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Explore The Connection of Mental Illness with Physical Health

Explore The Connection of Mental Illness with Physical Health

While most people perceive mental and physical health as two separate entities, they are closely connected. Mental illness can impact your physical health, and physical health concerns can lead to mental health issues.

At Seasons in Malibu, our compassionate counselors and well-equipped experts offer you the best treatment to help you heal from your mental ailments.

To stay healthy both inside and out, you need to understand how they affect each other. So, let’s get started to understand their significance!

Mental Health Effects on the Body

Effects of Poor Mental Health on Physical Health

Poor mental health has several impacts on physical health. Let’s know more about them here.

Chronic Diseases

Research shows that people with depression have a higher risk of getting chronic diseases. Some of them are stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, cancer, and pain.

Depression also increases the chance of inflammation, spikes stress hormones, and reduces blood circulation.

On the other hand, schizophrenia has a link with elevated risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Furthermore, mental health concerns also impact your ability to deal with chronic illnesses.

For instance, it’s noticed that people with mental health conditions like depression have a higher mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

This is because they face difficulty doing things that can help their physical health, like having balanced and adequate meals and exercising. It’s generally because they feel more exhausted than others.

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Sleep Concerns

Mental health concerns also lead to several sleep disorders like sleep apnea and insomnia.

In sleep apnea, you stop breathing when you fall asleep. You may start breathing again on your own, or you may wake up gasping for air. Insomnia is when you have difficulties falling or staying asleep.

Different mental health concerns affect your sleep patterns in different ways. For instance:

  • Anxiety makes you worry and overthink, leading to panic attacks during bedtime.
  • Depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) make you tired. You stay in bed for longer and sleep in. In some cases, it leads to insomnia.
  • Mania, on the other hand, makes you feel hyperactive and energetic. You might also have racing thoughts, leading to insomnia.
  • In psychosis and paranoia, you hear voices and see disturbing sights, which makes it difficult to sleep.
  • If you have experienced traumatic events, you might get flashbacks or night terrors. These disturb the quality of your sleep. You might even feel afraid to stay in bed.

Addiction

Individuals with mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), often depend on nicotine, drugs, or alcohol as self-medication.

How does that work?

These mental health disorders cause low levels of dopamine and other feel-good hormones. So, they lack any positivity in their life.

On the other hand, nicotine, alcohol, and other addictive substances boost the release of these hormones. They offer them temporary relief from their mental illness.

However, with extreme mental health concerns, people are inclined toward regular drug consumption. This can lead to major dependence and addiction.

In that case, you will need to enroll in effective addiction treatment programs as well!

Challenges accessing healthcare

Mental illnesses also prevent you from seeking proper medical care. Illnesses like depression make you feel drowsy and fatigued. You feel demotivated and hopeless. All of this makes it extremely difficult to schedule or attend medical appointments.

If you have anxiety disorders, you might be afraid of visiting medical institutions. The fear might be about the diagnoses, procedures, or even just interacting with other people (social anxiety).

Some mental illnesses impact your cognitive functions like memory, focus, and decision-making abilities. So, these can make you forget about your appointments and medicines.

You might even misunderstand medical advice and administer the wrong medicines or have them incorrectly.

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Does Physical Health Concerns Affect Mental Health?

Your physical health concerns can also affect your mental health. Let’s go through certain examples here:

Psoriasis

Psoriasis, a skin condition with painful red sores on the skin, causes emotional and psychological distress. This affects their quality of life and overall health. Further, social stigma and rejection lead to anxiety, stress, and depression.

Cancer/Heart Attack

When a person is diagnosed with heart attack/cancer, they feel depressed or anxious.

Postpartum

After birthing a baby, women’s estrogen levels fall suddenly and drastically. This negatively impacts the feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin. So, postpartum, women become extremely vulnerable to psychosis.

However, if someone has bipolar disorder, it can alleviate their psychosis symptoms.

Menstrual Cycle

At the end of a menstrual cycle, estrogen levels drop in women, lowering serotonin. This can also make them more emotional.

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How to Enhance Mental Health and Physical Health?

Since there’s a deep physical and mental health connection, focusing on only one aspect of your health won’t help the cause. So, here’s a simple strategy to take care of both!

Exercise

Even if you can’t do a lot of physical activity, at least go on a 10-minute brisk walk regularly. It will boost positive hormones and help you feel motivated and energetic. Simultaneously, it’ll also boost your physical health.

Simple but Balanced Diet

Mental illnesses can exhaust you enough to order takeout daily or forget to eat. However, you need enough nutrition to reclaim your mental and physical health. Either seek a nutritionist or look up simple recipes with high nutritional value online.

Skip Addictive Substances

While substances elevate your mood, you must stop before it turns into an addiction. They help you feel good temporarily, but you feel way worse later.

Take Professional Help

Even if you understand the importance of physical and mental health, you might not be able to follow through the steps. The most minor steps become too difficult.

In that case, reach out to us at Seasons in Malibu and get personalized treatment from professionals in a serene place. With our range of evidence-based and holistic therapies, you’ll soon overcome your mental illnesses!

Conclusion

The connection between mental illness and physical health is complex. It’s essential to recognize the connection to improve the quality of your life. So, don’t ignore your mental health concerns. Seek help immediately and strive harder for a healthier life!