No joking mo in Hot town, summery in the city - 2017

22.  How do you feel about mental health?

I’ve really enjoyed the majority of the prompts this year but this one is nonsensical. How do I feel about mental health?!

That’s like asking how I feel about cancer, how I feel about flu, how i feel about MS or how I feel about toe nail fungus!!

How do I feel about mental health?! shakes head

Let me start by telling you that mental and physical health are intrinsically linked and that link isn’t just a single lane, one way street. It’s a junction of multi lane highways. Both mental and physical health can affect one another.

For example, studies (for which I don’t have links as it’s Monday morning and I’m getting ready for work) have proven that a bad diet can lead to both physical and mental health. This can be because being unable to move around as much (due to lower energy due to an unbalanced diet) can lower the chance of spending time outside as well as lowering endorphins because less physical activity is taking place. However, a bad diet can also lead to unbalanced gut flora. That can, in turn, lead directly to bad mental health.

For me, as a runner, when I can’t run (because of injury or illness) I get positively foul. I’m missing both the outside time and the endorphins. And I hate to see other runners out there, running!

But let’s get back to the question. What do I think of mental health? Let’s put it this way: everyone has mental health. It is usually considered in a negative way but just as your physical health can be good, bad or indifferent, so can mental health. I would also say that mental and physical health are not entirely different entities. Everything is linked, it’s all a part of what makes us us, right?

So no, no one can have an opinion on another person’s health, mental or physical, unless they are a trained professional.

Last updated November 22, 2021