Mental health may seem like a hard thing to conceptualize, but actually, there are several very clear facets to good mental health. These include managing and eliminating negative thinking, building strong relationships and support systems, finding ways to fill your life with purpose and enjoyment, and seeing that you nurture your inner life, or your spirituality.

The first step to achieving good mental health is by eliminating the negative thought patterns that hold you back. This may be as simple as strengthening your time, stress and anger management skills, or it may be as critical as seeking treatment for a mental disorder, such as depression or anxiety. Either way, you cannot achieve mental health without first addressing the barriers that keep you from it.

Because we are social creatures, good relationships, social skills and support systems are important to our mental health. This is not merely for extroverts. Introverts need strong relationships as well, but ones that respect their need for space. Finding like-minded, compatible people whose company we enjoy and values we respect is very beneficial to good mental health.

We have all hear the old adage “work hard / play harder,” which actually does address the human need for purpose and enjoyment. In the work we do, we want to be inspired and use our talents in order to be effective in our work and make a difference. In the recreational activities we engage in, we crave the purest, healthiest enjoyment possible. Both of these things are essential to good mental health. 

And finally, in what is arguably the most important aspect of mental health, we have a need to nurture our inner life of spirituality and intuition. This can be a complicated matter as it deals with matters we do not fully understand or agree on, yet exploring these ideas and coming to an understanding of how we feel about them creates a noted sense of wholeness within us, making it the glue that holds our mental health together, so to speak.

Sober Lifestyle

Working out and staying fit is beneficial on many levels. Not only does it allow a person to stay slim and look their best, but it also keeps them healthy, energetic and happy. With as much as fifteen-minutes a day devoted to athletic activity, a person can greatly increase their quality of life.

Most people work out to keep their figures, which has been proven effective. Regular exercise is very beneficial to weight management and muscle toning, which keeps a person’s figure trim and sculpted. This is done through the burning of calories and the building of muscle mass.

Exercise is very important to a person’s health as it is integral to metabolism, strength, mobility and flexibility. Metabolic functions are aided by athletic activity and can restore the body’s natural functions. It also keeps the body limber and able to perform more functions.

Staying energetic is very important to the pace we keep. Most of us lead very busy lives and cannot afford to lose time to lethargy or exhaustion. Regular exercise is a sure way to prevent these productivity killers, as it has been proven that the more energy we expend, the more we acquire.

Perhaps the most important benefit of exercise is that it helps our bodies release endorphins, which are responsible for our happy moods. Athletic activity has been proven to help brain function, increasing our cognition, problem solving abilities and memory function.

Mental Health

Fad diets, calorie counting, infomercial diet scams… There are a number of unproven diet methods that people will try in order to slim down. A majority of them produce no results at all, or temporary results that immediately fade when the person resumes their usual habits. The only tried and true method of eating to lose weight is to emulate what people in their element have been doing for thousands of years: eating natural foods in controlled portions.

A truly balanced diet can be hard to conceive in a world of fast-food, processed meals and preservatives, but reevaluating our personal food habits is actually completely manageable. There is ample reading material on what a balanced diet looks like, and how it can help a person lose weight. Natural foods are good for our health on many levels. They promote a proper intake of vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants, probiotics, healthy proteins and good carbohydrates. They help all our organs function better to facilitate weight loss and healthy weight management.

A natural diet is one made up of unaltered foods that come from nature, such as fruits, nuts, vegetables and animals, although some people prefer not to use animals as a food source. Every meal should consist of a large portion of vegetables, and smaller portions of healthy protein, good carbohydrates and fruits. A healthy protein may be a piece of fish or turkey breast. Vegetables can be served raw  in a salad or cooked in water or olive oil. Fruit is simply a beneficial source of natural sugars and fibers, and good carbohydrates such as potatoes have health benefits as well. These foods should be supplemented with other beneficial edibles, such as yogurt for probiotics or herbs for medicinal qualities.

Exercise and Fitness

Taking into account portion control and proper meal scheduling, these methods are the best dietary ways of losing weight.