National Wellness Month celebrates: self-care, health, and managing stress. Creating healthy habits can benefit someone by improving their mental and physical health. Self-care may help someone manage their stress, form healthy habits, and promote happiness.
Recognizing August as National Wellness Month is important because self-care is often overlooked. Self-care is commonly put last when it should be prioritized by people. We all overlook prioritizing taking care of ourselves because we don't have time, we may not know how, or it's not even a thought.
National Wellness Month is important because it may open someone's eyes to making healthy changes within their life. Self-care is important for yourself and the people around you. When you are in a better mental space the people around you can see that and make a change in their own life. Self-care has many benefits
"that have been clinically proven such as reducing or eliminating anxiety and depression, reducing stress, improving concentration, minimizing frustration and anger, increasing happiness, improving energy, and more."
This month also promotes creating and maintaining healthy habits. Doing a face mask once a week, taking a bath, going to the gym, and eating healthier to feel better isn't just taking care of yourself, these are a few examples of activities that can be healthy habits. Forming a healthy habit doesn't need to happen overnight but it may form over time by making small adjustments within your life. Making time to take care of yourself is a healthy habit that a lot of people don't even think about. When you think of an example of a healthy habit you make just think of grabbing a piece of fruit rather than a bag of chips but that's only one part of maintaining healthy habits. Healthy habits take care of your physical self that reflects on your mental health.
How does my physical wellness tie into my mental health?
Physical wellness and mental health go hand in hand. When your body isn't well your mind takes a toll. As the American Heart Association puts it, “Physical activity boosts mental wellness. Regular physical activity can relieve tension, anxiety, depression, and anger.” When your body is feeling weak your mind feels weak. Food is a major factor in physical and mental wellness. Feeding your body feeds your mind. What you eat may affect your mood and energy level. Feeding your mind is not just food, but by keeping your mind active and healthy by constantly expanding your knowledge. Ways to expand your knowledge may be reading a chapter in a book every day, learning a new language, learning about a topic you may know nothing about, or just talking to new people and learning from them. Little adjustments in your daily routine could make a world of a difference in your overall wellness.
This month should be seen by everyone because it is so crucial. Wellness reflects on everyone's daily life. Not just your wellness but the wellness of those around you whether it be in your working environment, friend group, or just driving down the street. This month is celebrated as National Wellness Month so people can have the opportunity to change themselves in whatever way possible to make themselves improve their wellness.