Mental Health Is Just Health

In recent headlines, conversations, and culture, Mental Health is top of the topic leaderboard and absolutely LOVE it. It's something that's been kept in the shadows with a stigma of shame attached to it.

My only issue with it, is that Mental Health has been siloed away from the body as if it was it's own illness or something that isn't connected to Physical Health. The two are the same. You cannot have "Health" without Physical and Mental Health, and in fact I think it's damaging to classify them as separate. Why? Because you have people treating symptoms such as anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, Alzheimer's, Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia, Autism and many others without looking at the whole picture.

When medication is prescribed for "Mental Health", there is no discussion about exercise and diet as part of the solution. With so much evidence on the gut-brain axis, I don't know how I can't be. We take family history, vital signs, lab tests for physical health, but only talk about symptoms and can barely detect dementia before it's too late.

What we eat, if we move, how well we sleep, who/what we spend our time with/on, and what we tell ourselves all contributes to our Health. You cannot be healthy without all of those issues being addressed. The mental side of health has been neglected and we are now suffering the consequences of that as a society. But ultimately it's just been our Health that we have been neglecting.

Perspective shifts need to be made:

Going to the gym isn't about burning calories, it's about making your cellular structure healthy so your metabolic system can be healthy, so your brain and heart can function well.

Dieting isn't about restriction, it's about nutrients. So your liver can do it job and keep your systems clean and functioning properly. So your body doesn't develop metabolic disease, and your brain doesn't have inflammation and addiction to overcome.

Meditation isn't about being an enlightened human being who is better than someone or everyone else. It's about connecting with yourself, your true self and figuring out what existential things you care about and have a desire to develop within your own thought process.

Mental, Physical, Spiritual is what makes up our Health, and if we are lacking in one, we are lacking in Health.

Written by Sarah Jenkins, HHP