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Making New Year’s Resolutions Can Improve Your Mental Health

Let’s take a look at why new year’s resolutions are helpful and why you should start making your New Year’s resolutions. As important as it is to plan, it’s equally important to implement them the right way, and that’s why at the end of the list, we’ll share some helpful tips on how you can achieve these resolutions.

The Benefits of Making New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions help you introspect and make positive changes in your life, by helping you identify and address potential problems that you feel are holding you back from being the best version of yourself. A study conducted by PLOS showed that 64.5% of participants formulated a primary New Year’s resolution, while  58.9% of these people successfully achieved their goals. The very act of making a resolution leads people to be more intentional and motivated in order to achieve their objectives.

Additionally, setting resolutions can help to improve our overall well-being. When you work towards a specific goal, you could experience a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. This can lead to increased self-esteem and confidence, which can have a positive impact on your mental health.

New Year’s Resolutions to Improve Mental Health

There are many potential resolutions that you may consider making to improve your mental health. There are so many different types of resolutions that people make, depending on what they need to change in their lives. Some of these resolutions include:

Increased exercise & physical fitness

Making time for activities that nourish you physically, (like sports, running, walking, exercising, swimming, and more) can be an important aspect of maintaining good mental health. Start small, if you haven’t been keeping up with physical activities and introduce a healthier diet into your life. Countless studies have shown that physical fitness makes you significantly more confident, so even if you start small, make sure you keep up with it regularly. Being physically fit reduces your risks of getting sick and thus makes it harder to develop mental issues like anxiety and depression. It also improves your memory and mood while keeping you fit. 

Set boundaries

It’s important to prioritize your well-being and to learn to say no to things that don’t align with your values or that drain your energy. Make a list of activities that do not bring you joy, and communicate it with the people around you, so that you do not have to do anything that makes you feel negatively about yourself. It is important to be honest with yourself about the things that do not bring you any joy or happiness. By adding some boundaries and getting rid of others, you can gain more confidence, while being efficient in your daily life.

Engage in activities that bring joy

Finding hobbies or activities that bring you joy and making time for them in your life can be an important part of maintaining good mental health. Make sure to set aside time to pursue your hobbies, and for activities that bring you happiness. If you find that you don’t have any activities or hobbies that bring positivity into your life, then do a bit of introspection or seek out new experiences! 

Seek out new experiences

Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be challenging, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Consider trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone in the year to come. Seek adventure or seek new spiritual experiences; unlock new ways to excite yourself. These new experiences release feel-good hormones, like dopamine and serotonin, which in turn can positively affect your mental health.

Seek support

It’s important to know when to ask for help. Do not hesitate to reach out to trusted friends, family members, or mental health professionals when needed. Solitude will lock your thoughts within your mind on endless loops that can hinder positive growth. Instead, find ways to let out your emotions & feelings and explore the solutions to your potential problems.

Take breaks from technology

It’s important to unplug and disconnect from screens every once in a while. Consider setting aside dedicated “screen-free” time each day to give your mind a break. You don’t just get freedom from the constant blue light in your face,you also get carefree moments to experience the reality of the physical world around you.

Tips for Successfully Implementing and Achieving New Year’s Resolutions

Now that we have identified some potential resolutions to improve mental health, it’s important to consider how you can successfully implement and achieve these goals. Let’s take a quick look at some of the best ways to implement your resolutions:

Be specific

It’s important to be very specific about the type and size of the goal, while also understanding the probable outcome that you would like to arrive at. Another great tip is to divide your goal into smaller, more manageable tasks and reward yourself for completing each one.

Make a plan

Once you have identified your specific resolution, it’s important to make a plan for how you will achieve it. This might include setting specific dates and times for completing your goal, identifying any potential barriers that might arise, and developing strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Seek accountability

It can be helpful to seek accountability in achieving your resolutions. This might involve enlisting the support of a friend or family member, or working with a coach or therapist. Having someone to keep you in check can be helpful as well as motivational.

Be patient and compassionate with yourself

It’s important to remember that improving your mental health is a journey and it’s okay to take things one day at a time. It’s also important to be kind and compassionate with yourself when you face setbacks or challenges.

Celebrate successes

As you make progress on your resolutions, it’s important to take time to celebrate your successes. This can help to boost your motivation and sense of accomplishment. Keep yourself motivated and ready to achieve more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, making New Year’s resolutions to improve mental health can be a powerful tool for making positive changes in your life. By setting specific goals and making a plan to achieve them, you can take proactive steps to improve your mental well-being. With the practices mentioned above, you can set yourself up for success in the coming year. It’s also important to not just plan but execute these in an efficient, rewarding, and serene manner. 

In the end, even if you fail to achieve some of them, do not stress yourself out, because the reason you planned these in the first place is to reduce stress in your life. Hopefully, this article can add value to your time and show you a better path toward mental peace. Follow us at Buddhi Clinic for more!

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The Mind in Modern Medicine

The view that it is not enough to heal the body of the affected person, that we must also heal the mind, is gaining credence.It is curious that the mind, so important at the turn of the 20th century, is experiencing today a reawakening in scientific and societal consciousness. The founders of modern medical science in the 18th and 19th centuries had clearly conceived the mind to be a representation of the brain; people like Alois Alzheimer demonstrated pathological abnormalities in the brain of people affected with dementia. Indeed, centuries earlier, the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, had firmly placed “our joys, sorrows, desires and feelings” in the brain.Sigmund Freud, who started his career as a neurologist, developed an interest in the mind while a student of the legendary neurologist Charcot in Paris. Charcot was deeply interested in hysteria, that condition where physical symptoms like fainting, seizures and paralysis are expressed due to an abnormal emotional state, rather than an abnormal physical state.

Many aspiring neurologists of the time including Freud were attracted to Paris by Charcot’s knowledge and erudition.Sigmund Freud, however, branched off from Charcot to develop his own hypothesis of the human mind, in what famously became the school of psychoanalysis. Freud took the exploration of the mind in hysterical states deeper, into areas that few physicians before him had dared to tread. His theory of “consciousness” attempted to explain the role of deep-rooted emotional conflicts originating in early life, in developing symptoms of the mind later on. Freudian thought is complex, requiring many hours of concerted study. In a nutshell, Freud proposed that the human tendency was to repress anxiety provoking emotional conflicts that the conscious mind could not possibly contemplate.

While these thoughts were confined to the unconscious mind, there were, inevitably, times when they emerged into the conscious, and given their unacceptable nature manifested (were converted into) a physical symptom, instead. Freudian thought spawned a school of psychoanalysis which dominated the practice of “psychological medicine” for over a century. However, his all-pervasive view of sexual underpinnings for all manner of emotional conflict, for example the Oedipus complex where the mother is the inappropriate object of sexual attention of the male child, was not accepted in its totality by his contemporaries.Two milestones in the latter half of the twentieth century brought the mind firmly back into the realm of brain science. The first, the discovery of the neuroleptic drug chlorpromazine that could control effectively the symptoms of serious mental illness like schizophrenia, followed on by a range of psychotropic drugs with potential to address a range of other emotional symptoms, provided indirect evidence that the brain had a role in the development and manifestation of human emotions. The second, the development of several dynamic brain-imaging tools in the last two decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first, has transformed our understanding of the human brain and mind, permitting us to visualise live, brain activity during a psychological task.

Crossroads

The brain and mind interface is therefore at an interesting crossroads in modern medicine. There is a growing understanding in medical science of the role our brains play in determining what are predominantly emotional symptoms. Research, for example, has shown that people with psychopathic personalities, hitherto considered to suffer from a disorder of the mind, have a poor perception of others’ facial emotions, and experience difficulties in affect recognition (that is, gauging the other person’s mood). These abnormalities in perception have been linked to abnormalities in brain function, the amygdala, part of the emotional brain, being implicated in many instances. Clearly, as our ability to image the mind expands, so will our understanding of brain-mind relationships and knowledge of “how the mind works!”From a social and health policy perspective, the mind has assumed considerable importance. In a seminal paper, “The Mental Wealth of Nations,” published in Nature (Volume 455; October 23, 2008), Beddington and colleagues emphasise that countries must learn to capitalise on their citizens’ cognitive resources if they are to prosper, both economically and socially, and that early interventions for emotional health and cognition will be the key to prosperity. Reporting the Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing commissioned by the U.K. Government Office for Science, they introduce two important concepts.

Mental capital encompasses both cognitive and emotional resources. It includes people’s cognitive ability; their flexibility and efficiency at learning; and their emotional intelligence, or social skills and resilience in the face of stress. Mental well-being, on the other hand, refers to individuals’ ability to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others and contribute to their community. The importance of detecting mental disorders early, the role of science, for example neural markers for childhood learning disability; the development of early interventions that enhance mental capital and mental well-being, boosting brain power through the lifespan; and encouragement for processes that will help people adapt well to the changing needs of the workplace, as also engage in life-long learning, are highlighted here.From a clinical practice perspective, the importance of mental health, wellness and health-related quality of life as outcome indicators of both physical and mental disorders is becoming widely accepted.

The view is that it is not enough to heal the body of a person affected with physical disease; it is also crucial that we heal the mind, enhancing wellness, is gaining credence in modern medicine, quality of life having become established as the best outcome of treatment. Indeed, the reintegration of people into society as they recover from illness requires as an imperative the restoration of both their mental capital and mental well-being. Pray, what is the status of hysteria, that original symptom of the mind, in this era of modern medicine, you may well ask. It is noteworthy that a whole range of bodily symptoms that have no physical basis — tension headache and chronic fatigue, atypical facial pain, atypical chest pain, irritable bowels and bladder, fibromyalgia, burning in the private parts, to name just a few — all have their putative origins in the theory of hysterical conversion. It is estimated that between 20 per cent and 35 per cent of all primary care consultations and about a fifth of all emergency room visits are for physical symptoms such as these, that do not have a physical basis. They are also responsible for the loss of many patient and caregiver workdays; untold suffering and burdensome expense, both personal and social; and unnecessary investigations in pursuit of that elusive diagnosis.Physicians who frequently encounter these symptoms have learnt to spot the telltale signs that are their forerunner: multiple consultations (doctor shopping); the large bag filled with a variety of investigation reports that have mysteriously failed to identify “anything wrong”; the constant need for reassurance, combined curiously with disbelief in the doctor’s opinion, notwithstanding his erudition; the development of new symptoms, without any apparent physical basis, soon after old ones disappear; disenchantment with the medical profession for failing to diagnose, sometimes even subtle pride in being “such a difficult diagnostic dilemma”; as indeed the failure of any serious setback to manifest itself despite months, sometimes years, of ongoing symptoms… the list of diagnostic clues is endless.

The French physician Briquet described this syndrome which for many years carried his name. In modern medicine this ailment goes by the name “Somatisation Disorder.” And in the clinic setting, in an era of advancing diagnostic technology, it has become the most common manifestation of hysteria. Indeed, somatisation, thought to be more common in non-western cultures with traditionally limited verbal expression of emotions, is almost becoming fashionable, akin to “swooning” (another hysterical symptom) in the Victorian era.Hysteria does therefore exemplify the importance of the mind in modern medicine. It may well have origins in the brain, which future research may reveal: it clearly is a significant public health problem that does affect mental capital and well-being; it does pose a tremendous drain on the public exchequer and private resources; it has potential for cure through early diagnosis and intervention; and interestingly, may well be the last frontier to traverse at the interface between the brain and mind.

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