When we talk about our health, there are a few things we all think of that pertain to our well being. We think of diet and exercise, first of all, and then we expand upon those topics in our mind to fill in the blanks. However, we often forget a crucial facet of our health, and that’s mental health. Mental illness has been misunderstood for all of human history, and that remains true to this day. But, rest assured, mental illness is a serious problem. Many of us think of mental illness as not being as “real” as physical illness, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Prolonged stress does horrible things to the human body, so mental illness IS physical illness. Not to mention the fact that mental illness tends to cause problematic behavior, such as missing work, that makes it harder to get by in life. Therefore, mental illness is something that should be better understood so that it can be better treated. However, in the meantime, we’re left with an interesting problem.As mental illness is misunderstood, it is also stigmatized, and that can make it hard, if not impossible, for those affected to seek the help they need. So, it can be helpful to have some advice on how to mitigate the symptoms of mental illness in order to cope with the daily struggle your illness entails. Here are a few suggestions.
The best thing you can do to cope with mental illness is to allow yourself some time to relax. This can take many forms of course, but might I recommend a nice, hot bath? Baths are a great way to relax. The hot water will help your muscles relax, and the quiet solitude allows you to sort through your troubling emotions or simply clear your mind. A nice hot bath does wonders for your body and soul. However, if this isn’t for you, there is also the nap. Naps are another great way to relieve stress, though there is some potential for creating a bigger problem, so proceed with caution. When napping, try to keep your nap under half an hour or about an hour and forty-five minutes. Doing so will prevent you from disrupting REM sleep, the deepest phase of sleep where dreaming occurs. Disrupting REM sleep can leave you more tired than before and quite possibly alarmed and otherwise disoriented, and that could make matters worse.
Another thing to consider is that an extrovert will have different ideas of what relaxation looks like. An extrovert might prefer to buy some tickets from Ticketmaster, for example, and go out for a trip to the movies with friends.