Topic > How Mental Health Affects Us Every Day

Have you ever had a negative thought that changed your mind about what you can and can't do, but you had a sudden burst of confidence where you knew what you could do. Your thoughts can sometimes speak louder than words and can set you back from your choices. For example, going rock climbing with a friend. The most common reason why this happens is our mental health. Mental health is how you feel, a bit like our emotions. Our mental state can affect us physically both externally, our environment, and internally, within the body. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Mental health affects us in our environment. Sometimes our environment is not easy to control since we have other people in our life such as family and friends. Our mental health can affect us in our environment in many ways. For example, bipolar I disorder, the effects of this disorder are manic episodes that occur for at least 7 days, the person requires medical attention due to the episode, or depressive episodes that last 2 or more weeks according to the National Institute of Mental Health. During a manic episode a person may feel very active or very tired, may talk more quickly than usual about different things, may become irritable and engage in risky behaviors (National Institute of Mental Health). Furthermore, major depression can also have physical effects. Major depression is “a period of two weeks or longer during which you have depressed mood or loss of interest in pleasure…” says the National Institute of Mental Health. Additionally, depression can affect you physically, causing you to not do activities you once loved and found enjoyable, such as spending time with family, drawing, or exercising. This affects us in our environment as the person may stop communicating with others or not engage in social activities. Many other mental illnesses can cause other problems including aggression, paranoia, low self-esteem, and staying away from large crowds. Mental illnesses can affect how you feel and how you handle environmental situations. In addition to external physical problems there are internal complications. Having internal health complications can range from the circulatory system to the digestive system. The Mental Health Foundation states that having poor mental health can have a negative impact on your body and increase certain health conditions. For example, anxiety attacks can cause an increased heart rate and can make the respiratory system feel like it is under stress. There is another disease that can affect your body in other serious ways. For example, eating disorders such as anorexia where someone stops eating or reduces portion size in an unhealthy way, causing them to lose weight in an unhealthy way. This can cause the body to enter a state of ketoacidosis, which means the body uses ketones made up of leftover sugar mixed with acids that the body stores if the body does not get the sugar it needs, it is stored in fat and is produced in the liver. Entering a state of ketoacidosis is very dangerous since it is an acid used to replace sugar and therefore releasing ketones. The effect of having a lot of ketones in your bloodstream is the risk of increased death or coma. Mental health is important to ensure that your body functions well and you can take care of it as best as possible. However, not all mental health disorders affect us internally, like borderline disorder.