Mental and Emotional Health

1. Mental and Emotional Health Lesson 2: Health, Habits and Exercise

2. Why Study Mental Health? • They actually affect one another. • People with physical health problems often experience anxiety or depression. • Recovery from this is longer. • Mental Illness increase the risk of: • Diabetes • Heart disease • Weight gain/loss • Reduced immunity • Gastrointestinal problems • Problems with relationships, education and productivity. Approx. 20% of all Canadians will exp. Mental illness during their lifetime.

3. What is Mental and Emotional Health? • It is the state of balance of a person’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. • People with good mental health will have: • Sense of well-being • Ability to enjoy life, laugh, and have fun. • Ability to deal with life’s stressors and bounce back from adversity. • Participation in life to the fullest. • Capacity to change, grow, and experience a range of feelings. • Sense of balance in own life. • Self-Care that attends to the needs of the whole person. • Ability to care for others. • Self-Confident

4. Why is Mental and Emotional Health Important? Our minds are not separate entities from us. Physical health is affected negatively by distress. Many physical conditions are actually rooted in a state of mind (psychosomatic illness). Take care of the mind, body and spirit.

5. What is Mental Illness? • It is alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior. • Symptoms vary from mild to severe depending on the person, and environment they are in. • During a lifespan, every person will deal with isolation, loneliness, emotional distress or disconnection. • People can bounce back, but in some cases the duration and intensity of these feelings need help to regain a balance. • Mental illnesses can occur together. • E.g. A person may experience depression and anxiety all at once.

6. How Common are Mental Illnesses in Canada?

7. Who is Affected by Mental Illness? • Affects people in all occupations, educational and income levels, and cultures. • No one is immune to mental illness. • At the present time, hospitalization data provides the best available description of individuals with mental illnesses. • 1999, rates among women were higher than men. • Nearly half of admissions for 1 of the 7 most common were between the ages of 25-44. • Ages between 15-24 accounted for 23.7% of all admissions.

8. Healthy Lifestyle Practices • Definition: Any behaviour that has an effect on a person’s health and well-being. • Coping Mechanisms help a person deal with everyday living. • This is important when developing mental emotional health. • The engagement in healthy lifestyles contributes to both the quality and duration of life.

9. Activity #1 • Identify 10 basic health habits. • Once you have comprised a list, you will then share your ideas with someone. When you are sharing your ideas look for similarities and differences. • After you have a consensus as a pair, then join with another pair to compare to reach a consensus. • Be sure to include items of physical activity.

10. Activity #2 • On your own, identify and record mental health benefits of healthy lifestyle practices on the worksheet provided for you. • After you have recorded your top 10, share with a friend and gain a consensus on each others top 10. • Present top 10 mental health benefits to the class.

11. Effect of Exercise on Mental Health • As a result of exercise, the body releases different chemicals that affect the brain. • One group is called endorphins. • This chemical increases and produces an analgesic effect on the body as well as a feeling of euphoria. • Decreased anxiety • Reduced depression • Better able to cope with stress. • Raised self esteem. • Improved mood. • Improved sleep. • Increased cognition (ability to think, reason, and remember)

12. Effect of Exercise on Mental Health • Several biological changes occur, such as: • Nerve cells are more active or increase the ability of neurons to communicate with one another. • How does this work? • Exercise produces proteins called neurotrophic factors. • Causes the hippocampus to be fertilized. • Responsible for regulating mood and storing memories. • Releases other chemicals such as: • Serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, melatonin, and insulin.

13. Activity #3 Describe how healthy lifestyle practices affect mental-emotional health issues. How do the identified lifestyle practices affect mental-emotional health? How does mental-emotional health affect lifestyle practices? Which lifestyle practice has the greatest impact on mental-emotional health, and why?

14. Economic Impact of Mental Illness • There is a major impact on the Canadian economy in terms of productivity and health care costs. • 1993 – Health Canada estimated the cost of mental illness at $7.331 billion. (hospitalization data and physician billing) • 1996/97 – Economic impact was $14.4 billion. (Loss of income to businesses) • 1999/2000 – 9,022,382 hospital days were utilized by individuals with mental illnesses.

15. Is It Important to Seek Help for Mental-Emotional Problems? • People encounter stressful situation that could range from minor to major on a day-to-day basis. • Seek help if reaction to stressors becomes long term or interferes with other aspects of life. • Most people can overcome mental health problems, and learn to live with them. • Some believe it is shameful to seek help for mental illnesses due to peer pressure or showing a sign of weakness.

16. What Increases the Risk of Problems? • Based on experiences such as: • Environment • Hereditary History • Psychological Factors • Sociological Factors • It is the loss of control of any of these factors that can bring the onslaught of illness. • Researchers also suggest a complex interaction of: • Genetic makeup • Biological makeup • Personality • Found to be more common in close family members have mental illness.

17. Poverty and Mental Illness • Indirect Association • Lower expectation and ambition can lead to mental illness because of low levels of education and occupational achievement. • The term “Drift” is associated with mental illness because people may drift into poverty that are already ill. • Direct Association • This implies that the social experience of individuals who are poor increases the likely hood that they may develop a mental illness. • Poverty may lead to lack of opportunity and a sconce of hopelessness, thus bringing on illness through prolonged exposure.

18. Life Experiences Leading to Mental Health Issues Identify life experiences that could lead to mental health issues. Which situations do not have control over and situation have some control over. Discuss ways to control a given situation. Reflect on the situation do not have control on.

19. Helping Oneself • All life experiences, whether positive or negative, are character building. • Develop skills for coping and managing our feelings and emotions and to learn from all experiences. • Resilience • Capability to cope with significant adversity or stress in ways that are not only effective and result in an increased ability to respond constructively to future adversity.

20. Towards a Comprehensive System • Education at school • Community Education • Self-Help Aid Networks • Primary and Special Care • Hospitals • Crisis response systems • Case Management / Community Outreach Programs • Workplace Supports

21. Self Care Measures • Get enough sleep. • Eat a well balanced diet. • Avoid caffeine, tobacco, drugs. • Get active • Relax • Attend self spiritual needs. • Write down problems. • Prioritize personal challenges. • Spend ample time with people whose company is enjoyable. • Talk to trustworthy friend or family member about your own feelings and concerns.

22. Journal Entry #2 • Pick one of the two questions to respond to. • What is one thing that you learned today and how will it help you in the future? • Is there something that was not discussed or something you were afraid to ask? Ask and tell me why?