What Is Mental Wellness?
We’ve all heard of mental health, but there’s another term that’s being talked about more these days…mental wellness. What exactly is mental wellness and how does it differ from mental health?
The concept of mental wellness is often used interchangeably with mental health, but they are not the same thing.
Mental wellness refers to the state of being cognitively, emotionally, and socially healthy. It’s a state of mind where an individual has a positive outlook towards life and is able to cope with the challenges that come their way. Mental wellness is essential for leading a happy and fulfilling life, and it encompasses a range of factors, including emotional and psychological well-being, social connectedness, and spiritual well-being.
Mental health refers to the absence of mental illness or disorders like anxiety, depression, bipolar, OCD, ADHD, PTSD, and others. In contrast, mental wellness is a positive state of being that goes beyond the absence of mental illness. Mental wellness is about building resilience, developing coping skills, and fostering positive relationships.
There are many factors that contribute to mental wellness.
One of the most important is self-care. This includes taking care of one's physical health through exercise, healthy eating, and adequate sleep. It also involves taking care of one's emotional well-being through activities such as meditation, journaling, and spending time with loved ones. And a more recent development in this area is understanding the gut brain axis, and how it impacts our mental health. Keeping your gut microbiome healthy is a very important part of both physical and mental well-being.
Another important factor in mental wellness is having social connection. Humans are social beings, and having strong social connections is crucial for our mental health. This can involve spending time with friends and family, participating in group activities, or volunteering in the community.
Mental wellness also involves developing a sense of purpose and meaning in life. This can come from pursuing hobbies or interests, setting goals, or finding a sense of purpose through work or volunteering.
Finally, mental wellness involves developing resilience and coping skills. Life can be challenging, and it is important to have the skills and resources to navigate difficult times. This can involve developing healthy coping mechanisms, such as seeking support from loved ones, practicing mindfulness, or seeking professional help when needed.
So, mental wellness is a positive state of being that goes beyond the absence of mental illness. It involves taking care of one's physical and emotional health, building strong social connections, finding a sense of purpose and meaning in life, and developing resilience and coping skills.
And just like physical health, our mental wellness is on a spectrum from well to not so well, from optimal to struggling, from flourishing to languishing. For example, you can go from having a bit of extra stress in your life, having too much on your plate, to being overwhelmed and burnt out. Or you can go from being mentally sharp and creative, to having regular brain fog. Or you can go from having good nights of restful sleep to having insomnia. Or you can go from having occasional bouts of tiredness, to being exhausted and chronic fatigue. This list can go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
Just like we work on our physical health we also need to be aware of our mental wellness and work on it to keep us in an optimal state and just like we go to the doctor for a regular physical check up, it’s also important that we do regular mental wellness check-ups as well.
If you’ve never done this I’d like to invite you to take the Happy Quiz
The Happy Quiz is a simple lifestyle quiz that asks about various aspects of your physical and mental health, such as sleep, stress, mindset, diet, activity levels, and more. Once you’ve completed it you’ll get a score to show you where you are on a scale between languishing and flourishing along with some product recommendations to help you make improvements in the areas you may be struggling with.
I was really surprised he first time I took it. I got an 8/21 which actually borders on struggling, and I never would have thought that about myself, I thought I was doing fine. But now that I’ve been doing some things to improve my mental fitness I recently took the test again and my score has gone up! I still have more work to do but I’m definitely feeling better and I know I’m on the right track. So if you want to find out where you are click here to take the Happy Quiz for yourself.
We all need to check up on ourselves in this area and recheck every once in awhile to make sure we in a state of optimal mental wellness, so we can lead happier, healthier lives and better navigate the challenges that come our way.
