What Is Emotional Wellness? Emotional wellness is the ability to effectively handle stressful life events and maintain healthy relationships with yourself and others. It is important for us to be aware of our emotions and learn to express them adequately to better cope with emotional challenges. Emotional wellness could be developed by improving your coping mechanisms, mental health, and increasing your awareness and understanding of yourself, your community, and society overall.
Did you know…
- Emotional wellness is what provides individuals with a positive outlook on life!
- A meta-analysis of over 136,000 people from across 10 studies found that feeling a sense of purpose is associated with emotional wellness
- Being outdoors is proven to increase emotional wellbeing (especially in those who stayed indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic)
Check out these awesome ways to foster emotional wellness:
1.Reducing your stress levels. Although small amounts of stress can be helpful and even motivating at times, chronic and long-term stress is extremely harmful and can worsen one’s mental health. If you are in a stressful situation, talk to a trusted friend or adult and brainstorm healthy ways to relieve this stress.
2. Sleep Well! Getting enough sleep is crucial for maintaining emotional wellness.
3. Eat Well! Nourishing our bodies with healthy foods gives us the energy to fuel our brains!
4. Spend time with loved ones! Studies have shown that being around those who bring you joy can drastically improve your emotional wellbeing.
5. Express gratitude and self-love! Although it may be challenging at times, being thankful for what you have and learning to love yourself can help you better cope with any future obstacles, improve your outlook on life, and increase emotional wellness.
What the students had to say:
To gather opinions and information for this article, we collected responses regarding emotional wellness from local high school seniors. Based on an analysis of the survey, all of the students already had amazing ways to maintain emotional wellness, such as listening to music, exercising, and surrounding themselves with positivity! However, when asked whether or not they felt that they were obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep, 8 of the students reported that they didn’t feel as though they had enough sleep, while 6 answered yes, 1 answered both, and 1 abstained from answering. In order to cope with stress, all of the students who responded stated that they would either talk/write out their feelings or take a deep breath and listen to music.
Contributors: Health & Wellness 2nd PD
Resources:
https://www.nih.gov/health-information/emotional-wellness-toolkit
https://www.verywellmind.com/emotional-wellness-5206535