Is Mental health Important?

Hello Wild Ones😊😊😊 (Buckle up and let’s talk about why mental health matters)

I hope you are well. I hope you know how special you are and that you are taking care of yourself. You deserve the world and you will go forth and get it!!! Personally, I feel really loved and cared for. I have found peace and joy in the things that I have.

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Did You Know?

✅ I out of 4 persons who seek health care in Kenya have a mental health condition (WHO,2021)

✅ Worldwide mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are the leading cause of burden of disease as measured using DALYs and account for 7.4 percent of DALYs worldwide. (Meyer & Ndetei, 2015)

✅ In Kenya, MNS Disorders account for 16% of the burden of disease more than HIV which accounts for 15%. (Meyer & Ndetei, 2015)

✅ Among mental disorders, unipolar depression accounts for the highest-burden of diseases (Meyer & Ndetei, 2015)

✅ According to WHO, more than one-third of the world’s population has at one time or another suffered from mental disorders varying in severity.

✅ According to a study on the global prevalence of mental disorders commissioned by WHO, slightly more than three-quarters of severe cases in the low- and the middle-income world went untreated.

✅ According to a study done by WHO, 10% of children in Africa have a specific psychiatric disorder.

1. Mental Health affects Physical Health

Sometimes mental health issues can present themselves in physical symptoms. People with acute anxiety sometimes have digestive issues like indigestion, diarrhea, and vomiting. Some people get skin rashes when they are stressed or depressed. The mind and the body are different but closely related. For example; sometimes when I really struggling mentally, I have really bad headaches. This is one of the reasons why mental health matters.

2. Mental Health is essential to Relationships

One of my favorite sayings is ‘ Always fill your cup.’ It is a bad mental health habit to not take care of your mental health before showing up for others. You can only meet yourself as deeply as you have met yourself. For people with mental health disorders, sometimes it takes a lot of energy to show up for people. Sometimes they take breaks away from people so having people who understand this is important in maintaining relationships.

3. Productivity and Mental Health are correlated

Most people struggling with their mental health have a hard time getting anything done. Some people just want to sleep all day. Others cannot bring themselves to start any project. People with mental health disorders like Bipolar and Schizophrenia, often have to take breaks from normal functioning society to deal with their disorders.

4. Relaxation and Sleep need Good Mental Health

Mental health issues can cause insomnia for people. This would then cause a loop of terrible mental health and no sleep. Sleeping a few hours will cause you to have bad mental health and bad mental health will cause insomnia in you. This would then go forth to affect your relationships, productivity, and quality of life.

5. Quality of life depends on Mental Health

Most mental health patients are always fighting each day just to live. Sometimes the most that you can do is breathe. With poor mental health, you find that sometimes you can’t even pinpoint a day that you were really happy. Sad life to live, right? That is the case for some people. Sometimes mental health issues also prevent you from doing basic things like showering, brushing teeth, combing hair, etc.

Despite mental health affecting so much of our lives, we choose to ignore it and not show up for ourselves. All the ways that it shows up in our lives are why mental health matters. I challenge you today to do one thing daily that will improve your mental health. It is important to hold space for people who want to take of their mental health but cannot afford.

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What other ways does mental health affect our lives?

Today’s Tip

References

1. Meyer, A. and Ndetei, D., 2015. Providing Sustainable Mental Health Care in Kenya: A Demonstration Project. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK350312/#:~:text=There%20are%20about%20100%20psychiatrists,within%20Nairobi%2C%20the%20capital%20city.&text=Outside%20of%20Nairobi%2C%20there%20is%20one%20psychiatrist%20per%20million%20population.> [Accessed 4 June 2022].
2. Who.int. 2021. Experts join forces for mental health in Kenya. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/05/23/default-calendar/experts-join-forces-for-mental-health-in kenya#:~:text=A%20staggering%201%20out%20of,substance%20and%20alcohol%20use%20disorders.> [Accessed 4 June 2022].