The Mental/Physical Health Connection
Good morning, Tribe!
This Wellness Wednesday, I’m filling in for Dr. Gold!
Today’s piece is on The Mental/Physical Health Connection, and I’m fired up about it!
I can’t wait to share this valuable information with you on this very important day, as we set forth into such a wonderful season of celebration!
I copied and pasted the below from excerpt from a piece in psychreg.org by Dr. Ellen Diamond, PhD.
You can read the whole thing here if you like.
But I hope you’ll read down to my personal input at the bottom too, though, as I have some great hacks for you to stay physically and mentally healthy this Holiday season!
Having poor physical health can lead to a higher risk of developing mental health problems and having poor mental health can negatively impact our physical health, which leads to a higher risk of chronic conditions.
Lifestyle factors
- Stress. Everyone experiences stress in their lives, but no one likes to be stressed out because of the effects that it can have. Stress is a normal part of our lives. We experience stress when we’re doing things too much or we don’t get enough rest. We also experience stress when we worry about certain things like money, relationships, a friend, or a loved one going through difficult circumstances or struggling with an illness. Knowing how to manage stress can be a change for you, with a positive impact on your physical and mental health. Meditating and reflecting is a good start for managing stress.
- Sleep. Your physical, mental, and emotional health depend on how well you rested. Sleep is essential for having good physical and mental health. It also plays a role in our moods, ability to learn, organ health, in our immune system, and other body functions such as metabolism and hormone release.
- Diet. Diet is connected to the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning, memory, and mental health. The food you intake can have an impact on your overall physical and mental health. Eating nutritious food can have a positive effect on your way towards a healthy lifestyle. Also, emotions like anger, sadness, or joy, your brain can react to signals from your stomach which makes that gut-wrenching feeling at the pit of your stomach. This is also a reason to eat a nutritious and balanced diet so that your stomach and brain can be healthy, and function properly.
- Exercise. Doing physical activity in any form is a good way to keep you physically fit and healthy, and as well as improve your mental health. Research shows that doing physical activity influences the release of the feel-good chemical, or also known as the happy hormone called endorphins. Even gentle forms of exercise such as brisk walking can increase mental alertness, energy, positive mood, and it can significantly improve your quality of life.
Benefits and the impact of being physically fit on your mental health
Being physically active is not just about increasing aerobic capacity and muscle size, but yes, it can improve your physique, trim your waistline, and improve your physical health. That is not the reason why people keep motivated to do physical activity. People exercise because it gives them a sense of well-being, being energetic throughout the day, and medicine for challenging mental health problems.
Exercising regularly can have an extremely positive impact on depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Even the most basic exercise can benefit you big time. No matter the age or fitness level, exercising can be a powerful tool to deal with mental health problems and improve your overall sense of wellbeing.
Even the elderly can do minimal exercises while using their assistive medical equipment but having durable home medical equipment must be used to prevent injuries.
I really enjoyed that read, which is why I shared it with you!
But now I’d like to give 5 health hacks to improve in each of the key areas that Dr. Diamond addressed.
- Stress:
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- Tribe– Get around positive, happy, and optimistic people and avoid the negative ones. If you must be around some of the latter this holiday, prepare ahead of time to ignore their negative energy. You don’t have to let them bring you down. Try to bring them up and, if you can’t, get away or ignore them. Be a thermostat in the room; not a thermometer. Holidays are a time of celebration and gratitude. Make it so.
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- Exercise, especially the aerobic and anaerobic kind where you are having fun, getting a great workout, and learning something new- like at Krav Maga Martial Arts– improves mood and stress! Click the link for the 2-week free trial and orientation if you don’t believe me. We’ll schedule you to start in Jan. You’ll be glad you did- and you may need it depending on how your holidays went and how well you followed my first hack this season! 🙂
- Sleep:
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- Work hard, train hard and play hard! And then rest. You sleep better when you do these things.
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- And, by the way, students at KMMA do all three! And with a great tribe! We have programs for youth, teens and adults and, in fact, the whole family can train together!
- Diet:
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- This was the one that alluded me most until just this year. The key is to find the system that works for you. For me, it was keto and intermittent fasting. I follow Dr. Berg in this area in case you want to check him out too.
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- But of course, some things are common sense. Eat or drink too much sugar, alcohol, junk food of any kind and you are going to feel bad, physically, and mentally. Enjoy yourself but stay sane! 🙂
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- Speaking of great food though– The Blackbelt Leadership Dinner is going to have some great food! Thank you to all the leaders bringing some great stuff for the rest of the tribe to try!
- And of course, there is a direct correlation between eating and exercise. Garbage in and garbage out (GIGO) applies to nutrition as well as computer systems... eating healthy helps us perform better to feel better too! You’ll be surprised how much more energy you have when you get off the Standard American Diet (SAD)!
- Exercise: Well, I guess we’ve talked about this hack in every other; because it’s so important to our physical and mental health!
- Did I mention you can actually have fun working out at Krav Maga Martial Arts? Check out our Adult Programs here! No better way to have fun getting fit in 2023!
- ADHD:
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- This one is near and dear to my heart, because many of my students and one of my sons struggle with this diagnosis. But a diagnosis doesn’t have to be a sentence! What we do, how we eat, how we exercise and how we choose to think and train our minds- plus our choice of mental inputs (what we allow in) are all paramount to defeating this ever-increasing epidemic.
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- We have had amazing success helping ADHD kids develop Focus, self-Discipline, and self-control through our program.Many of our Blackbelts have learned to Focus their energy and attention and turn their challenge into an opportunity.
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- I was the first one. I’ll talk about that some in my live video tonight at my new group EmPOWERing Fathers. 6pm if you’d like to join me live there.
I truly hope this has been helpful to all- my students, parents of students and everyone else reading this blog!
I am so grateful to share with you!
If it was useful to you, please share it with someone who needs to see it too!
You can just forward this email, or share the blog version, which will be up soon too!
Prepare To Live & Empower to Lead!
Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Author, MBA & 7th Degree Blackbelt
Founder & Chief Master Instructor,
Krav Maga Martial Arts
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About Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo: Grandmaster Del Castillo is the founding Master Instructor of Krav Maga Martial Arts and has been empowering lives in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties since October of 2000. He is a 7th degree Blackbelt, MBA, author, mentor and success coach, a US Army Veteran and a proud father and grandfather. He is married to Ms. Barbara Del Castillo who helps him run the school. Grand Master Del Castillo began his training in the early 80’s and has high level blackbelts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Premier Martial Arts and Krav Maga Martial Arts as well as experience in kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do and Jiujitsu. He has high level instructor certifications from BBSI, IKMF, and KMG and has been featured in numerous Martial Arts publications and also Success magazine. He was a competitive sport karate and American Kickboxing instructor until he enlisted in the US Army where he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, where he won an Army Green to Gold scholarship and proceeded to ROTC and the University of Tampa. He was commissioned in 1992 and went on to serve in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division and then in several other posts in the US until he left military service to pursue his dream of creating KMMA in 2000.
The Krav MagaMartial Arts Headquarters is in Lutz, FL at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., 33549. Krav Maga Martial Arts serves Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas.
See stephendelcastillo.com for more information and to order my book, Developing Your Superpower, Meditations on Mastery, Volume 1.
Also, check us out on Fun4TampaKids & on Go2Karate.com