When we think about our wellness, oftentimes we only think about our physical health. Did you know your emotional health is just as important as your physical health? Your emotional wellbeing has powerful effects on your overall health. Mental and emotional stress can translate into negative reactions such as physical illness and impacting your immune system. Achieving emotional well-being is necessary for supporting resilience, self-awareness, and overall happiness in our lives.
October is Emotional Wellness Month and it reminds us to take a break from the daily grind. During this month (and every month), Riverside Recovery of Tampa encourages taking time to check in on your own emotional state. If you haven’t lately, this month is a great time to start.
What Is Emotional Wellness?
According to the National Center for Emotional Wellness, emotional wellness refers to an awareness, understanding, and acceptance of our emotions, and our ability to manage effectively through challenges and change. Good emotional health doesn’t mean you will always be happy or free of negative emotions. Having the right tools and skills to deal with challenges in life is what it’s about.
Emotional health is more of a process than just achieving one goal. You might be doing some things that help strengthen your emotional well-being already, even if they seem small or insignificant at first glance.
5 Tips To Manage Emotional Wellness
Mindfulness
The ability to be fully present, aware of where we are, and not overwhelmed by what is going on around us is called “mindfulness”. It is not something that you have to create, you just have to learn how to use it. When we are aware of our mind, we can reduce stress, improve performance, gain insight, and increase our attention to others.
Mindfulness can be as easy as turning simple tasks like chores into a mental pause, focusing on a single thing at a time, or taking a social media detox day. It is important that you dedicate some time to something that you enjoy, and that you be consistent with your mindfulness practice.
Exercise
Getting regular exercise can be hard if you are stressed out at work or at home. You can support both your emotional and physical health if you take time to engage in daily physical activity. Thirty minutes a day is recommended for some kind of physical activity. Try to find 10- or 15-minute chunks of time to walk if you are short on time.
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Sleep Habits
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle, but it pays off when you take time for yourself. When life gets busy and your schedule starts feeling hectic – don’t forget self care.
Sleep can improve your mood while improving concentration levels as well as creativity or work related tasks. A 2018 study found that lack of sleep can lead to more time spent on negative thoughts.
You are more at risk of stress and anxiety if you don’t get enough sleep. Make sure you are getting enough rest by being consistent with your sleep and waking times and setting your bedroom environment in such a way that you get enough rest.
Regulating Emotions
When emotions get the best of you, you can learn strategies to temper them to help you respond to upsetting situations. Talking to a therapist, listening to music and meditating are some of the ways in which to cope. The best way to understand your feelings and remain in control of them is to write down what you felt during the day, as well as any other details that pertained to the feeling.
It’s important to learn how to identify and describe your feelings in order to process them. If you learn to temper your feelings, you can respond better to upsetting situations than reacting to them.
Social Connections
Your relationships with others can have a large impact on your physical and emotional health. Staying in touch with close friends and family can help when you are going through difficult times. Spending time with your loved ones over the phone or in-person is a good way to strengthen these connections.
Seek Help When Facing Emotional Challenges
Complete wellness includes both physical and mental health, and emotional wellness is a critical part of it. A healthy emotional balance helps us in making healthy choices, having good relationships, and achieving our goals. We can use emotional wellness to handle life’s stresses, journey through relationships, and keep ourselves motivated.
If you or a loved one is going through a stressful time or dealing with emotional issues, you should seek help from a health care provider or contact our admissions team today. Self-care is one of the most important elements of emotional wellness.