Mental Wellness Month

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act as we cope with life. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood and aging. Mental health is important because it can help you to:

• Cope with the stresses of life
• Be physically healthy
• Have good relationships
• Make meaningful contributions to your community
• Work productively
• Realize your full potential

Because of its importance, people should strive to either maintain or improve their mental health. There are many ways you can improve your mental health:

Stay Positive

It is important to try to have a positive outlook. One way you can do this is finding the balance between your positive and negative emotions. Staying positive does not mean that you never feel negative emotions, such as sadness or anger. You need to feel them so that you can move through difficult situations. They can help you to respond to a problem. Nevertheless, you do not want those emotions to take over. For example, it is not helpful to keep thinking about bad things that happened in the past or worry too much about the future. Trying to hold on to the positive emotions when you have them. Another thing you can do to establish a positive outlook is take a break from negative information. Know when to stop viewing the news or social media. Reach out to others and surround yourself with positive people. Be careful not to fall for rumors, get into arguments, or negatively compare your life to others.

Practice Gratitude

Be thankful for the good things in your life. It is helpful to do this every day, either by thinking about what you are grateful for or writing it down in a journal. These can be big things, such as the support you have from loved ones, or little things, such as enjoying a nice meal. It is important to allow yourself a moment to enjoy that you had the positive experience. Practicing gratitude can help you to see your life differently.

Improving Your Physical Health

Your physical and mental health are connected. Exercise can reduce feelings of stress and depression, and improve your mood. Moreover, good nutrition will help you feel better physically, improve your mood, and decrease anxiety and stress. Not having enough of certain nutrients may contribute to some mental illnesses. For example, there may be a link between low levels of vitamin B12 and depression. Eating a well-balanced diet can help you to get enough of the nutrients you need.

Additionally, getting enough sleep can improve your physical and mental health. Sleep affects your mood. If you do not get a good sleep, you may become more easily annoyed and angry. Over the long term, a lack of quality sleep can make you more likely to become depressed. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you have a regular sleep schedule and get enough quality sleep every night.

Connecting With Others

It is important to have strong, healthy relationships with others. Having good social support may help protect you against the harms of stress. It is also good to have different types of connections. Besides connecting with family and friends, you could find ways to get involved with your community or neighborhood. For example, you could volunteer for a local organization or join a group that is focused on a hobby you enjoy.

Developing Healthy Coping Skills

Coping skills are methods you use to deal with stressful situations. They may help you face a problem, take action, be flexible, and not easily give up in solving it. Be careful. A good coping skill should not physically or mentally harm you or anyone else. Please respect yourself and others around you.

Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques are practices that you do to invoke your body's natural relaxation response. This slows down your breathing, lowers your blood pressure, and reduces muscle tension and stress. There are many types of techniques can help you become more relaxed. Types of relaxation techniques include:

• Mediation  
  • A mind and body practice where you learn to focus your attention and awareness.
• Progressive Relaxation
  • Where you tighten and relax different muscle groups, sometimes while using mental imagery or breathing exercises.
• Guided Imagery,
  • Where you learn to focus on positive images in your mind, to help you feel more relaxed and focused
• Biofeedback,
  • Where you use electronic devices to learn to control certain body functions, such as breathing, heart rate, and muscle tension
• Deep breathing exercises
  • Involve focusing on taking slow, deep, even breaths

It is also important to recognize when you need to get help. Talk therapy and/or medicines can help treat mental disorders. If you do not know where to get treatment, start by contacting your primary care provider.

Happy New Year from Creek Fit!

Here are some special events taking place at Creek Fit:

Creek Fit in the Park:           Outdoor boot camp training every Thursday @ 7:15am-8:00am, followed by 30 minutes of indoor cycling @ 8:15am-8:45am at the Recreation complex, 4455 Sol Press Blvd.

HIIT’s a New Year!!               HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) class on Sunday, January 7^th @ 9:15am-10:15am at the Recreation complex, 4455 Sol Press Blvd