Written by Kailyn Bannon
Sponsored by Central Florida Healthcare
Physical health is important for living a long and happy life, but mental health also plays an important role. It’s important to take a proactive approach to maintaining a healthy mental state. Doctors want to emphasize the benefits of regularly monitoring your mental health.
Issues such as anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders require early attention to prevent further deterioration. If mental health issues are not addressed, symptoms often worsen.
Central Florida Healthcare provides treatment for people suffering from mental health disorders.
Michael Okeke, an advanced practice nurse at Central Florida Healthcare, is working not only to spread awareness about mental health issues, but also to provide solutions.
Okeke emphasizes the importance of getting enough sleep to deal with problems. Sleep can affect the intensity of existing disorders and lead to the development of new symptoms.
“Even something as simple as sleep can be affected when people have mental health problems, especially with adult depression and bipolar disorder,” Okeke says. “It’s important to let the community know that we can provide solutions to some of these problems.”
Feeling tired when you wake up in the morning can be a sign of an underlying problem, he says.
“When people are depressed, they either sleep too much or they don’t sleep at all,” Okeke explains. “They say that if you’re not sleeping, you’re drunk and your body isn’t functioning at its best. Therefore, it’s very important to get enough sleep.”
Depression can also cause chronic pain, both physical and mental.
“It’s a very complex process, but the way depression works, pain may not be in the body, but in the brain. Certain drugs trick the pathways that pain, especially chronic pain, travels to the brain. ” Okeke said. “Chronic pain disorders can also be managed with antidepressants.”
Central Florida Healthcare helps patients decide whether medications will help, but self-care and stress management also play an important role in mental health. This means that taking care of yourself at home and developing coping strategies to relieve stress is necessary for good mental health.
“The most important thing to do at home is stress management,” says Okeke.
“Stress is the mother of all illnesses. Reducing stress levels can reduce anxiety and help manage mood and depression.”
The first step to taking care of yourself is recognizing the symptoms and knowing when to seek help, he says. Symptoms of poor mental health include prolonged sadness or irregular outbursts of sadness, increased frustration, irritability, lack of sleep, crying over small problems, loss of appetite or binge eating, and poor self-image. .
People who are struggling with their mental health may have normalized their symptoms to the point where they don’t think they need help. Additionally, they may worry that they will be judged or doubt whether their treatment is working.
Stigma, which is often associated with mental health but not physical health, is one of the biggest barriers to receiving help. That’s why Okeke spreads awareness about these common struggles and encourages honest and open conversations about mental health.
