Why Emotional and Mental Health Matters
When the vast majority of people used to think about health a few decades ago, it was always about your physical health. For example, you would be concerned about your diet, or about your blood pressure, or anything of that nature. But times have definitely changed, to the point where most professionals realize that one’s physical health is only half the story, with the other half encompassing one’s emotional and mental health.
But just why does one’s emotional and mental health matter, and specifically matter to the point where physicians are beginning to treat emotional and mental health issues as legitimate diseases?
Well it all has to do with the simple fact that we as humans rely just as much on our emotional and mental state to live out our lives as we do our physical state. We need to have the mental capacity to take on tasks of all kinds, ranging from checking what time it is in the morning before you go to work to actually doing all of your work while sitting at your office computer. And we need to have the emotional capacity to interact with everyone around us, whether they are complete strangers we meet on public transportation or a loved and adored family member.
And unfortunately, there are a lot of things that can go wrong when it comes to our emotional and mental capacity. Two of the most common diseases that have thankfully become more acceptable to discuss as legitimate diseases are depression and anxiety, due in large part to people (especially celebrities) coming forward to discuss how these diseases significantly affect their own daily lives. These diseases can be just as damaging to your life as any physical disease, but since such diseases are not as visible or readily apparent as physical diseases, people either don’t believe they are real, or just believe they are not as serious as they really are.
Rather than waking up each morning excited to be alive, people with depression or anxiety instead wake up dreading the rest of their day before it even really begins. They are unable to truly live out the life that everyone else around them is able to life, and that is a really sad thing to think about. Everyone deserves to live while in good place emotionally and mentally, which is why it is so important to recognize such emotional and mental health issues for what they truly are – legitimate diseases that need to be treated just like any other disease.
Almost everyone goes to the doctor from time to time, even if it is just your primary care physician for a routine check-up. But not everyone realizes that your own health is defined by much more than just your physical health. Emotional and mental health plays just as much of a role in how effectively you live your life, and that aspect of your health should most definitely be embraced rather than simply neglected like so many people used to do in the past. So the next time you go to your doctor for a check-up, do not hesitate to bring up any and all concerns you may have about your own emotional and mental health. That side of your overall health absolutely matters, and you should treat it as such.