We can define psychological wellbeing as the absence of the negative thoughts and one has more positivity inside your mind.
Psychological well-being is about lives going well. It is the mixture of feeling good and functioning in a better way.
The consequence of psychological well being is improved physical health.
Other aspects of psychological well being include active lifestyle, emotional balance, positive attitude, satisfaction by life and good social behaviour, etc.
So, we can conclude from the above discussion that people with psychological wellbeing tend to be happier, well supported. Energetic and satisfied with their lives.
Also, many other types of research have shown that having no distress does not necessarily assure a person’s mental wellbeing.
Why is psychological wellbeing important?
Research studies have found that there is a deep association between mental wellbeing with that of physical health. After the evidence of this linkage between mental health and physical health, several theories have been developed. For e.g.
- People with mental health concerns are at a higher risk of developing chronic health issues.
- Poor mental health has been found to be associated with chronic health problems.
- Individuals experiencing poor physical health are at higher risk of developing mental health problems.
Out of many proofs for this link is that when the cancer patients were treated for their depression and anxiety, their survival rate has been increased.
It has been discovered by the research that people having psychological wellbeing are more likely to live longer and healthier lives.
Good psychological health is also linked with lesser anti-social behaviour. Because researches showed that people with high psychological wellbeing are less likely to engage in criminal activity or drug abuse.
Mental health is associated with higher earnings and good social behaviour, for example, social work such as volunteering.
People enjoy psychological well-being when they have met their basic needs. Factors such as living in a safe place, having your own home, having enough food are all the main important factors for emotional health.
To improve your psychological wellbeing there are several things one can do to function well.
How to boost your psychological well being?
Self-acceptance:
Another important factor to gain psychological well-being is self-acceptance. This means that being satisfied with who you are, you accept your past and feel contentment with your present life. Accepting yourself means you come out at peace with the things that you cannot control or change.
Increase physical activity:
Having an active lifestyle not only saves you from chronic health issues but also has positive impacts on your mental health. Researches have shown that physical activity protects from the illness that people may fall in their older age for e.g. cognitive decline. Physical activity also saves from depression and anxiety at any age. As the NEF report points out, even single exercise sessions of 10 minutes or even less can have a positive impact on mental health.
Connect with good people:
Spending time with negative people will drain your energy and bring you down. They will surely pass negative thoughts to you. So, connect yourself with good people who have positive attitudes. Having almost 3 people closed to you will surely protect you from a psychological disorder. The best social relationships are those in which other people are really supportive and encouraging. The challenge here is how to connect with people? Here is something that one can try;
- Spend a fixed time of your day with your family such as eating dinner together.
- Arrange a day out with your friends.
- Visit any family member or friend who needs your support or company.
- Volunteer your services for community, school or hospital.
- Spend more time with family instead of spending time on mobile or watching television.
Practice gratitude:
People who lack gratitude are the most demanding, less thankful and are very negative. They are prone to mental illness. So, practicing gratitude will be the best thing to do for psychological well-being. These are some ways how to practice gratitude:
- Before going to bed write down all the good things that happened to you during the day. It may be anything such as ‘a good compliment by your boss or friend’ or any moment that you enjoyed.
Doing this on a daily basis will help you recall how many positive things you daily come across, this will help you to focus on positive things in life. Eventually, it will make you grateful for what you have.
Keep learning new things:
Mental well-being can also be boosted with new information and skills. This increases a person’s self-esteem and self-confidence. The person may find a meaning or purpose in life. It will also boost your social skills and help you to connect with other people. If you cannot find time for learning new skills there are many other productive things that you may do. Such as finding new hobbies that interest you for e.g. writing a blog, painting, DIY project, cooking a new dish, etc.
Mindfulness Meditation:
Worrying about the future and thinking about the past drains one’s energy in response to which one cannot focus on their present and hinders our vision to see the opportunities that our present is giving to us. So, our mental health gets affected by being stuck in the past. So, living in the present is what we should do for good psychological health. Mindfulness is a technique for boosting your psychological wellbeing by focusing on your present. With the help of mindfulness, you focus on your thoughts and even can control these. You may practice mindfulness meditation at any time and anywhere. When you focus on your present moment which includes your thoughts, feelings, your body and the world around you, it helps you to enjoy your life happily and become more aware of your own self. To practice mindfulness, you can do walk-in nature with deep breathing or do yoga. Another way is to select a verse about yourself which increases your motivation level, for example, I am strong or I can do it. Repeat the selected verse as many times as you can with deep breathing. There are many positive outcomes of mindfulness, it improves your psychological wellbeing by lowering your stress, improves your focus and memory, makes you more at ease and helps to enhance your relationship by being focused.
You can try mindfulness meditation one or two times for 20 minutes on a daily basis.
Maintain a balanced sleeping cycle:
You may feel tired or exhausted if you cannot have enough sleep of 7-9 hours of sleep. Lack of enough sleep or disturbed sleeping routine will definitely hit your psychological well-being. One study has revealed that people who have insomnia are four times more likely to develop depression within the next three years. Along with the quantity of sleep the quality of sleep also matters. As if you sleep for 9 hours but wake up 10-15 times during the sleep then you may be having a sound sleep. You will still feel tired the next day. If you are having trouble in maintaining a sound sleep pattern then you must take some necessary steps which may aid in having sound sleep. You can do exercise, maintain a healthy diet such as eliminating caffeine-containing diets such as tea or coffee or other energy drinks. Also, you may change your bedroom setting if it is having too bright colours to make it dark, cool and calm. Turn off the lights while going to bed and avoid the use of a mobile or laptop while on the bed. This will definitely help you to