6 Signs Of Mental Health Concerns

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

Aristotle

Mental health refers to your general mental state and how you regulate your feelings, behavior and thoughts. There is no written standard to measuring what could be considered normal because normal looks different to each individual. Poor mental health can negatively affect you in so many ways, and if you’re not keeping an eye on your mental health you could end up slipping into bad habits.

If you believe that you may have depression, then you shouldn’t ignore the signs that your mental health is slipping. When your mental health isn’t where it should be, you could slide into addiction and situations that put you in danger. While there are options for substance abuse intervention, it doesn’t mean that you should go down the road of substance abuse in the first place if you can avoid it. The best way to avoid it is by understanding some of the signs that your mental health gives you. Here they are:

6 Signs of Poor Mental Health

• You’re not sleeping. Poor sleep is a big red flag that something is going on in your mind. It’s not that the poor mental health is stopping you from sleeping, but the stress on your brain is keeping you awake as you try to mull things over and figure them out. If you aren’t sleeping because of your mental health, it’s time to consider getting some help.
• You feel more irritated than usual. When things are going wrong for you, you’re more  likely to experience irritation and low feelings as well as feeling more frustrated than normal. Depression and anxiety can make it very hard to self regulate your thoughts and your feelings, which is why you may be feeling more sensitive than usual.
• You’re struggling to feel joy. Everybody has bad days, but if your bad days are stretching into bad weeks and bad months and even longer, you need to get some help. You should be able to experience joy every single day in some way or shape, and if you can’t, that’s a sign that your mental health is slipping.
• You can’t manage your food. Changes in appetite are a strong sign that your mental health should be a concern. For some people, binging and comfort food can provide relief from stress and unhappy feelings. For others, they go the other way and stop eating altogether. Either way, you should be able to manage your appetite regularly and if you can’t you need to dive deeper and find out why.
• Depression and anxiety can worsen physical symptoms. Are your palms sweaty? Is your heart speeding up? Are you feeling dizzy, or are you plagued with headaches? If any of his physical symptoms are coming on, it could be a sign your mental health is declining.
• You have low energy. A big sign that your mental health should concern you is that you don’t have the energy to do anything. You should be able to do your day-to-day activities, but if your mental health is low, it’s going to be hard.