Feel Young - Keep yourself physically and mentally fit ~ Happy Life Connections

You're only as old as you feel. While we can't dodge our next birthday, how we approach life every day can make a big difference. "Feeling young is about maintaining vitality as you get older. Some people never feel old, despite their chronological age." No matter what your stage in life, staying active and being positive will help keep you in a youthful frame of mind. All these depend on your mental health.

Mental health, or emotional health, is a part of your overall health and your life. Mental health is not about an absence of illness, it's more about how well someone feels they are coping with the challenges life brings. It’s just like your physical health – sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad – but mental health has more to do with your thoughts and feelings.

Mental health is about how people feel, think, behave and act. Mental health includes:

How you feel about yourself and your life
How you respond to stress
How you to cope with things that come up in your life
Your self-esteem or confidence
How you see yourself and your future.

Many people think mental health is about having something wrong with your brain – that it's about being "mental", "crazy" or having a mental illness. Mental illness is when your feelings, emotions or thinking become disturbed. Just like you can become physically unwell, you can become mentally or emotionally unwell. But just like you can do things to keep physically well, you can also do things that will help to keep you mentally well. Often the same things will help you keep physically and mentally well, because it is all connected.

How does your mental health affect your day?

How does stress affect your day?
How does feeling good about yourself affect your day?
How does it affect your life when you feel upset, sad, alone or depressed?
How do you cope with everyday situations?

Your mental health is affected by everything and everyone you have contact with. That means everything in your life can have a positive or negative effect on your mental health or emotional well being.

Your social life – your friends, your family, the things you do and get into
The environment you live in – your home, your workplace, places you study, and where you hang out with friends
Your biological make-up – the way your body has been formed by your genetics
Patterns of thinking – the way your mind works (this is partly related to genetics and partly to your environment)
Self-care – the time you spend looking after yourself.

Keeping yourself mentally healthy

What you eat affects your mood. A good balanced diet will make sure you have all the essential nutrients needed for your brain to function well.

Only 30 minutes of exercise and people get a boost of good feelings. But 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 3 times a week is what you should aim for.

Try to relax more. Relaxation exercises are a good way to reduce stress

Find and do things that you are good at and enjoy. We all have talents in different areas. These can help you build confidence and feel positive about yourself. Congratulate yourself and give yourself permission to be proud of your achievements.

Develop personal skills that help you deal with people and other situations.

Learn new ways to cope with problems in everyday life. Can you think of a part of your life you would like to make changes in.

Get involved with things. Do volunteer work, join a club or committee, play sport, join a meditation group, go snorkeling with a group of people, socialize or do a short course. The more things you do, the more connected you feel to the world around you.

Do something for someone else. Helping others can help you to feel good about yourself.

Tips for preventing mental illness and feel young

Get enough sleep to recharge from the day. Getting at least seven hours of sleep every night can help you feel rejuvenated and less tired throughout the day. Being rested will definitely help you feel younger as the years roll on.

Drink for youth. Instead of reaching for a calorie-packed soda, drink water. The body needs at the very least 8 glasses of water per day. Not only does hydration help you from feeling fatigued, it helps the body to flush out toxins throughout the day. Coffee and soda containing caffeine can increase bone density loss, which happens as we age naturally.

Exercise. The human body will begin to change as we reach our mid-thirties and beyond. With exercise you can help keep the heart, muscles, and bones healthy and active. A healthy body will help you feel younger than your years.

Take supplements. Even the healthiest of diets don't include all of the body's needs every day. Take vitamin supplements every day to help maintain the nutrients that your body will need as you age. These should be taken under appropriate guidance as too many supplements may hamper your health and lead to major illness.

Laugh. When people are jovial and enjoy life, they not only feel younger they look younger. Find joy and laughter in life, and refuse to get into a mindset that you are older than you want to be. Smile every day and laugh. Laughter is truly the best medicine.

Care for your skin. Use sunscreen to help keep the sun's rays from damaging your skin and causing premature wrinkles. When skin is properly cared for, and nourished throughout your life time, it will hold its youthful glow much longer.

Eat for life. It is true that you are what you eat. If you spend more time in fast food joints than enjoying salads and grains, your body will feel sluggish and older. Eating a healthy diet will not only keep your body healthy, it will help you feel younger because you won't be weighed down by excess fat and grease.