Mental Health Matters – Why Mental Health Is Important
Mental health is just as important to our wellbeing as physical health. Just like physical health, our mental health affects every aspect of our lives such as our relationships, work, motivation, happiness, sleep, and more.
The purpose of this article is to reinforce why mental health is so important, and why it should be talked about, viewed, and sympathised with in the same way as physical health. It’s time to break the stigma attached to mental health, once and for all.
1. Mental Health Affects Physical Health
Your mental health has a direct impact on your physical health. Chronic depression and anxiety can result in serious health issues such as high blood pressure, obesity, heart issues, chronic fatigue, chronic pain and much more.
While poor mental health has extremely real physical implications such as those mentioned above, in many cases poor physical health is due to the increased chance of us neglecting the needs of our bodies when we are in a constantly poor state of mind.
For example, when struggling with anxiety and depression, people may neglect a proper diet, adequate sleep and good hygiene practices, all of which can impact our physical health. Furthermore, people in a poor state of mind might develop an addiction to alcohol, drugs, or even video games/gambling, which can all lead to issues with our physical health.
Understanding the relationship between mind and body is essential to ending the stigma surrounding mental health.
2. Mental Health Affects Relationships
Poor mental health can harm our relationships with family, friends, spouses, and colleagues. Feeling depressed can cause us to cut ourselves off from those we love, which can damage the relationship in the long run. It can be difficult to communicate when you are anxious or depressed, and we can end up feeling like a burden to the ones we care about.
Things can be even more complicated when in a romantic relationship. While a solid and healthy relationship will be built upon the foundations of helping each other through the toughest times, it is possible that poor mental health could be draining for our partner or spouse. When feeling down, it can be difficult to have intimate moments with our significant other. This, too, can cause issues over time.
While it is important to have supportive people around us that understand mental health issues, we all have a responsibility to take care of our mental health. While it’s okay not to be okay, we owe it to our loved ones as well as ourselves to be mindful of our mental wellbeing.
3. Mental Health Affects Work
When we are feeling permanently low or anxious, it can be extremely difficult to be productive. Staying focussed and motivated can be troublesome, and if our output falls, or mistakes begin to occur regularly, we might attract negative attention from our employer. This, of course, could have implications for our goals and careers. Looking after our mental health is vital for success in the workplace.
Thankfully, more and more employers are recognising the importance of mental health in the workplace, and it is now much easier to have an open and frank conversation about mental health without worrying about the stigma attached to it. It is great to see so many workplaces actively promoting healthy work-life balances, and promoting conversations about mindfulness and mental health.
Flagship Partners
At Flagship, we do our best to promote the importance of mental health, both in our personal and professional lives. We do this first and foremost with our colleagues, but also run online and classroom courses designed to raise awareness about mental health at work. We consider mental health to be of equal importance to physical health, which is why we take these courses as seriously as we do for our First Aid courses.
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us via our website, or via freephone at 03300 553643.
