“Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.”
“More than 1 in 5 women in the United States experienced a mental health condition in the past year, such as depression or anxiety.” (The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)). Since May is Mental Awareness Month, we want to shine a spotlight on women and mental health.
Where does your mental health stand?
Are you anxious? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel depressed? Are you unable to perform daily task? Are you sleeping poorly? These are just some important questions to ask yourself to gauge your mental health. Mental health includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
What Good Mental Health Looks Like
When your mental health is good, you are able to cope with the daily stresses of life and accomplish your personal goals. Every stage of life can create challenges to good mental health. The stress level of a woman in her 20s are much different that the stress level of a woman in her 50s. Staying physically active, eating right, getting enough sleep, and having healthy relationships will help in the support of good mental health throughout your life.
Tips on Maintaining Good Mental Health
Maintaining good mental health starts with self-care. Self-care simply means taking the time to do and say (positive self-talk) things that help you improve your physical and mental health and live well. Self-care helps you manage your stress, increase your energy, and lower your risk of illness. It you are just getting start, begin with small acts of self-care in your daily life. Small acts have overall big impacts in your mental health.
Below are few tips to help you get started with self-care:
- Exercise regularly. You only need 30 minutes of walking every day. It’s time to get started, it can help boost your mood and improve your health. Every little bit helps, break up the 30 minutes, if necessary. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. When you are watching TV, take a little break, get up and walk around the house for about 5-10minutes. Cleaning is a reliable source of exercise; it can be very relaxing. Try to incorporate more exercise in every day. Strive to exercise a little more than 30 minutes per day.
- Eat healthy and stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water and eating a balanced diet will improve your energy level and focus throughout the day. Limit your intake of sugar, caffeinated beverages, and soft drinks.
- Make sleep a priority every night. Create and stick to a good sleep schedule and routine to ensure that you are getting enough sleep. Reduce blue light exposure from your cell phone and computer before bedtime, blue light exposure makes it harder to fall asleep.
- Engage in relaxing activities. Such as, muscle relaxation, yoga, meditation, keeping a journal, take up a hobby, go outside and enjoy the fresh air, learn and practice breathing exercises. All are good for your mental and physical health.
- Set priorities and goals for yourself. Make decisions about things that must get done and things that should get done and those things that can wait. If you are taking on too much, learn to simply say, “no” to those task. Focus on the things that you have accomplished at the end of the day, not the things that you were not able to accomplish.
- Focus on being more positive. Recognize the triggers and/or situations that cause you to think negatively. Challenge and refocus those thoughts to positive thoughts. Use positive affirmations to start your day to help you become more positive. Enlist self-talk to redirect those negative thoughts.
- Stay connected to the people in your life. Stay in touch with family and friends who offer positive emotional support.
- Plan a lady’s night out. Get together with a group of friends and just have fun. No stress.
- Sometimes you need to get away. Vacation Time! Go away for the weekend to clear your head. You don’t have to leave the city, check into a nice spa hotel in your area or get out of town. Either way, it will help you relax and enjoy the time to yourself.
When You Need Help with Mental Health
Learn more about mental health conditions that are more likely to affect women and how those mental health conditions affect women differently. Pay close attention to when nervousness becomes a phobia? When just feeling sad becomes depression, this is a more serious condition?
Most mental health conditions appear before the age of 25. If you have a change in your thoughts, moods, or your behaviors and they are affecting your everyday life at work and/or home. Sometimes it can be difficult to identify if and when you have a mental health condition, a mental health professional can help.
Symptoms of mental health conditions include but are not limited to extreme anxiety most of the time. The feeling hopelessness about life in general, and alcohol or drug abuse.
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms below, you need to talk to a mental health professional, according The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH):
- A lack of interest in things that you used to enjoy
- Crying spells
- Lack of motivation
- Inability to concentrate
- Significant changes in your eating or sleeping patterns
- An inability to cope with problems or daily activities
- More anxiety than usual over events or situations
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Sudden changes in your personality for no reason
- An inability to stop thinking about certain ideas or memories
- Sadness for longer than 2 weeks
- Thoughts about suicide (call 911 if you are in immediate danger)
- Drug or alcohol abuse or illegal use of prescription drugs
- Extreme mood swings
- Violent behavior or anger or hostility
- Hearing voices or seeing things that other people don’t hear or see (“Psychosis – Hearing voices, seeing things, and unusual beliefs”)
There is no need to suffer through a mental health condition, seek help, people can and do recover from mental health conditions.
When to Hire a Life Coach?
Only seek the guidance from a life coach if you are functional and can manage the daily task in your life. Life coaches help when you are feeling a little stressed or overwhelmed with setting and achieving your goals in life. Hire a life coach when you need a different opinion on seeing the clearer picture of your future goals in life. When you want to improve performance, relationships, or life satisfaction.
The job of a life coach is to help motivate their clients. They will help hold you accountable for your goals in life: Weight loss, career advancement, time management, goal attainment and goal achievement. Life coaches help you formulate a plan to make significant changes in your life. They help clients build awareness and competencies. They do not diagnose or treat their clients.
Final Thoughts
There is no shame to asking for help. Whether you need a mental health professional or need the guidance of a life coach, both options are there for women to get the support they need to keep and maintain good mental health and physical well-being.
HOW TO GET HELP
Need Immediate Assistance Call 911
National Institute for Mental Health – 1-866-615-6464
National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
National Domestic Violence Hotline – 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727)
Homelessness Programs and Resources – 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727)
About The Lady’z Lounge
The Lady’z Lounge specializes in elevating and uplifting women’s lives. We are all about empowering women in multiple aspects of their lives; be it networking with other like-minded women, career advancement, entrepreneurship, and life coaching, or dating.
Life coaches at The Lady’z Lounge are here to help women prioritize their goals in life. Mention that it’s “Mental Health Awareness Month” and receive a 15% discount on all coaching services.
Hire a Life Coach Today!
Sign-Up for our “Let’s Talk” Sessions. It’s just a group of women coming together every other month to relax, hang out and enjoy some time with one another, alleviate stress and improve your mental health.
Let’s Talk!
Hashtags
#MentalAwarnessMonth endthestigmaofmentalhealth #mentalhealthadvocate #mentalillnessrecovery #mentalhealthwarrior #endthestigma #mentalhealthsupport #mentalwellness #mentalillness mentalhealth
References:
- National Alliance on Mental Health – https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month
- Mental Health America – https://www.mhanational.org/terms-know-mental-health-glossary
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration – https://www.samhsa.gov/programs/mental-health-awareness-month
