Understanding the Link Between Mental Health and Physical Health

Even though the mind and body tend to be viewed as different things, they are connected. The two aspects of your health—physical and mental—are positively associated. Therefore, having poor mental health could also have negative effects on your body.

An increasing body of research shows the close relationship between mental and physical health, with studies demonstrating that an improvement or deterioration in one can cause an equivalent improvement or deterioration in the other. But exactly how does one affect the other? What is going on in the body for changes in one to affect changes in the other?

How Mental Health Affects Your Physical Health

Your mental health has a significant impact on your overall well-being. A healthy mental state can help you stay healthy and fight off significant medical issues. According to a study, having a positive mental attitude can lower your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.

On the other hand, poor mental health can result in dangerous behaviors or poor physical health.

Chronic conditions. Depression and several chronic illnesses have been linked. Among these illnesses are diabetes, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis.

Additionally, a higher risk of respiratory and heart disorders has been linked to schizophrenia.

People with mental health problems may find it difficult to manage a chronic condition. Deaths from cancer and heart disease are more common in people who have depression or other mental health difficulties.

Difficulties sleeping. Insomnia can make it difficult to get to sleep or stay asleep. You may experience frequent awakenings due to breathing problems brought on by sleep apnea.

While illnesses like depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder may contribute to sleep issues, these issues may also worsen pre-existing mental health issues.

Smoking. Smoking is more prevalent among individuals who have mental health issues than it is among those who do not.

According to the research, there are several ways in which the psychological stress that many mental diseases bring about may be related to accelerated aging.

Stress can cause undesirable behaviors that are detrimental to physical health, such as poor diet, inactivity, and substance abuse.

Sleep disturbances brought on by stress might eventually affect physical health.

Chronically high cortisol levels brought on by stress can impair virtually every body process, including the immunological system, cardiovascular system, digestive system, and even reproductive system.

How Does Physical Health Affect Mental Health?

Changes in dopamine, a "happiness hormone" linked to motivation and reward, are one of the most well-established effects on mental health. Dopamine transmission is downregulated by estrogen. Therefore, your dopamine levels drop when estrogen levels rise, which happens twice just before ovulation and once more just before your period. That may worsen symptoms for those who have ADHD. But that can lessen the symptoms of psychosis in persons with bipolar illness or other disorders that cause psychosis.

Reproductive hormones are not the only ones that are associated with mental health. Insulin, cortisol, leptin, and other metabolic hormones have been proven to affect a variety of mental conditions, including ADHD, schizophrenia, and eating disorders.

How to maintain a healthy physical and mental well-being?

The research on the connection between physical and mental health has one positive finding: it demonstrates how adaptable both the body and the brain are to change.

Any present symptoms of your mental and physical health may have started as a result of your adaptability. But it's that same flexibility that makes anything you do to look after yourself just as powerful to start a chain reaction of beneficial changes in your body. Here are a few places where you could begin.

1. Make it a lifelong habit to exercise regularly

It is difficult to emphasize the advantages of regular exercise for both physical and mental health. It boosts immune system strength, metabolic efficiency, muscle mass and function, cardiovascular and respiratory health, and even helps to promote gut flora variety.

Due to their interdependence, all of those advantages for physical health will also enhance mental health. But the brain also directly benefits from exercise. These advantages include enhanced cognitive performance, enhanced executive function, which includes working memory and impulse control, fewer symptoms of anxiety and sadness, and diminished stress.

Follow these recommendations for the best short- and long-term results:

Don't go overboard. Intense training can work against the psychological and physical advantages of exercise.

Aim for 150–300 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week, including at least two days of muscle-building activities.

Choose hobbies that you genuinely enjoy. Peak performance or making the most of every workout are not requirements for exercise. It only needs to be anything that moves your body and, if you're feeling up to it, challenges you slightly. Take a walk, swim, dance, play with your dog, or do anything else that gets your body moving without making you dread exercising.

Start with ridiculously modest goals. Set daily goals that look so simple that seems silly not to accomplish them to prevent quitting before exercise becomes a habit. Set the objective a bit higher each week.

2. Consume a Balanced, Healthy Diet

One of the most significant risk factors for sickness is diet, but changing one's diet can also be one of the most challenging aspects of one's existence. There is so much contradicting advice about what food items you should and shouldn't eat available. Additionally, many diet regimens demand that you keep precise records of your intake of vitamins, protein, and fiber. It is too much.

Simply adhere to a few fundamental guidelines of healthy nutrition and then don't worry about it, rather than trying to follow any optimized diet plan or determine which trendy superfood you should be consuming:

Up your water intake. The usual suggestion is three to four liters each day.

Eat more vegetables and fruits. You can benefit from any fresh vegetable, so don't overthink it. Just be sure there isn't a lot of extra salt or sugar in canned or frozen versions.

Bread and soup, two less processed and ready-made items, can have surprisingly high salt and sugar content. If you do have these prepared options, look for low-sodium, low-sugar substitutes by reading the label.

3. Schedule Some Downtime

Many health suggestions, like the ones mentioned above, are focused on actions or lifestyle changes that you should make. However, it's also crucial to keep in mind that stress plays a significant role in the negative interactions between mental and physical health. Finding time to stop worrying about whether you're eating the proper things, exercising enough, or being productive enough should thus be a part of your recovery process.

Simply set aside some time each day to relax and be present without any distractions—TV, phone, etc. Take note of where you are now and your feelings. Don't consider what comes next or what you ought to be feeling or doing right now.

Although this is frequently referred to as mindfulness, don't let the term drive you into making decisions on how to best use your time or what you should be doing. The objective is to just check in with yourself and take a brief break from the bustle of daily life. Once you've established a routine for setting aside this time for yourself, you can try a more specific mindfulness activity if you'd like.