Thoughts can make a person age faster and researchers have discovered that mental patterns can negatively impact telomeres, which are essential parts of a cell’s DNA. Particular thought patterns are considered especially problematic, such as high levels of anger, a lack of trust, pessimism and rehashing destructive thoughts in the mind. In today’s world, discord, conflicts, digital technology and media pressure also have their added impact. Mental wellness therefore is about changing such thought patterns and building resilience against negative outside pressures to create a richer, more meaningful life experience.
Eckart Tolle makes the point that storms and chaos are part of life, and that developing strong mental resilience helps us to survive them. Mental resilience is not possible without investing time and energy in it. While focusing on physical health may result in the perfect body, if mental resilience is overlooked, a perfect body is likely to become a host to destructive mental thought patterns. A clear, positive, organized mind necessitates putting in time and effort. Mental fitness is the perfect description for such, as it compares the mind to a muscle that needs to be trained, rested, fed and stretched.
Much like the dashboard on a car, emotions are merely feedback signals indicating what is going on in our thoughts and our environments. Negative emotions such as hurt, anger, stress and irritation disrupt the signal to the brain, triggering the release of 1200 chemicals. Poorly managed emotions also reduce the chemicals that promote a feeling of happiness and release those that damage the immune system. It is now recognized that exposure to such negative emotions for sustained periods of time shorten a person’s lifespan. Not only this, but the more vivid the emotion, the greater the energy a person will put out, thereby affecting the world around them as well.To be emotionally healthy means taking personal care of one’s emotional diet, which is influenced by what a person, watches, reads and listens to. Practicing self-care and restricting exposure to negative content, regardless of what form it takes, is one effective tool that can be used to improve emotional health.
Martin Seligman who was elected president of the American Psychological Society in 1998 is largely regarded as the face of the positive psychology movement. Positive psychology approaches mental health from the perspective of analyzing what makes people happy through examining positive states and traits, such as optimism, wellbeing, gratitude, compassion, self-esteem and hope, as opposed to focusing on negative mental states and imbalances. All the advice, support and recommendations, from self-esteem to mindfulness, meditation, self-awareness, relationship and stress-handling skills in the positive psychology sphere are based on research and advice from credible experts in the field.
Certain practices can have a definite positive effect on our mental state such as spirituality and being engaged in or motivated by work as opposed to being motivated by money (which has less of a proven effect on happiness, a fact reinforced in Happiness Studies such as the Gross National Happiness Index). Its most conclusive finding is that eudaimonia (flourishing through living well and virtuously) takes precedence over hedonism (living for pleasure) and interestingly, through their research, they have discovered that hedonism or pursuit of pleasure has almost no contribution to a happy and fulfilling life. This is not anything new, it is a message that has resurfaced for millennia through the teachings of various religions to the philosophers of ancient Greece (e.g. Aristotle). Pleasure only seems to come into play positively when it is combined with both engagement and meaning. According to Seligman’s claims, an individual’s remembrance of a happy day seems to have three things in common: a sense of freedom or autonomy, competence and a connection with other people. Most of all, positive psychology’s most constructive and enlightening claim is that happiness can be taught.
One common trait associated with stress and anxiety is speed – trying to cram too much into a short amount of time and not allocating sufficient time to evaluate priorities. In reaction to this, the slow movement has evolved which, according to Carle Honoré (author of In Praise of Slow), is based on living each moment to the fullest and putting quality before quantity. The slow movement supports the Buddhist principle of being present, living in the moment and trying to do everything as well as possible as opposed to as fast as possible.
Regular cardio exercise is also recognized as a key activity in maintaining mental fitness as it helps to counter anxiety, stress and depressive states. This has been verified in numerous clinical trials. Aerobic exercise reduces the levels of adrenaline and cortisol responsible for stress and at the same time stimulates endorphins and mood elevators. In the UK, in the past, doctors prescribed anti-depressants or anxiety medication, now they are more likely to ask how much cardio exercise the patient is doing. Other exercise forms can also help reduce stress levels, such as yoga, Tai Chi, deep breathing, progressive relaxation and autogenic training (a form of relaxation based on self-hypnosis involving six mental exercises to promote a response of relaxation and awareness in different areas of the body to produce physiological changes).
The brain cognitively naturally declines as people age, however, scientists now increasingly believe that senile plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s do not cause Alzheimer’s but are a consequence of it. In his book Build a Better Brain at Any Age, Sanjay Gupta argues that dementia does not necessarily have to be a consequence of getting older. He argues that a person can halt cognitive decline and actually grow new brain cells at any age, something that was not supported by science until recently. While mental exercises such as sudoku, crossword puzzles, memory games and learning a new language help stimulate mental activity, it is a healthy lifestyle that has the most impact in reducing the chances of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, even if a person does carry the genetic risk factor for it. Sanjay Gupta advocates the basics of healthy living with a strong emphasis on cardio exercise, regular sleep, a healthy diet, socializing and gratitude journaling as keys to developing and maintaining brain health. He breaks his concept into six categories: regular movement, discovering new things to stimulate the brain, relaxation, nourishment/ diet and social connection. Researchers from the National Center for Neurological Disorders in Beijing have backed up this approach through a decade-long study. They have found that healthy lifestyle choices such as a good diet, regular exercise, playing cards and socializing at least twice a week may reduce the risk of dementia. It is this combination, of practicing multiple healthy lifestyle approaches that is associated with a lower probability of cognitive impairment and decline. In their study, a healthy diet had the strongest effect, followed by cognitive activity and then physical exercise.
In addition to a healthy lifestyle and the topics already mentioned, certain practices seem to be extremely effective in strengthening mental balance. Self-awareness and mindfulness stand out in particular, especially when combined with meditation. Even short 2-minute spouts of meditation have a positive effect. Counselling and talking therapies also have their part to play, as does journalling, practicing positive affirmations or attending spiritual retreats. However, it is the day-to-day practice of giving time to cleanse one’s thoughts and focus on what is important that is crucial to good mental health. In our book “Wellness for the 21st Century” we refer to this as mind cleaning.
In the same way that a body or teeth are cleaned daily, there is no reason why this should not happen with the mind. In fact, given that the mind is the most important organ in the body, cleaning the mind should perhaps take precedence over cleaning the physical parts of the body. Mind cleaning involves taking time out each day to first go into a mindful state, to calm the so-called ‘monkey mind’ and then to positively refocus. Refocusing can take the form of prayer, gratitude, evaluating one’s position in life non-judgmentally and directing thoughts towards goals and aspirations. Mind cleaning is best conducted as early in the day as possible, it can also be repeated at night before sleep, with a recap and review of the day.
In short, mind cleaning, positive psychology, exercise (particularly cardio exercise), gratitude, positive social interactions and eudaimonic approach to life, not only lengthen a life but make the moments in that life worth experiencing.
Michael Wallace & Melanie Kay Smith
For more information on this topic, you can read about it in our book “Wellness for the 21st Century, Thriving in a Post-Pandemic World”