Health tip of the week

A healthy mind and a healthy body go hand in hand and during the Pfizer Healthy Town initiative, residents of Wexford town will be getting advice on how to ensure optimum mental health.

Poor sleep patterns, fatigue, anxiety, panic attacks and feeling like your life is not under your control are all signs that your mental health needs to be looked after.

But John Saunders, director of See Change and Shine, says all of these symptoms are mostly temporary and can be due to a significant life event, such as the breakdown of a relationship, or a problem at work. Once that issue is resolved, or enough time passes and people receive the support they need, many of the symptoms will abate.

Saunders says there are some simple steps we can take to ensure our mental health is healthy and while most seem very easy, they will make a difference.

“Any meaningful and gainful activity can be of benefit to a person’s mental health,” he says. “Socialising and keeping in touch with people is a great way of improving our mental well-being. So getting together with family and friends, being part of a sports team or volunteering in the community with other like-minded people are all things we can do that have a positive influence on mental health.”

The mental health expert says exercise and looking after our physical health can have great benefits.

“There’s a symbiotic relationship between our physical and mental health,” he says. “Just 45 minutes of physical exercise three times a week has been shown to improve our mood – and you can also incorporate physical activity with socialising by being part of a sports team.

“Eating nutritious food as part of a balanced diet is also very important. The food that fuels our body is also responsible in many ways for our mood. We should make sure we eat enough protein and carbohydrates and avoid too much fatty or high-sugar foods, which don’t offer real sustenance.”

Dr Harry Barry, author of several books on mental health, agrees and says as well as exercising, reducing alcohol intake and improving our diet and social life, we should also learn how to deal with uncertainty, frustration, phobias and failure and learn how to problem-solve and become comfortable in social situations.

And while this may seem like a big task, the first and most important step is to simply talk to someone, whether an expert, a friend or a family member – communication is key.

Health Tip of the Week is sponsored by Pfizer as part of its HealthyTown initiative. Every year Pfizer selects a town to take part in a unique initiative aimed at showing you – no matter what age you are, or where you live – simple steps to improve your health; irishtimes.com/sponsored/healthy-town. For more information visit irishheart.ie