For many years, mental health was a topic not talked about and the embarrassment surrounding having mental health issues was one of the many reasons why people never spoke up or sought out help. Luckily though, in the 21st century, people are speaking out and a lot of scientific research has been done into the ways to fight mental health.
The problem many people are facing now is learning to manage their mental health in a balanced way in accordance with their jobs. With the current cost of living crisis, how are people meant to prioritise their mental health when their rent is increasing, food prices are rocketing, and people’s jobs are being cut?
Mental health is a condition that can affect anyone and has a plethora of different symptoms and feelings affecting individuals differently. Mental health is very often referred to as the ‘silent killer’ with an average of 8 million people taking their lives each year. Many people over the last decade have been coming forward to doctors or therapists about needing help with their mental health, which has been a massive step forward in helping fight this issue.
One of the main symptoms associated with mental health is anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It can be brought on at any time and can cause many people to sweat, feel restless or tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. Mental health issues such as anxiety can cause someone to lose concentration, make it hard for them to multi-task, and carry out day-to-day work activities. This in turn can result in having a negative effect on your work life. A person's mental health affect show they perform at work which could put their job in jeopardy, this is why it is imperative that businesses keep a close check on their employees in order to help them and have an understanding of what they are going through.
How are people meant to lead a balanced life?
The Business Leader published in June 2022 that one-in-three (31%) of the 1006 UK workers polled reported they had more hours or extra shifts to combat the cost-of-living crisis, one in 8 (12%) had taken an additional job. With people having to having to reduce their time of leisure in order to take on more business time, their seeming;y balanced lifestyles are becoming very unbalanced.
A keyway to help towards wanting to lead a balanced lifestyle is to consider the main aspect of your life, for many people these are:
- Relationships
- Work
- Fitness and health
- Emotional well-being.
Admittedly we all get engrossed by our work sometimes but it’s important to make time for ourselves and loved ones. As humans we can run low on energy and it’s important that we recognise that and look for ways to take a step back, recharge and then try again. Many doctors over the years have suggested planning ahead can be a great way to look to the future, for example simple setting out your plan for the week with meeting, downtime and appointment clearly set out can help your be prepared and aware of what you need to complete each day. Also by setting yourself goals for the week such as ‘complete 15 minutes of exercise’ or ‘have a movie night’ will make you feel a good sense of accomplishment.
A key concept to know when it comes to mental health is understanding the basic things in life and taking things slowly. Not every day has to be jam packed with tasks to complete, having a lazy day filled with nothing but TV and snacks is not a bad thing. It's about finding what works best for you and working that into your everyday life. Mental health is not something that can be cured in a day, it is something that takes time and patience; over time is what will allow you to control it.