Your mental health is your physical health

It’s common to think of mental health separately from physical health.

If you mention going to the doctor, no one bats an eyelid. You may even feel comfortable disclosing this information. On the other hand, the conversation about psychotherapy is still an uncomfortable subject for many because of the heavy stigma attached to mental health care in today’s society.

This distinction between mental and physical health is very new in the history of medicine. Most ancient and traditional medicines addressed the mind as well as the body, although not always under that name. Older medical concepts such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and the humor system link both physical and mental ailments to a common cause. Regardless of the terms used, many traditional treatments aim to heal you psychologically in order to correct physical ailments.

However, modern western medicine tends to focus more on the outside, leading people with mental disorders to tell them to “suck it up” and deal with their problems, rather than seek the right care and support, which they need.

Your mind is your brain

The mind is a set of functions and processes that make up your conscious experience of the world. It is the seemingly non-physical thing that creates the physical workings of the brain and allows you to have perception and awareness.

But as non-physical a construct as the mind appears to be, it is rooted in and affected by physical changes. For example, high levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin can induce feelings of happiness. Cortisol — a hormone released in stressful situations — can have a major impact on stress and anxiety.

When neurons fire in our brain, we gain the ability to think, reason, feel, experience, and more. Given how inseparable our spiritual world is from our physical world, it is irrational to think that our mental health is separate from our physical health.

A common way that the intersection of mental and physical health affects us is by improving our mental health through exercise and physical activity. There’s a reason doctors may prescribe exercise for people who are feeling more depressed or anxious.

On a chemical level, physical activity causes your body to release endorphins and serotonin, which have a positive effect on our mood and well-being. Indirectly, however, being outdoors increases our body’s access to sunlight, fresh air, and natural sounds.

Research shows that morning exercise also improves some aspects of school performance. Studies show that those who ate breakfast and exercised before school were more attentive and retained more information in math class.

What is less known is that this also works in reverse; mental activity and grooming can improve your physical health.

Mentally healthy people get sick less often

Research shows that some mental disorders can be attributed to greater risks to your physical health. This suggests that taking care of your mental health can improve your physical health.

A profound example of this is loneliness and social contacts. We feel lonely when we have less social contact and connection than we need and want. This threshold is different for everyone. While we may think of loneliness as just a mental health issue, it also has intense physical effects. Loneliness leads to increased stress-like symptoms that facilitate the release of more cortisol and norepinephrine – a precursor to adrenaline – than a healthy brain is used to. A surge in these neurotransmitters lets the body and brain know that something—a stressor—is messing with the system.

For example, during the pandemic I was incredibly lethargic, much more so than in recent years. Once I was able to return to my normal social life, my physical and mental well-being improved in many ways. I was able to work more on projects and got less tired. I was less plagued by panic attacks and had better control over my depressive symptoms. Although I’ve always been an introvert, loneliness affected me deeper than I ever thought.

With long-term stressors, the brain changes physically; Areas responsible for memory, like the hippocampus, shrink while other parts, like the amygdala, increase in activity. These changes result in shorter working memory and increased irritability and anxiety, making a person more prone to stress in the future.

In other words, mental health issues change your brain in drastic and clearly measurable ways.

That’s why we need to start focusing on mental health not just as a luxury, but as an essential part of a holistic medical system. While traditional medicine uses terms that appear metaphysical, such as souls or energy, its teachings often correlate with ideas in modern neuroscience that we can explore further in researching mental health treatments.

As we learn more about our body’s brain and nervous system, it becomes clear just how much our physical health depends on our mental and emotional stability. Western medicine is great at treating the symptoms of mental health problems—but it often fails to address the root causes themselves.