Tag: Wellness

What are the Components of Good Mental Well-Being?

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Outline

The components of good mental well-being include:

  • Connecting with Others.
  • Remaining Active.
  • Continuing to Learn.
  • Giving to Others.
  • Being Mindful.
  • Being Able to Express Emotions.
  • Being Able to Cope with Stress.
  • Being Adaptable in Times of Change.
  • Being Confident and Having Good Self-Esteem.
  • Being Productive.

Connecting with Others

It is argued that this is the most important aspect of good mental well-being, as it enables individuals to feel part of their community or their own support group, knowing that they have somewhere to turn in times of need and that they are able to help others as well.

Making new friends into adulthood helps individuals to feel wanted and liked and this is beneficial for their confidence and self-esteem.

Remaining Active

Stating both mentally and physically active helps individuals to remain well in both of these areas, with the link between good mental and good physical health being clearly established.

Individuals who are physically well may be less likely to develop mental health issues related to long-term illness, and the benefits of exercise helps boost the release of ‘happy hormones’ such as serotonin, which enhance mood and make individuals feel good.

Continuing to Learn

It is recommended that people never stop learning, and this should continue even into late adulthood.

Learning a new skill or information about a new subject is not only useful for ongoing cognitive functioning but it can help people to remain social as well, such as by attending a college course or a book club where there are lots of opportunities to connect with other people.

Giving to Others

Any form of giving to other people is mutually beneficial; that is to say that the person giving to others feels good about themselves and the person receiving what is given fells good as well.

Giving to others may mean being active in the community, such as doing volunteer work, or it can mean doing charity events, such as sponsored walks or collecting items for a local food bank.

Being Mindful

mindfulness means that a person is able to live in the present moment without worrying about what is coming in the future or what has happened in the past.

It enables people to focus solely on what is happening in their current surroundings and is thought to be an excellent way of reducing stress and anxiety, which can be the foundation of some forms of mental ill health.

Being Able to Express Emotions

Most people will have heard the saying that it is better to speak up about something than to keep things ‘bottled up’.

When people are unable to express their emotions effectively, this can mean that they eventually become overwhelmed by their feelings, and this can lead to stress, anxiety, depression and other difficulties that may prevent them from going about their daily activities.

Being Able to Cope with Stress

The concept of resilience is closely linked to being able to cope with stress.

Resilience enables individuals to react positively in the face of adversity and to find a way of moving forwards that is not detrimental to their mental health.

Being Adaptable in Times of Change

Resilience is also linked to being able to cope successfully when there are changes in life.

This can be a minor change such as having to move to a different office at work, or a major change like moving house, losing a loved one, or being diagnosed with a serious illness.

Being Confident and Having Good Self-Esteem

Being confident and having a high level of self-esteem helps individuals to feel good about themselves. which enables them to connect with others, make positive decisions, and be resilient when times become challenging.

Being Productive

Being productive within a community, family, or workplace helps individuals to feel good about themselves, increases their self-esteem, and can help them to connect with others as well.

It also gives individuals a sense of achievement. which helps increase confidence and gives individuals a positive outlook for the future.

Book: Design for Wellbeing

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Book Title:

Design for Wellbeing – An Applied Approach.

Author(s): Ann Petermans and Rebecca Cain (Editors).

Year: 2019.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: Routledge.

Type(s): Hardcover and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Design for Wellbeing charts the development and application of design research to improve the personal and societal wellbeing and happiness of people. It draws together contributions from internationally leading academics and designers to demonstrate the latest thinking and research on the design of products, technologies, environments, services and experiences for wellbeing.

  • Part I starts by conceptualising wellbeing and takes an in-depth look at the rise of the design for wellbeing movement.
  • Part II then goes on to demonstrate design for wellbeing in practice through a broad range of domains from products and environments to services. Among others, we see emerging trends in the design of interiors and urban spaces to support wellbeing, designing to enable and support connectedness and social interaction, and designing for behaviour change to tackle unhealthy eating behaviour in children. Significantly, the body of work on subjective wellbeing, design for happiness, is increasing, and several case studies are provided on this, demonstrating how design can contribute to support the wellbeing of people.
  • Part III provides practical guidance for designing for wellbeing through a range of examples of tools, methods and approaches, which are highly user-centric, participatory, critical and speculative.
  • Finally, the book concludes in Part IV with a look at future challenges for design for wellbeing.

This book provides students, researchers and practitioners with a detailed assessment of design for wellbeing, taking a distinctive global approach to design practice and theory in context. Design for Wellbeing concerns designers and organisations but also defines its broader contribution to society, culture and economy.

Book: Mental Health and Well-being in Animals

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Book Title:

Mental Health and Well-being in Animals.

Author(s): Dr Franklin D. McMillan (Editor).

Year: 2019.

Edition: Second (2nd).

Publisher: CABI Publishing.

Type(s): Hardcover and Kindle.

Synopsis:

The second edition is fully revised, expanded, and comprehensively updated with the most current knowledge about the full array of mental health issues seen in animals.

Written by key opinion leaders, internationally-recognized experts and specialists, it is comprehensive covering basic principles to mental wellness, emotional distress, suffering and mental illness, through to measurement and treatment.

With even more practical information and clinical pearls, this book remains invaluable to veterinary professionals, animal welfare researchers and advocates, and other animal caregivers.

Reviewing the Challenges & Mental Health Issues of Academic Trainees

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Research Paper Title

The Challenges and Mental Health Issues of Academic Trainees.

Background

In the last decade, mental health issues have come to the foreground in academia. Literature surrounding student mental health continues to grow as universities try to implement wellness services and study the mental health of their students.

Studies vary greatly in terms of measurement tools, timeframe, sample demographics, as well as the chosen threshold of symptom severity for diagnosis.

This review attempts to summarise, contextualise and synthesise papers that pertain to the challenges faced by academic trainees at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate level.

The evidence for, and against, the common claim of increasing prevalence of mental health issues among students in recent years is discussed.

While some studies support this claim, it is difficult to reach a definitive conclusion due to numerous confounding factors such as increased help-seeking behaviour, greater awareness of mental health issues and weak methodology.

The prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidal and self-injurious behaviour, distress and general mental illness diagnoses are discussed.

Other issues known to influence mental health, such as sexual assault and bullying, are briefly addressed.

Finally, select studies on a few wellness strategies that may improve mental health of trainees, such as mindfulness, are summarised, along with diverse recommendations for individual students, universities, and academia as a whole.

Reference

Eleftheriades, R., Fiala, C. & Pasic, M.D. (2020) The Challenges and Mental Health Issues of Academic Trainees. F1000Research. 9:104. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.21066.1. eCollection 2020.

Book: The Wellness Sense

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Book Title:

The Wellness Sense – A Practical Guide to your Physical and Emotional Health based on Ayurvedic and Yogic Wisdom.

Author(s): Om Swami.

Year: 2015.

Edition: First (1ed).

Publisher: Black Lotus.

Type(s): Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Why do certain foods harm some people and help others? How come the same weight loss program shows different results on different individuals? And, why do some people fall sick more often than others?

Answers to these questions and many more lie in Ayurveda where your body is not just looked upon a holder of flesh and bones but the finest vehicle of experiencing all pleasures and sorrows.

In Ayurveda, as in yoga and tantra, the health of an individual is not just the state of his physical body but an aggregate of the body, senses, mind and soul. Your body is a sacred space, it is the seat of your consciousness.

The Sanskrit word for health is svasthya; it means self-dependence or a sound state of the body and mind. If examined further, it means your natural state; sva means natural and sthya means state or place.

Ayurveda aims to restore your natural state, balance so you may be free of mental and physical afflictions.

More often than not, and certainly in adults, most physical disorders are the result of a repressed and bruised consciousness. Mental afflictions create diseases in the physical body and physical diseases, in turn, disturb the state of mind.

You can treat the disease in the physical body but that’s merely treating the symptom. It is not the permanent solution.

The modern system of medicine is mostly symptom driven. If I have a headache, it’ll tell me to take a pain-killer. Ayurveda does not believe in treating the symptoms. Its advocates understanding the patient and treating the cause of the symptom and not the symptom itself.

In order to do that, the ancient scriptures took a far more holistic approach to health by combining our lifestyle with our natural tendencies (which vary from one person to another). In other words, it understood that one man’s medicine could be another man’s poison.

Expounding on the esoteric aspects of the ancient wisdom, in simple terms, this book shows you how to take care of yourself better and how to lead a healthier life in our present world – a world where we have all the comforts yet we are restless.

We have organic breakfast on the table but no time to eat it, we have the comfiest mattress but little sleep. The key to wholesome living and your well-being is entirely in your hands. This book is a must read for those who are serious about their health.