Health is defined as a dynamic state which involves social, physical, and mental well-being. If even one of these three components is not well, you are not healthy. So to be healthy, you need to focus on all three components of health. Normally people think that health is the name of being disease free. However, this is a misconception. Health is something more than just physical fitness.
A sound mind is a very important component of your general health. If your mental health is not in perfect condition, you cannot label yourself as a healthy individual. This is why, it is important to take care of your mental health to have a healthy life.
Mental health affects your physical health in many ways. If you don’t have any physical disease but your mind is full of tension and stress, it will start causing trouble and you will start facing physical symptoms too.
With the increasing prevalence of mental disorders, there is a large number of people who are experiencing their physical effects too. However, mental health is a relatively ignored category and discussing mental health issues is considered a taboo. It is necessary to address your mental health issues as untreated issues may lead to various health hazards. Following are a few ways how your mental health affects your physical health.
Bad Mental Health Causes Restlessness
Peace of mind is very necessary to have a sound and healthy life. If you don’t have peace of mind, your bodily peace also goes away. You start feeling restless all the time. If you are suffering from stress or anxiety, it can cause you palpitations from time to time. Due to the restlessness imparted by mental issues, your day to day tasks also get affected and your efficiency reduces to a very low level. It can affect your career and work life as well.
Bad Mental Health Causes Weight Changes
This is a very well-known fact that stress can cause weight changes. Reaction of every person differs to stress so some can gain weight while others can lose it. Some people experience loss of appetite due to mental conditions and this leads to weight loss. Some people experience increased hunger and they start binge eating. This leads to excessive weight gain. Both of these conditions are not good for your physical health. Losing weight can make you vulnerable to diseases by weakening your immune system and excessive weight is root cause of various chronic and dangerous diseases like heart problems.
Bad Mental Health Can Cause Chronic Physical Diseases
Stress and depression is implicated as a causative factor of many chronic diseases. Hypertension is a well-known disease of this category which occurs due to chronic stress. Stress not only causes hypertension by also aggravates it. Doctors advise to avoid stress in order to cope hypertension.
Stress is also a causative factor of diabetes. During stress, various hormones are released which increase your blood sugar level. This increased sugar level puts stress on your insulin producing cells and they finally burn out, leading to diabetes.
Bad Mental Health Can Cause Insomnia
This is a very frequently experienced condition due to bad mental health. Depressed patients have hard time fallingasleep. Proper sleep is necessary for good functioning of your body. When you don’t take adequate sleep, it doesn’t only decrease your productivity but also projects long term effects on your health.
Bad Mental Health Can Cause Cancer
Yes, that’s right! Bad mental health is associated with cancer. Researches show that the women who tend to stay stress most of the times, suffer from breast cancer more frequently when compared with the women who stay happy and relaxed. This is why, having a healthy mind is necessary to avoid breast cancer in women.
Bad Mental Health Can Precipitate A Heart Attack
If you are a heart patient, stress and tension is like a poison for you. When you are stressed, your body asks for increased amount of energy and hence increased blood supply. A diseased heart is usually not capable of fulfilling this increased requirement. This is why, when you are stressed there is a chance of precipitation of heart attack because of inability of heart to cope with the stress.
