Mental health and wellness are like peas in a pod. You really can’t have one without the other. Most people understand this instinctively. But did you know that improving your mental health can also improve the other peas in that same pod?
I firmly believe that health is health. Physical health and mental health are different aspects of health. So is social health. When one of them improves, so do the other two. When one is degraded, then so are the others.
Keep in mind that no two people are the same. Some people need the company of others more than other people. Physical abilities vary across the population. For each individual the ideal level of these three areas will be different. Just that all of us need all three to some extent.
Mental Health & Wellness Example
Let’s say a 29 year-old adult is into sports and has a solid social circle. Chances are that their mental health is getting a lot of support from the physical activity and friends. During a game, they trip and break their leg. While not a serious injury, they will be immobilized for about two months.
Remember, this starts as a physical injury. Depending on their responsibilities, this could generate a lot of anxiety. What if they can’t work and pay their rent or mortgage? What if they need to take care of their kids? Depression could also show itself. When they think of what happened, they feel down. They question what they could have done differently. Now their mental health has been effected.
While this person’s friends will come to see them, when the visit is done the friends go out for dinner or to a party. Or maybe to play the sport that led to the injury. Regardless, their social health is reduced. This is because their social interactions will go down.
Remember COVID-19? Whether you believed it was real or a complete hoax, what impacted all of us was the reduction in social contacts. Activities closed. People wore masks in most places. And getting together was a problem. This started as a social health challenge, and quickly impacted mental health as well. Anxiety grew as did depression. With fewer activities available, our physical health went down too. Stress eating for many went up.
What Goes Down Can Go Up
The great thing is that the interaction between these three aspects of health also work in our favour! The person who broke their leg will start to feel better mentally and socially when they become more mobile. If a person has depression and is unable to leave their home, often modest social connections and short walks can help them feel even a little better. As COVID restrictions loosened, people in general started to move more. And see each other without masks!
Conclusion
The point of this article is to quickly highlight the interaction between mental, physical, and social health. Mental health and wellness needs to include physical and social wellness for overall health to thrive. Overall health is made up of all three components, and each person’s need for each component will vary. If you want to add more elements to the biopsychosocial model, Eric Lukacs of Clearmoment also includes spiritual health as well as emotional health.
If you feel that you could benefit from psychotherapy and that what you have read her makes sense, we are here to help! We serve the GTA (Vaughan, Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham, Mississauga, Brampton, Newmarket, Burlington, King City) in person and all of Ontario virtually. We may also be able to work with you virtually if you are out of province. Click here and fill out our confidential online form to schedule a free consultation!