How is your mental and physical health connected to one another?
- Brain function is affected by your diet
- Toxic relationships can cause physical illnesses
- Sleep deprivation can cause mood disorders
- Exercising regularly can boost happiness
Because of your mind and body’s connection, it has become common knowledge that your mental and physical health are also connected. It seems that going to a gym in Makati or choosing to eat healthily can rapidly improve your mood towards life. At the same time, constantly feeling mad about life can affect your body and manifest as illnesses. Why do these things happen? Read on and find out why!
Brain Function Is Affected By Your Diet
Most people see healthy eating as nothing more than a means to an end. They need to cut out processed foods it to lose pounds or gain abdominal muscles to help with their physical core fitness. In the Philippines, a nutritious diet is assumed to only be important to improve physical appearances. But, its significance goes on to the mental level by impacting how the brain works as well.
The brain plays an important part in our mental health because it controls our thinking, memory, and emotions. To do their important functions, it collects information through our four senses and neurotransmitters from different organs including your stomach. Therefore, everything you eat will, quite literally, affect how your mind works. No wonder a lot of people have a hard time concentrating and controlling their anger after consuming foods with little to no nutritional value.
In fact, a study has found the types of meals that are health hazards to your minds. These are specifically:
- Sugary meals
- Foods rich in trans fats
- Processed meals
Eating these kinds of food on a daily basis can increase your risk for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. To keep your brain functioning, you should commit to eating healthy foods on a regular basis. Some of these include:
- Probiotics
- Vegetables and fruits
- Unprocessed grains
- Fish
- Seafood
- Lean meats
Toxic Relationships Can Cause Physical Illnesses
Toxic relationships can make our quality of life lower by giving us endless sadness, anger, and anxiety. All of these stressful emotions are not only harmful to our mental health, but also our physical health. Negative people can make your body physically ill by harming your heart, stomach, and immune system.
When it comes to your heart, one of its biggest enemies is anxiety; and spending a lot of time with bad people can give you loads of it. Excessive anxiety can harm your cardiovascular system by exposing it to dangerous amounts of the hormone called adrenaline. Whenever your body gets a shot of this, your breathing becomes shallower while heart rate and blood pressure rise up. Experiencing these events regularly can take a toll on your heart.
On the other hand, your immune system can also deteriorate from chronic stress caused by toxic relationships. Specifically, your line of defense slows down as a result of the endocrine system releasing protective hormones which harm it. These may protect you from emergencies, but it comes at the expense of you getting sick more often. Lastly, your stomach can experience digestive problems as a result of your negative emotions because the intensity of it can send it to overdrive.
Sleep Deprivation Can Cause Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are mental illnesses. People with these disorders have emotions that both interfere with their ability to function in everyday life and are considered incompatible with their current experiences. For example, a college student may be diagnosed with one if he refuses to go to school for no other reason than a lack of motivation. Additionally, they tend to be suicidal or addicted to dangerous substances including alcohol and nicotine.
Mood disorders cover different types of mental health problems, including:
- Major depressive disorder
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety
Chronic sleep deprivation, for a lot of experts, is seen as a viable cause for these mental illnesses. Why? It turns out that a lack of rest can negatively impact your brain’s putamen. The putamen is responsible for your motivation and ability to see rewards in life. Whether you like it or not, you tend to do better in certain activities when you know you will get something in return. These gifts could be quantifiable like money or something more emotional, such a sense of accomplishment. When you are unable to see life’s joys for a long time, you can lose motivation for other things and eventually develop mood disorders.
Exercising Regularly Can Boost Happiness
Going to a gym in Makati doesn’t only make you look good, it also makes you feel good. In fact, exercise seems to have a positive link with happiness for many reasons.
First, physical activities can help your body produce more serotonin, the hormone responsible for regulating your emotions and creating positive feelings in your mind. As a result of these, aerobic and strengthening exercises are often recommended for people suffering from depression.
Second, working on your fitness makes you also feel better by giving you a sense of accomplishment. Most of us know how important it is to find a purpose in life. Likewise, finding ways to fulfill your different goals, such as your athletic ones, helps you discover it. Furthermore, knowing the purpose behind your actions can make you more energetic and confident about yourself.
Key Takeaway
Your physical and mental health are more connected to each other more than you think. When you do something that harms your body, the brain works into overdrive as a result. On the other hand, your thoughts and feelings about different experiences can make or break your physicality. Thus, knowing how they connect to one another can potentially motivate you to improve your well-being further.