Social Diary has collaborated with a medical expert to allow our readers to connect and have their concerns answered over their wellness-mental and physical. This week:
Qasim Ehsan Asks:
How can lifestyle impact our emotions?
Dr.Uzma: One’s emotional life has a direct impact on one’s everyday life. In the presence of stress, sadness, melancholy, anger, or even excitement, an individual’s inner life always translates to specific behavioral indicators in their physical life. Essentially, the manifestation of emotion in the real world is clearly observed in real life. The opposite, however, also holds true. The way one chooses to live one’s life impacts the emotions that unfurl and appear within.
Man’s life is and always has been clearly split into two: the objective and the subjective. Both spheres of existence are interlinked and spill into one another. A part of the objective world is how we choose to live our life, habits and behaviors. In short, our lifestyle. Similarly, a significant portion of our personal life is our emotional self, the operator within who is sensitive and mindful of the ebb and flow of feelings and thoughts that directly result from our interaction with ourselves and the world. Naturally, how we live has a profound, lasting, and effective impact on our emotions. The goal is, ideally, to have a healthy emotional life or a healthy mindset.
A healthy mindset is a place that can absorb the perturbations and everyday happenings of the world. It allows one to have the power of reflection, allowing us to respond to our surroundings rather than react to them. One way to achieve a healthy mindset is to alter our lifestyle to provide an internal space conducive to growth and self-reflection.
Much can be done to achieve it, as history, literature, and religion remain our faithful guides in this field. To that end, some major points as a result of my clinical practice are as follows:
Develop an eating regimen that complements your lifestyle. Figure out what keeps you energetic and your digestive tract at ease. The best practice is to have a routine of two meals a day without munching, also giving a break of at least 16 hours between the last meal and breakfast to activate autophagy for a healthy body and mind.
Take time every day to sit in a place you are comfortable in alone to practice deep breathing (inhaling through the nose, holding, and exhaling with the counting of 4-4-6). Remain mindful of your sleep cycle. Maintain healthy sleep hygiene i.e avoid rigorous mental tasks and adopt relaxing activities a few hours before bedtime. Get up and move about. Exercise in whichever capacity your everyday routine allows. Engage your body along with your mind at the workplace. Walkabout while taking the call! Set aside time when you sit and plan your day. Ponder upon your tasks and goals before going out there to achieve them. Utilize your resources and energy so that you receive optimal results. These are fundamental points that can be kept in mind for practice. As individuals who go out into the world and contribute with our ideas and energy, I believe we owe ourselves to sit down and address the things that can directly impact our emotional life.
“The one who has a healthy mind has an easy breath.”
– Lyza Sahertian
