Wellness: Whole Person

Being well includes health body as well as healthy mind.

If you have numerous stressors, it is easy to overlook the importance of taking care of yourself. If you have children, you need to take good care of yourself so you are able to take care of them and also do the things that are important to you.

You can’t have a healthy body if you do not take good care of your mind. We know how important it is to eat healthy and get exercise for good physical health, but these are also important for good mental health. Exercise helps to improve mood and energy and nutrition helps support a healthy nervous system which is important for mental health.

Having good mental health makes you able to have pleasure in life and also to cope with problems, because you will have inner strength.

There are things you can do to protect your mental health. Having good mental health is more than just not having a mental illness, it means you have healthy thoughts, feelings, and good control over what you do.

Two important ways you can protect or improve mental health is to get good sleep and manage stress

Here are some strategies to help develop good sleep:

• Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning. Avoid "sleeping in" (sleeping much later than your usual time for getting up). It will make you feel worse.
• Establish a bedtime "ritual" by doing the same things every night for an hour or two before bedtime so your body knows when it is time to go to sleep.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.
• Eat on a regular schedule and avoid a heavy meal prior to going to bed. Don't skip any meals.
• Eat plenty of dairy foods and dark green leafy vegetables.
• Exercise daily, but avoid strenuous or invigorating activity before going to bed.
• Play soothing music on a tape or CD that shuts off automatically after you are in bed.
• Try a turkey sandwich and a glass of milk before bedtime to make you feel drowsy.
• Try having a small snack before you go to bed, something like a piece of fruit and a piece of cheese, so you don't wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Have a similar small snack if you awaken in the middle of the night.
• Take a warm bath or shower before going to bed.
• Drink a cup of herbal chamomile tea before going to bed.

 

Stress and mental health

Stress can happen for many reasons. Stress can be brought about by relationship problems, feeling unsafe, losses of various kinds, or emergency situation.

It's hard to stay calm and relaxed when we have many situations to handle.

Sometimes we feel many of the signs and symptoms of stress but we do not recognize it until it gets severe. If you are having these symptoms, find some ways to de-stress:

Common symptoms of stress include:

• Headache
• Sleep problems
• Trouble concentrating
• Short-temper
• Upset stomach
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Sadness
• Anxiety

As women, we have so many different responsibilities: parenting, friend, helping our parents, work, etc. and it is hard to find ways to reduce our stress, but it's important to find those ways. Your health depends on it.

Here are a few ideas:

• Set limits. Don’t try to manage everything at once. Work on problems little by little. Set limits for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to say NO to requests for your time and energy.

Relax

• Control your breathing: If you're feeling stressed, control your breathing in a way that makes you breathe slower and helps your muscles relax. This sounds so simple, but if you actually try it, and keep it up for at least 10 minutes, your body’s stress reaction will begin to calm down. Here is a very simple way to control breathing to reduce stress:

Breathe in through your nose to a count of 3

Hold your breath for a count of 3

Exhale for a count of 3

Repeat this sequence until you begin to feel your body relax. It REALLY WORKS!

• Stretch. Stretching can also help relax your muscles and make you feel less tense.
• Take time to do something you want to do. We all have lots of things that we have to do. But often we don't take the time to do the things that we really want to do. It could be listening to music, reading a good book, or going to a movie.

(Source: Office on Women’s Health, (WomensHealth. gov {USDHHS})

The Office of Women’s Health is a great resource for learning how to manage stress. Here is the link:

http://www.womenshealth.gov/mental-health/index.html

Written by: Joan Neave