It’s hard to stay 100% mentally healthy all the time. Western societies tend to facilitate productivity at the cost of our mental well-being. It is no wonder that anxiety is often talked about as a simple reality of our lives, whereas in some other cultures, it is unheard of. That is but one example of the many struggles we can face when the hustle is prioritized over our health. But how do we combat this? By ensuring you take care of what I like to call the three pillars of mental (and physical) wellness. I mention both because studies have shown that our mental and physical health are irrefutably interconnected. Here we will talk about what I believe the three pillars to be, but for a more detailed breakdown of what you can do in each of the pillars, look out for a future post that will lay it out with more detail.
The three pillars are, of course, nutrition, sleep, and exercise.
When we eat well, we are fueling our bodies to take on the day we have planned for it. While our macronutrients are fuel for our bodies, they are also fuel for our minds. Being in the right zones for protein, carbs, and fat, can make a world of difference. Calorie intake is also important for fuelling your body with enough energy in contrast to the calories we burn every second that we live. When you don’t have enough to eat, you experience hunger, which can be a huge mental distraction. If you’re eating the wrong foods, your mind and body feel it. And if you’re eating well, but not drinking enough water, you better believe your mind feels that too!
Sleep is integral for our recovery, and it also gives our waking mind a much-needed break. Sleep can be broken down into two types: NREM and REM. NREM can be further broken down into three stages that differ by level of wakefulness. Over the course of a regular sleepful night, you are fluctuating between these stages in various doses. You only need to hit your body’s personal targets to wake up the next day feeling well rested. Too little, and yes, even too much, can be detrimental to your mental and physical health. Of course, there are general guidelines on how much a baby, toddler, child, adolescent, adult, and older adult requires each night. While these guidelines can be helpful to act as a target for establishing your own personal baseline, the amount of sleep required for any one person is largely based on individual needs and cannot be determined by a collective average. Moreover, if you miss too much sleep in one night, you begin to accumulate sleep debt, which can result in continual mental and physical fatigue over the course of your wakeful day. It’s a good habit to get on a regular sleep schedule, but that’s a topic for another day.
The final pillar is exercise. When we are physically active, we are secreting many beneficial “natural drugs” in our brain. These neurotransmitters are responsible for letting us feel pleasure, relaxation, alertness, and a plethora of other life-giving thoughts and feelings. Our cardiovascular and muscle health are also impacted positively when we are physically active, allowing us to maintain a strong body, and consequently, a strong mind.
I’m not a regular gym-goer and when I’ve felt my worst, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym. But I was always glad when I did, particularly after the session, when the endorphins were kicking into overdrive. But the gym is not the only option for physical activity. In the book “No Sweat”, Michelle Segar advocates for finding activities you find pleasurable as a source of exercise. This helps with motivation. Maybe on those feel-bad days that I didn’t go to the gym, a brisk walk in nature did the trick. If you have a physical job, where your step count at the end of the shift hits 6,000 or more, maybe that’s all it takes to maintain your physical and mental condition. And that 6,000-step goal is not that arbitrary either. While many doctors have often used 10,000 steps as a daily goal for everyone, health benefits have been proven to be seen after just 6,000. So even with just 6,000 steps a day, you’re on the right track to combatting a sedentary life. But why stop at 6,000 when you can get to 7,000, 9,000, or even 11,000? There is the law of diminishing returns, don’t get me wrong, but being anywhere within that range goes a long way in breaking our often-sedentary habits. And just because the returns diminish with more accumulated steps, doesn’t negate the fact that you will still feel the benefits of a higher step-count.
There you have it, the three pillars of mental wellness. Of course, our minds and bodies are much more complicated than what is outlined above, but these three things are the basic necessities for our general well-being. Eat and drink the right amounts, get enough quality sleep, and get that body of yours moving, and most of you will see a difference in your mental health. Be warned though, before making any changes to diet, exercise, or sleep routines, it’s always best to talk with your family doctor to be sure that your current health aligns with any new regimen you want to establish. Now you’re in charge. Time to get healthy!
If any of you need help setting actionable goals to get where you want to be, whether it’s health, work, social, or any other life sphere; hit the button below to see how you can book an appointment with me. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon!
Alexandre G. McGovern 