Trying to look after yourself when you are living with a mental health condition can be very tough. It is also something that can often be neglected and overlooked in favour of skipping a workout to relax or by eating your favourite comfort foods. However, by taking steps to live a healthier lifestyle you can improve both your physical and mental well-being.
What is a mental health disorder or problem?
Mental health disorders refer to a very wide range of mental health conditions that can affect your thoughts, behaviours, mood and perception.
It is normal for you to go through moments in your life where you are feeling down, anxious or worried. However, when these feelings do not go away and they start impacting your day-to-day life, it may be a sign of a mental health condition.
Below are a list of some of the different types of mental health conditions:
- Anxiety disorders
- Personality disorders
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Mood disorders
- Bipolar disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Developmental disorders
- Addictive disorders
Booking an appointment with your GP is something you should do immediately if you are concerned about your mental health. They will be able to offer support and a way to get treatment if needed.
Mental health and heart health
A mental health condition is likely to increase the risk of a person developing issues with their heart. These can include high blood pressure, heart attack, high cholesterol and angina.
The mental effects of heart disease have the potential to affect every aspect of a person’s life. This can include their ability to work, their personal relationships and social life. It can make a person feel anxious, stressed or depressed which is more likely to result in them ignoring their health and maybe failing to take their medication.
Anxiety and depression, in particular, have been linked to heart disease as both a risk factor in causing it and as an effect of it. This is because having an issue with your heart can cause a person to live in fear of having a heart attack, stroke or cardiac arrest. For those who have previously had a heart attack this fear can be amplified. The fear can also combine with the thoughts of what another heart issue can have on your family and the ones you may be leaving behind to increase feelings of anxiety and maybe depression.
Depression can also hinder your recovery process as well as increasing the risk of further heart attacks. This is because it can cause you to feel less motivated about following a healthy lifestyle such as eating a healthy diet or doing exercise. It can also cause a continuation of harmful behaviours like drinking alcohol, smoking and drug use.
Leading a healthier lifestyle
Trying to look after yourself when living with a mental health condition can at times feel very overwhelming. This is why it is important to remember that living a healthy lifestyle is not something that has to be done in one move. Unfortunately, this is a common pitfall for some as they try to make too many changes to their lives at once and end up relapsing into their old ways. This is why it can be the best course of action for you to slowly implement one healthier choice to your life at a time. As time passes you can add another in to your life until you get to the end goal.
Here are several healthy changes you can make to your life to improve your mental and physical health:
- Limiting alcohol consumption
- Manage high cholesterol
- Eating a healthy and balanced diet
- Keeping physically active by taking part in regular exercise
- Manage high blood pressure
- Quit smoking
- Staying at a healthy weight
- Manage your diabetes
Keeping active
Keeping yourself physically active can help to improve your mental health as it releases chemicals in the brain called endorphins. These can help to ease feelings of anxiety, depression and stress whilst also improving overall mood. This can be done in several different ways such as using the stairs instead of a lift, trying yoga or calling up friends and family members to join your activities.
Quit smoking
In the short-term smoking can help someone feel more relaxed, however, these brief benefits do not outweigh the long-term consequences smoking can have on both your physical and mental health. It can increase a person’s feelings of tension and anxiety, higher their risk of developing lung cancer and heart diseases. You can quit smoking by making small changes such as keeping your mind busy, avoiding the shop where you buy cigarettes and when you get the craving to smoke replace it with something else that you may enjoy.
Eating a balanced diet
A healthy, balanced diet can help both your physical and mental well-being as it provides your body with all the vital nutrients it needs to work optimally. A mental health condition can sometimes affect your relationship with food causing you to feel like cooking or shopping is too much and, in some cases, losing interest in food. But you should try not to miss any meals, in particular, breakfast as spending the rest of the morning on an empty stomach can make you feel tired, irritable and on edge. By eating healthily, you are able to benefit by getting control over your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure. This will in turn reduce the risks of developing a circulatory or heart disease.
Cutting down on alcohol consumption
Drinking alcohol works in the same way as smoking in the sense that it is used as a way to help you feel better and maybe deal with the symptoms of a mental health condition you are living with. However, it can have the opposite effect by making the condition worse and causing an increased chance of developing liver problems, high blood pressure, damaging heart muscles and stroke. You can cut down on alcohol consumption by replacing your drink with something that has a lower alcohol percentage. This is one of the steps that can be taken to help manage your alcohol intake to within the recommended limit of no more than 14 units of alcohol each week.
Identify cause of stress, anxiety or depression and address them
Making these lifestyle changes can help to greatly turn your life around, but it will not fix all of your problems. This is because it has not addressed the underlying cause that is making you feel anxious, stressed or depressed. Therefore, it is important to meet with a GP who will be able to refer you to a specialist that can help work to the root cause of what is affecting you.
Talk to someone
Opening up to someone can help in a number of different ways, it can help to put your problems into perspective, offer a different viewpoint and help to create a support network that will be there for you as you go through recovery and treatment.
Medication
Before any of these steps are implemented it is vital to be aware of the impact the medication you have been prescribed for your mental health condition can have on you. Most medications have side effects associated with them which include affecting your appetite, sleep patterns and even heart rate. It is important to consult with your doctors if you have an underlying health condition such as hypertension which may inadvertently affect treatment response.
