Mental health is defined as “a person’s condition about their psychological well-being.” Mental health disorders include but are not limited to mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, eating disorders, dementia, and autism. Many things cause mental health issues. Mental health disorders and issues can be inherited such as bipolar disorder. But some mental health issues are caused by a combination of environmental, physiological, and genetic factors. Environmental factors can cause or worsen mental health. 

Many factors besides genetics can cause mental health. Some of these are childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, social isolation, loneliness, experiencing discrimination, poverty, sleep deprivation, substance abuse, long-term stress, and physical health conditions. The list goes on. Mental health is super important, having a healthy mind and body is hard to balance but worth focusing on. Mental health affects how we feel, act, and think. It helps determine the decisions you make. And how stress is handled. Having good mental health allows us to make healthy decisions. Mental health is important at every stage of life from adolescence to adulthood. 

The effects of good and bad mental health are important to understand. One of the effects of bad mental health is poor physical health and harmful tendencies. While good mental health reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks. 

Sleep deprivation and oversleeping are often seen when a human is struggling with mental health. According to the National institution of Health, the average regular person gets less than seven hours of sleep. Sleeping 7 hours helps tremendously for mental health. Certain mental health disorders will cause oversleeping like depression others will cause sleep deprivation like insomnia, which affects the human body greatly. Healthy sleeping patterns are both a cause and effect of mental health issues. Eating healthy can be both cause and effect for mental health as well. This is because some disorders can cause the body to stop eating or to eat more than needed. But also if you are not making sure you are getting the correct nutrients you need to thrive, worsened mental health can be the consequence.  

How to help your mental health. You can allow your mental health to become stronger by exercising regularly, eating healthy, having a normal sleep schedule, making goals, staying hydrated, and sometimes becoming medicated. Most mental health issues cause people to feel alone or unseen but in reality, more than 1 in 5 adults live with mental illness. It’s difficult and a struggle for many to fight with mental illness. But there are many things you can do to prevent the effects of controlling your life.