Non-medical Ways To Improve Mental Health – Spring is just around the corner and the sun is spending a little more time with us each day, which means many of us will soon be rolling up our sleeves and getting back to our gardens.
Gardening is one of the most rewarding hobbies out there. Growing our own food is an economic and environmental win, and the beauty of an indoor or outdoor garden is always breathtaking.
Non-medical Ways To Improve Mental Health
The physical benefits of gardening are pretty obvious. We burn tons of calories pulling grass, mowing, hoeing and pushing wheelchairs while building muscle strength and detoxing.
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But research shows that gardening can be good for the body and mind. Here is the mental health we get from kneeling in all this dirt and grime:
With more sunlight comes higher levels of vitamin D, a nutrient essential for our blood cells, bones and immune system. Exposure to sunlight can help us sleep better by stabilizing our body’s internal clock.
For years, hospitals have used “healing” gardens to improve the environment for patients, visitors and staff, citing the calming properties these gardens typically provide.
Studies have shown that simply looking at an environment characterized by greenery, flowers or water can help reduce or recover from stress.
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Paying attention to the details of gardening can push negative thoughts to the back of our minds, making us feel better in the moment, and leaving a lasting sense of peace and tranquility.
A sense of greater community is good for the spirit, as is working together towards a common goal.
A 2020 community garden study provided proof-of-concept that “community gardens, along with other types of green landscapes, can connect residents to nature and, in turn, improve the mental health of community gardeners.”
Higher levels of “subjective health” were reported by community gardeners in the study, which may be due to the effects of physical activity, connection with nature, gardening experience and social factors.
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Many of us probably spend too much time in front of our screens and admit that we are immersed in technology. By putting down our equipment and giving our full attention to gardening, we can relax the equation and focus on what lies ahead and practice.
Successfully growing fruits, vegetables and other plants should be considered a success. We should find pride and positivity in literally growing something from scratch that we can eat, feed and share with our families.
Would you like to participate in a community garden this spring or summer? The American Community Gardening Association website has a searchable map of more than 125 community gardens in Michigan. Enter an address, city or zip code, zoom in and read nearby community parks.
Healthy Michigan is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
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Always consult your doctor or other qualified health care professional. Always check with your healthcare provider before starting a new treatment or if you have any questions about your health. You should not ignore medical advice or delay seeing a doctor because of anything you read on this website. Recent statistics show that our death rate continues to rise. Mental hospitals were sometimes bursting at the seams, and mental hospitals were understaffed and overcrowded. It’s hard to get mental health help unless you’re in dire need. The burden is often placed on families to deal with struggling people – if the struggling person is lucky enough to have a family to support them.
It’s all very frustrating (no pun intended). What is wrong with what we are doing? How can we do better?
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Mental health (or more specifically, mental illness) can be caused by a variety of factors. Childhood trauma, genetics, coping skills, physical health, environmental influences, nutritional intake, and the food you eat (or don’t eat) all play a role.
Unfortunately, treatment options for mental illness are not that wide or comprehensive. If you are seeking help because you are feeling low, sad, anxious, depressed, or otherwise not 100% mentally well, you will (usually) be offered one of two options – an antioxidant (wondering if what you need is extra serotonin or adrenaline). Lucky – talking therapy. (If you are a woman – you can be offered birth control – think about it).
Our department of psychiatry has two shares: Talk. Medicines. And not much more than these two exercises.
We treat all depressed people the same. If a doctor would treat every person who came into his office with stomach pain (antibodies and avoiding spicy food) – he would quickly find (as with our mental illnesses) that many people would not respond well. Fortunately, there are tests, studies and methods to identify the factors that cause pain, and with this knowledge we can move forward.
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We don’t (or can’t) do this if it’s a pain in someone else’s head. “We don’t stop and ask.”
Here are just things that are related to mental illness or that affect or worsen mental health:
Inflammation, chronic disease, loneliness, poor diet, food intolerances, blood sugar instability, job dissatisfaction, low omega-3s, high fat intake, MSG (recent studies show this), zinc deficiency (postpartum and in teenagers), B6, B12 , vitamin D, folate, selenium (our New Zealand soil is very deficient) Deficiency, magnesium, iodine. Childhood trauma, life events, IBS, IBD (Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis), vascular disease, hyperthyroidism or hyperthyroidism, Hashimoto’s (often understudied and underdiagnosed), indigestion, parasites (eg drugs), alcohol (and other drugs), poor diet, vegetarian or vegan diet (sometimes a vegetarian diet is not suitable for others), iron deficiency, smoking, drugs such as Rakuten, beta blockers, proton pump inhibitors (Losek, Omeprazole), birth control pills…
As with many contributors to mental illness – there are a variety of ways to support mental health. This may not provide a cure by any means (although it does in some cases) – but these factors are worth considering and introducing as part of a mental health package. (Even pharmaceutical companies admit that the fight against drugs for mental illness is unlikely to win their development of Psychiatry: A Diagnostic Crisis).
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We have made very strong progress towards ‘suicide prevention’. However, I think we may be missing the real point – which is:
If a person is depressed/anxious, ask the question “why”. Why is this person depressed or anxious? What is the main reason for this? Stopping a depressed person from committing suicide is only half the battle. Truly ensuring that people live lives worth living should be the focus of our mental health initiatives. A person who is not suicidal, but mildly or severely depressed or unhappy, does not really work. We chase our own tails. We need to focus on the top of the cliff, not the ambulance below.
While we help build more resilient children and adults with techniques like mindfulness, we seem to miss many other factors that contribute to mental health. It’s not always psychologically driven, nor is it as simple as “balancing your neurotransmitters.”
Of the disease. The Cancer Foundation recently raised money with a sausage sizzler (Daffodil Day). How can we raise money and support research and cures by selling products directly related to the disease (baked goods, processed meat)? This is a small example – but it seems we are stuck.
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If youa1111 Саан,nа,аіn,nіаtіаnа, аnау, а а no,’ no, no. There are many studies to the contrary.
Studies looking at changing the diet of depressed people from SAD (in this case the “standard Australian diet”) to a modified Mediterranean diet found that 32% of depressed people did not.
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