MENTAL WELLNESS

                                                   

Mental wellness means thinking and feeling positive about  yourself. What you think has some influence on your health and well-being.’ Psychosomatic’ illness is a condition where a person” thinks” him or herself into being sick. Medical science is making remarkable discoveries on how expectations, emotions and thoughts affect our health.

Researchers have found that one function of the brain is to produce substances that can improve your health. Your brain can create natural painkillers which fortify your immune system, combat infections, virus and even cancer. The brain can combine these with other substances which will form a very good prescription for whatever is ailing you. The substances your brain produces depend in part on your thoughts and feelings. In other words, your immune system’s ability to heal the body is linked to your state of mind and your state of mental wellness.

Your level of optimism and your expectations of what could happen can affect what goes on inside your whole body. People with positive attitudes generally enjoy life more and are often healthier. Optimism is a key factor for healing. Optimists are more likely to overcome pain and adversity in their efforts to improve their health. Pessimism seems to aggravate ill health. A study shows that people who were pessimistic in college had significantly higher rates of illness through to age 60.

We seem to develop a tendency toward either optimism or pessimism at an early age. However, even if your outlook on life tends to be gloomy, you can enjoy mental wellness by using your brain to support your immune system.