by Ryan Pell
Contributing Author, Conscious Reminder
Over the years, the world has observed the growth of a positive tendency. People got more and more interested in wellness and overall well-being.
Global Wellness Institute studied this tendency in 2015-2017, reporting that over these years global wellness economy grew from $3.7 billion to $4.2 billion, which is nearly twice as fast as global economic growth:
Image credit: Global Wellness Institute
One of the industries that largely contributes to this number is Fitness & Mind-Body industry. People are spending thousands of dollars yearly to maintain mind-body wellness. Gym memberships, new fitness programs, fitness apps – all this costs people a lot of money and puts a lot of financial pressure just to make sure that you’re keeping up with the trend.
But even though people try to be physically healthy, mental health has become a rising issue. According to the statistics:
- Every year in the U.S., one in five adults experiences mental health problems.
- Worldwide, one in four people experiences mental health issues every year.
- People are more likely to develop a mental disorder rather than get a heard disease, diabetes or cancer.
So, in the wake of this wellness craziness, how not to lose the moment and remain fit mentally and emotionally as well?
Let’s take a look.
1. Waking Up Early
Is waking up early good or bad?
Over the past few years, scientists and wellness gurus have been talking about waking up early as one of the major contributors to health improvement.
According to Entrepreneur, with the reference to various studies, science backs up the claims that ‘early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise’:
- Improving coping mechanisms. Duration and time of sleep have an impact on the pattern of thought. People who have an irregular sleep schedule, stay up and sleep longer, are more prone to negativity. Participants of this research were diagnosed with repetitive negative thinking (RNT) due to sleep disruption.
People who have optimized their 9-6 sleep schedule, have an opportunity to have a little time to themselves in the morning and set good vibes for the day.
- Enhancing productivity. Since people who wake up early have more time for themselves to set their priorities for the day, they are more cooperative, persistent, and proactive.
- Helping you start a stress-free day. Waking up early, together with other practices, mentioned below, can help you get your mind ready for the day and decrease stress.
This habit is often associated with successful people. Oprah Winfrey, for instance, sets her alarm for 6:02 every day to have time to reflect and meditate. Actor Mark Wahlberg can be called an extreme lark, as he wakes up at 2:30 every day to exercise, pray and recover mentally.
Extra time in the morning, while the rest of the world is sleeping, you have time to reflect and practice a positive mindset to stay mentally and emotionally fit.
2. Improving Body-Mind Connection with Technology
People often make a clear distinction between physical and mental health. But when it comes to mental and emotional fitness, there’s no such distinction.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, exercise is one of the leading ways to decrease the deterioration of both physical and mental health. While exercise is obviously good for your body, it impacts your brain as well, causing the release of endorphins, which increases mental alertness and positive energy. Even a short physical activity can already bring major improvements to your mental health.
Thus, there’s no immediate necessity to pay for an expensive gym membership. You can keep your body active with the help of your phone and around 15 minutes in the morning. Here are some free apps you can benefit from:
- 7-Minute Workout – a useful app, which has different sections with sets of exercises to train different groups of muscles as well as a 7-minute full-body workout.
- Freeletics Bodyweight – a free app that tests your activity to customize everyday exercises that you can do with minimum equipment available.
- Daily Ab Workout – a set of exercises for tone your core, with fitness videos to make sure that you’re doing everything right.
There are also many yoga apps available, as well as online free yoga classes on YouTube, which you can benefit from to maintain your physical and mental health.
3. Practicing Mindfulness
Over the past several years, mindfulness has become a buzzword. A recent web search study, done by Flatfy, an international real estate company, over 2 billion of people search for the information on ‘mindfulness’ every day.
What is mindfulness and what’s in it for mental and emotional fitness?
Mindfulness is a psychological practice that helps bring your attention to something that is occurring in the present moment. In other words, being mindful means being emotionally and mentally present in the moment.
Mindfulness, however, encourages people not to be judgmental towards the experience that they are going through at the current moment. It helps you see the experience more objectively but with gratitude.
In terms of mental and emotional fitness, mindfulness has a lot of therapeutic applications:
- reducing symptoms of depression
- alleviating stress and anxiety
- treating substance addiction
Mindfulness is practiced through meditation as well as a set of exercises that are aimed at bringing forth a person’s current experiences and work on mental and emotional fitness.
Wrapping Up
It is true that a sound body depends on a sound mind, and vice versa. Practicing mental and emotional fitness has a huge impact on our wellbeing, thus, mental and physical health cannot be separated.
Incorporating the above-mentioned tips in your daily life will help you be fit both mentally and emotionally, and improve your quality of life in general.
About the Author: Ryan is a passionate writer who likes sharing his thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, he works as a digital marketing specialist at https://hu.flatfy.com. He likes everything related to traveling and new countries.
Now, you can follow Conscious Reminder on INSTAGRAM!
∼If you like our article, give Conscious Reminder a thumbs up, and help us spread LOVE & LIGHT!∼
