental illness, whether it affects you, your loved one, or someone you know can be very hard but help is available. If you suspect that you or someone you love or someone you know may have a mental illness, talk to a doctor, who may refer you to a mental health professional for further assessment, evaluation, and treatment. There is no shame in having a mental illness, support and treatment are available.

If there are times when you feel alone, misunderstood, crazy and unworthy and would rather keep everything to yourself and suffer in silence just remember that life isn’t always about being happy, it’s not always perfect, but it’s always what you make it. So, make it count, make it memorable, and never let anything steal your happiness even your mind and mental illness. You are not the bad feelings you get in your head. You are not the storm you walk through. You are the person experiencing the storm. The storm may knock you off your feet. But you will stand once again. Either the weather will change or you will find shelter. You and your mental health matter!

Let’s all prioritize our mental health!

5 Tips to Help Teens Cope with Stress

1. Get Some Sleep

2. Focus On Your Strengths

3. Do Things That Make You Happy

4. Engage In Physical Activity

5. Talk To Someone

6 tips to improve your emotional health

1. Connect Regularly with family and friends.

2. Exercise at least 60 minutes a day.

3. Sleep at least 7-8 hours a night in a cool dark place.

4. Practice Mindfulness 20 minutes a day.

5. Eat healthy, whole foods and increase water.

6. Seek mental health support if you notice persistent or increasing symptoms of mental unwellness.

On trauma,

There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds. But being hurt is a sign of being human. And remember, anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.

Mental health has also been recognized to be associated with heart disease. In a recently published paper by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), it has been recognized that depression is linked with coronary artery disease. Depression not only affects the quality of life but also the cardiovascular outcomes in terms of mortality and hospitalization. Therefore, it is very important for us as cardiologists to recognize depression in our patients and integrate its management into our cardiovascular risk factor modification advice to patients.

Self-management strategy (modified from Mental Health Foundation)

1. Talk about your feelings
Open up to someone and discuss things that are bothering you. Sharing your feelings and acknowledging the problem is the first step to solving the issues. Sharing can also promote discussion and come up with coping strategies.

2. Keep active and exercise
Regular exercise can boost self-esteem and make you feel better (both mentally and physically). Exercise can take many forms – a 30-minute work-out video, a short jog around the neighborhood, gardening or even housework.

3. Eat well and keep hydrated
A healthy and balanced diet containing necessary nutrients can do wonders for your health (mental and physical). Keeping an adequate amount of fluid intake is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

4. Drink sensibly / Avoid harmful substances
Some people turn to alcohol, drugs and smoking as a coping mechanism but the effects of these substances are only temporary. Instead, they tend to cause more problems than they solve. For alcohol – drink sensibly and avoid drugs and ni****ne!

5. Keep in touch with friends and family
Catching up with friends and family provides an avenue for sharing feelings and support. There are many other ways to do so during the lockdown such as phone or video calls, social media apps or messaging services.

6. Ask for help
At some point in our lives, we all feel overwhelmed by situations and may find it hard to cope. It is important to ask for help during these times. Many people see this is a sign of weakness, but it is not – being able to recognize limitations is a strength!

7. Take a break
A change of scene or pace can be a breath of fresh air for anyone during times of intense stress. Taking a break, be it a lunch break at work, a 5-minute walk away from the computer or even a detox from social media can do wonders for your mental health.

8. Do something for yourself
It is important to do something for yourself once in a while. Doing an activity for yourself which you enjoy can help boost your self-esteem and allow you to let go of your worries temporarily and improve your mood.

9. Accept who you are
We are all different and being able to recognize and accept this will make you feel better about yourself. All of us have different skill sets and characteristics which makes us unique and we can contribute to humanity in our own special way.

10. Care for others
Lastly, caring for others is another way of improving our mental health. Acts of kindness, however small, can improve relationships, bring people closer, boost our self-esteem and provide hope! Therefore, in conjunction with this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme – kindness, I urge everyone to perform acts of kindness and spread the word

I know the word meditation can seem intimidating to so many, but it’s much more simple than the ideas around it. For me, it’s about identifying as the observer/witness/awareness. Watching thoughts, feelings, and emotions come and go. Resting deeper into the awareness behind it all.

It takes practice like anything else. It’s okay if you get lost in thought. Just notice when you do, and find your way back to being the observer. It’s a practice that allows you to rest deeper into this place of awareness. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. The less attached you become to the ideas in your head.
Every meditation isn’t going to be a transcendental experience. You can’t expect to just meditate once and everything change. It’s a slow shift in perspective over time of who you really are. Beyond it all. And try your best to let go of expectations while you meditate. Don’t judge or expect anything and just watch what happens.

And eventually you get to this place where you know that none of your thoughts are you. You are the one who watches them. Meditation has been what has helped me most out of any practice on my spiritual journey. I hope it helps you too!