What is mental health and why is it important? What is the relationship between our mental health and the brain?
Mental health is the state of our mental functioning. It determines our ability to think, concentrate and make day to day decisions. Everything that we do is influenced by the state of our mental health. If we have good mental health then we will be able to function well but if our mental health is poor then it negatively affects our functioning.
Various organs in our bodies play unique roles to keep us alive. For example, the heart pumps blood, the liver removes toxins and the kidney controls the water level of our body. The brain is the most important organ, since it is the control centre of the body, and it is linked with our mental health.
Our brain is a special organ because it is continuously changing in response to our emotions, thoughts and life experiences. This is called neuroplasticity; ‘neuro’ meaning brain and ‘plasticity’ meaning the capacity to change. This means that small changes happen in the physical and chemical structure of our brain as we move through life. For example, when we start to learn playing the guitar, we initially aren’t very good at it, but if we keep on practicing, we slowly improve. This is due to neurochemical changes which are occurring in our brain to help us learn to play the guitar. This is how we learn through experience.
Everything that we experience, from the day we are born to the present moment, influences the development of our brain and, subsequently, our mental health.
Do you have good mental health? Do you feel like you are easily able to concentrate on your school/work and make day to day decisions? How can you improve your mental health?
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