At Studio X Phys we are celebrating Mental Health Awareness Day and Month because it is such an important time to reflect on the importance of mental health and how it affects everyone as well as how it impacts our physical health and vice versa. 

What is Mental Health? 

Mental health involves different aspects of health and well-being. WHO (World Health Organisation) define mental health as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community”. 

Mental health is more than just the specific disorders that we hear about such as anxiety or depression; however, it is a complex spectrum of health and well-being that affects every individual differently. Aspects of mental health will change throughout our lives and we will have to adapt how we best manage our mental health depending on our life and demands. 

How Physical Health affects Mental Health?

A lot of people who come into our clinic have various levels of injury, health conditions or factors limiting their physical abilities. It is normal when someone has an injury for this to affect their mental health as well because we are not able to do the things we normally enjoy, we may not be able to work our normal job and it can affect our relationships. It is normal to feel down or frustrated when you have an injury or your physical abilities are changing! So we often have conversations around how to 

Mental Health and Pain 

Pain is often far more complex than just an injury or damaged body part. Pain is always in our brain as our brain is our computer system that identifies what we are feeling and interprets signals from our body. Our central nervous system can affect how our brain is processing pain signals from our body and can change the dial as to how much pain we are feeling. 

When our mental health is negatively affected it can result in a nervous system response that dials up our pain and increases how painful we are feeling! Therefore, having poor mental health or high stress levels can be a contributing factor to increasing our pain levels 

Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

There are many different benefits of exercise but here are some of the mental health benefits:

• Increasing energy levels, reduces fatigue
• Reduces stress and anxiety
• Improves concentration and focus
• Encourages social connection
• Improves sleep
• Promotes a sense of accomplishment or achievement 

If you have any questions or want to look into options about managing your physical health with a holistic approach and taking into account your mental health as well, get in touch with us.