Today we look at mental health from a wider perspective taking into account how we are interconnected from head to toe.
Today we had a visit from the lovely Alison Harris, well-being coach.
Our listener question this week was “what do we mean by well-being” it’squite a broad question, for me well-being is the ability to look at ourselves as whole human beings, by this I mean: not separating out the mind and the body. The ability to respect that what happens in the mind may have an effect on the body, what happens in the body may have an effect on the mind.
I have worked with quite a few sports people in the past who for much of their lives sport has been a very large part. what happen is an injury can occur which either hampers their ability to play and train or stops them completely. We know that exercise has a really positive affect on the mind, it releases lots of hormones that we enjoy, it keeps the body and mind well and healthy. So if injury occurs and there is an interruption to exercise this can leave a really big gap in the persons health and wellbeing routine.
This isn’t always seen; for many, exercising is a means to getting better at the chosen sport, little credit is given to how the exercise also keeps the mind healthy. I can see why, why would we see something we don’t really need to see? The mind is healthy so therefore we don’t need to take much notice ofit. Then the exercise stops, and the minds health is compromised. They come and see me, (after having the physical issue sorted) and we make the link. At this point we can reintroduce some sort of exercise that works for them, hopefully mental health improves.
Another way of looking at how we are interconnected is to consider for example someone who drinks 5 coffees a day. This much caffeine is going to have a profound effect on your mind. Caffeine is an energy; anxiety is an energy that can be fed by too much caffeine. Having too much caffeine can increase our anxiety which leave us less in control. Higher anxiety leaves us less able to rationalise situations in front of us. The same can be said for too much sugar, not enough sleep, large quantities of high fat foods can leave us feeling slow. What we consume affects the way the body and the mind function.
We are learning about these connections slowly. The more we recognise the more in control we are of both our physical health but also our mental health.
Alison and I had a really interesting conversation around the words “shouldand could” to hear more about this have a listen in to the podcast.
We also talk about “being lost in life” and how, this is okay. We don’t alwaysknow where we are going, what our plan is or where we want to end up. It can be helpful to sit with someone in a safe and confidential space to help us work out where we would like our journey to take us. Often people think
they “should “know where they should be going, which takes us right back to the word “should”. It isn’t written anywhere that we “should” know where weare going in life. The other things that can happen is that we can have a plan and it changes, that again is okay. We grow and change all the time, so why would or plan or journey not change also?
I wonder how comfortable it would be for you to let your life take more of a flow, try not to control it, just let it be.
Let me know how you get on with this.
Alison and I talk through many other subjects all linking into mental health, one of which is mediation. For some this word is massive, it’s too big and theycant do it. Meditation is nothing more than a deep state of relaxation, a place of stillness. Mediation can be a continuum from deep mediation for 30minutes to an hour, to being still and quite for 30 seconds. Please don’t befrightend of the word, what we do know about mediation is that it brings about a world of goodness to the human form, both physically and mentally. I hope you enjoy this recording with Alison, she will be back to talk more about her work in nutrition.
Theses podcasts are yours, the listener, please let us know if there is a subject you would like us to cover, or a subject you would like to know more about.
Also please let us know if you or anyone you know would like to be a guest on one of our recordings. We only ask that you have some personal or professional experience in and around mental health.
Happiness and peace.
Kevin