Poven Tips in Sustaining Good Mental Health

By Ekpen Amadasu

Mental health? Okay, I know you don't have have schizophrenia or depression or any of that stuff! Fine. The tips I'm about to give have nothing to do with your having any apparent mental illness. It basically has to do with utilizing some simple everyday opportunities to optimize the biological process that control your mental health. Understanding that almost all of your daily activities will in some way affect - positively or negatively - your mental will make you appreciate the tips given below.

Maintaining a joyful disposition
Yes, even in the face of daunting challenges or traumatic experiences. When faced with such situations seek out those activities that you derive joy from. Learn to take a break from the frantic, ulcer inducing rat race. Engage in some pleasurable activity with your friend or family. Remember throwing temper tantrum at everyone especially those that are not even the cause of your anger can actually exacerbate the feeling of despair and perhaps increase the likelihood of a depressive illness. Indeed, a moody disposition, especially when protracted my trigger some conditions such as depression.

Exercise
You've probably heard it a thousand times, the effect of exercise in maintaining your heart, blood pressure, shedding those extra fats and perhaps extending your life span. But is there any link between exercise and mental health? An emphatic yes is my answer. Studies after studies have shown that good aerobic exercises like swimming, jogging or brisk walking can, apart from improving your sense of well being, cause the release of certain chemicals in the brain. These chemicals, structurally similar to opioids have been found invoke a feeling of euphoria, thus attenuating that feeling of despair, and can as well reduce stress, both of which are major factors that contribute to mental illness.

Nutrition
Proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, all in their correct proportion can have a profound effect on your mental health. For instance, dietary protein when broken down to tryptophan is an essential substrate for the neurotransmitter (chemical substance that facilitates communication between cells in the brain) serotonin. Being an essential amino acid, it must be supplied in the diet. A deficiency of serotonin has been implicated in certain depressive illness. Indeed some of the drugs used for depression work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. Likewise certain fats known as omega 3 fatty acids have also been linked - though inconclusively - to the level of serotonin and some symptoms of bipolar disorder (a mood disorder having the representations of both mania and depression).

These tips listed above may seem rather simple and unimportant, but you will be amazed at the results you'll get once you try to implement them. The key to taking care of mental health is being happy and in control of our lives. Once we know how to take control, we are able to cope with any and all situations that come our way. Being happy is not just a one-time event - it is a lifestyle. Stay positive always.

Ekpen Amadasu is a pharmacist with a passion for mental health. Details on how the above tips affect your mental health as well as other great tips can be found at his site http://www.ekpenhealthissues.info/

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