40+FAB Blog
Mentally healthy
February 21, 2021 - 40+FAB Blog
You must have heard someone being described as mentally strong, which means they know how to keep emotions and logic in balance, they spend thier time productively, they trust their ability to adapt to changes, they face the fears that hold then back, they learn from thier mistakes, and they find a balance between who they are and who they want to be.
Among all the many things that are used to describe mental strength, one cannot become mentally strong if they are not mentally healthy. Just like a physical body will not be able to build up muscles if it is sick, so the mind will not become strong if it is unhealthy.
So how can one attain or maintain mental health? There are many thoughts on this in several journals, article and blogs, but I will describe it in a simple way. Your brain and mind operate similar to a computer which has hardware and software. The brain is your hardware with all the microchips, while your mind is like the operating system which causes the microchips to work and deliver useful operations of the computer. If you want to be in mental health, then you need to ensure your brain is healthy, and also ensure your mind is healthy.
According to some research brain health can be facilitated by eating the right foods e.g., Omega 3 oils, vegetables, avocado’s, broccoli, blueberries, and drinking loads of water. Getting rid of negative self-talk, exercise, maintaining positive peer groups, learning new things, being in a clean environment, reducing the stress you are exposed to, getting enough sleep and protecting your head from being hit by excessive force.
Your mind can be healthy by primarily taking control of your thoughts. Again research has shown we think about 50,000 thoughts a day of which 40,000 are negative. With our mind only processing 20% of positive thoughts, we need to give more attention to keeping positive thoughts in the front of our mind. Writing a daily gratitude list helps to keep attention on positive thoughts which lead to a heathy mind.
Mental health is very important and we should do all we can to understand it and facilitate it in our day to day activities.
