Healthy Minds Accompany Healthy Bodies

More and more people are coming to realize that when their body is healthy it generally follows that their minds are healthy too.

What I mean is that by keeping the body in good physical shape, the mental functions are able to work on a more effective level.

I want to look at how the two are closely related to one another and why you need to focus on both aspects of your life to enjoy a happy blending of both mental and physical energy.

Attitude Counts

positive mental attitudeI think attitude is important in someone's life. It is how we project our inner feelings to others in non-verbal ways that are picked up by others. It is often called a vibe: you probably heard someone say, "I get a good vibe from him," meaning he or she felt good about that guy.

I can recall countless times where my attitude completely effected who I was as a person. However these periods that I went through when I was younger did teach me something very valuable.

As now that I'm older and have a far better understanding of the world and the way the universe works, this mental clarification hit me like a bag of bricks in recent years.

The Mind Controls the Body

A healthy mind promotes several things. Since this is an exercise and dieting website I should probably mention that the readjustment of a healthier mind can promote a healthier body. The mind can influence many things on a physiological level.

Crazy, I know.

Anyway, what hit me the other day was when I became frustrated over something work related. For the life of me I couldn't figure out whatever it was that I doing. I started to notice not so much the stress itself, but stepping outside of my own shoes for a second and really saw what this problem that I was facing was really doing to me.

I wasn't breathing normally. I couldn't stop grinding my teeth, which hurts a lot by the way if you do it hard enough. I couldn't control the tension throughout several muscle groups as I was really tense all over.

I noticed my head was really warm and it was hurting because of all the blood rushing in, out, and all around it. It almost felt for a brief moment like I was a prisoner inside my own body.

And this is where I realized two huge things.

Two Major Realizations that Affect Life

Realization #1

The first thing I realized was that the best way to counteract this brief, yet high stressed moment was to realize that it was a highly stressful moment. The more you step back and look at the outside of the issue itself, the better.

I was able to re-establish composure by firstly slowing down the breathing. Then repeating to myself "You're upset, calm down, it's not worth it." I think that was a huge tool for me was when understanding what was worth getting upset over and on a side note, how much something is worth getting upset over to begin with?

The last thing I did was walk away. That's right! I simply walked away from the issue at hand. For this particular incident, I walked away for only about two or so minutes because that's all I needed.

I guess depending upon certain issues and challenges that we face in life, it depends on how long we can walk away from something before we approach the matter at hand again. I not saying that you should ignore problems you face, but having some cool down time is well deserved when you've put a lot of effort into something, did not attain what you saw as attainable, and aren't satisfied until it is attained altogether.

Realization #2

The second thing that was realized is how the frustration itself morphed into stress and brief feelings of anxiety. Because of this anxiety, I started to physically do things I normally wouldn't do as mentioned before. Also, the more upset I became the more my body negatively reacted to this as most notably my head felt like it was going to implode!

So feelings and emotions manifested real physical pain. It's really scary the more you think about this concept. There was a connection where psychology influenced physiology and made the transition almost instantaneously once I let my frustrations get the better of me.

It's Worth Saying Again and Again

I believe I've mentioned this somewhere sometime here before, but this idea really fascinates and intrigues me and there's a right way and a wrong way of going about things. That is why I think bringing this concept to light is worth mentioning yet again.

What we can all take away from this is be more careful with how we express are emotions and reactions. Well maybe not so much express, but more generally speaking just how we use them.

Keep the Mind as Active as the Body

In terms of your health, I've always thought from day one that a regularly active and healthy mind is the golden ticket. Constantly stimulating your mind and body is what you want.

Sure you can stimulate your mind through television, but how many advertisements can you watch until your walking around singing commercials for things that you don't even use let alone like (in case you haven't noticed, I virtually watch zero TV).

Sure a little here and there won't hurt, but there are so many other things you can be doing that can stimulate you mind far more than just being a couch potato.

Just Get Active

For your body, in most cases it doesn't matter what kinds of fitness exercise you're getting.

Essentially as long as you're out there doing it and making sure you're combining it with a healthy diet, your body will applaud this. Naturally we are social animals and have been all the way back to our primal ancestors.

So social interactions or even better yet, being socially active through exercise can stimulate the mind and body simultaneously. That's a win-win situation if you ask me.

More on Stress

Before I wrap up here I just want to reiterate something. The next time you feel a stress come over you, don't let it take over you. You have to always in life try to remain in control, because losing control (especially emotional control) is always a recipe for disaster.

There are dozens of studies that are and currently are being conducted out there on stress (which I'm sure the internet is littered with). What a lot of them say is that that stress can actually take off years from your life.

Yes you heard right, years!

I guess what their trying to say is that the more stressful of a life you lead, the sooner you'll be in the grave. Sounds pretty grim, but it still does hold a significant amount of truth I think.

Conclusion

A healthy mind is an active mind where you're continuing these mentally and physically stimulating activities day in and day out.

But a huge point that I'm trying to make here is that a truly healthy mind knows how to handle anything presenting itself as potentially frustrating, stressful, complicated, or any type of issue proving to be troublesome in one way or another.

Of course, you can set yourself up on a good diet and maybe even take a full meal delivery program like Nutrisystem or the like. But at the end of the day, it is your mindset and motivation that will see you through to a healthier and happier way of life.

If you can slowly teach yourself how to deal and work through truly perplexing issues in life, the sooner you will understand what a virtually stress free life can feel like. And the real beauty in all this is that you can not only "feel" this channelled through the mind, but body as well.

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