Physical and Mental Health: Social Determinants of Health- What causes Health

 Physical & Mental Health: Social Determinants of Health- What causes Health Definition, Influence and Outcomes

-[Female Patient] It wasn't like it hit me all at once. I struggled with feelings of fear and worry over the years.

-[Female Patient] When my Doctor told me the pain in my hands was caused by arthritis, those feelings continued to grow.

I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to do the things I love, like gardening and playing the piano.

- [Male Patient] I started having panic attacks and feeling like I couldn't breathe. I already had Asthma, which can make breathing hard anyway.

- [Male Patient ] I was so stressed that I had trouble falling asleep at night.

I found myself so tired during the day that I could barely focus on my work. It never occurred to me that mental health and physical health were so closely connected, I guess because you go to different kinds of health professionals for help.

But I saw a news story that made me realize. We really shouldn't think of them as two different kinds of health.

Broad Definition of Health

- We are joined today by Dr. Ellen Welch,a medical doctor who says we should be thinking about our health much more broadly.

Doctor, what kinds of things besides our physical health are important?

- Thank you for having me on today.

And yes, that's correct, When we talk about someone who is healthy, we are talking about physical health, but also mental health, social well-being, and other resources a person needs to live a full life.

- That sounds like a lot more than just curing someone when they have a fever.

- You're right. Health isn't just the absence of disease.

It also refers to a person's ability to bounce back from an illness or other challenges in life. 

Factors impact of Health

There are many factors that contribute to our mental and physical health. Some factors include a person's genetics, their environment, their relationships, their education, and their employment; these all impact a person's ability to lead a healthy life.

- So, what can our readers do to improve the kind of health you're talking about?

- [Ellen] Certainly, eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise as directed by a physician are keys to good health.

It is also important to have healthy coping skills when challenges come up in a job or a relationship.

Having healthy social relationships can also contribute to a person's overall well-being, including their mental health.

- [Male Patient] Hearing that doctor helped me understand that my stress was doing more than just impacting my physical health.

It was also starting to hurt my relationships, affecting how I spent my free time, and seemed to make me feel overwhelmed.

Mental Health

In fact, learning that mental health is the way our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect our lives helped me realize. I needed to address my ongoing stress as a health issue, both physical and mental. I talked about this with my doctor and he connected me with a therapist. I still meet with my therapist from time to time.

In addition to the diet, exercise, and physical checkups from my doctor, my therapist has helped me learn to manage my stress, develop healthy relationships, and a more positive attitude.

Each and every day is filled with unique ups and downs, but understanding the link between my physical and mental health has made a big difference in my ongoing recovery journey.

Physical Health

what is physical health  is one of the eight interconnected components of total health and wellness. physical health refers to the state of your physical body and how well your physical body is operating due to the interconnected nature of health. Physical health powerfully influences and impacts the other components of health.

For example: when you don't sleep well or get enough hours of sleep your ability to function at work deteriorates thus influencing your occupational well-being.

another example is the connection between mental and emotional health how I feel about my physical body greatly impacts my self-esteem and self-confidence, which can lead to low mental health like each of the elements of health. 

It is vitally important that you create physically healthy habits include living an active lifestyle, this goes beyond working out on a regular basis and connects to being active whenever possible for example taking the stairs instead of the elevator eating and drinking a well-balanced diet regular physical fitness and intentional hygiene practices and disease prevention overall strengthening physical health is vital to well-being as the state of our physical body lays the foundation for many aspects of well-being now it's time for you to intentionally build physical health by taking this information and creating healthy habits in your own life.

Today, I want to talk a little bit more about mental health and more specifically how mental health can impact physical health. Mental health is always important but especially now while our normal lives have been significantly disrupted due to the covid- 19 pandemic. 

It's important to focus on mental health as well, as our physical health in order to stay healthy and well did you know that mental health and physical health are related. They definitely are according to the canadian mental health association poor mental health is a risk factor for chronic physical conditions.

Some of these conditions include diabetes, heart disease and chronic pain as well as respiratory conditions like cL coped chronic bronchitis and asthma people with chronic physical conditions are also at risk for developing poor mental health as well stress and anxiety can cause mental and emotional distress and can also lead to physical health issues as well;

Chronic Stress

for example stress and stress hormones like cortisol can have an impact on blood sugar, cortisol the stress hormone can make blood sugar levels rise or fall while unpredictable blood sugar changes aren't normally a huge issue for most people. This can definitely have a huge impact on the health and lives of people living with diabetes according to the mayo clinic mental health issues that lead to increased stress and anxiety can also cause temporary blood pressure spikes.

Currently, scientists don't think that these temporary stressful moments can cause chronic issues like high blood pressure which is also known as hypertension but stress can certainly have impacts on behavior that can lead to higher blood pressure and heart disease.

For example chronic stress can lead to behaviors like overeating unhealthy foods excessive drinking and smoking all of which are behaviors that can be linked to heart disease; luckily the connection between mental health and physical health seems to go both ways.

for example if you're feeling stressed or anxious and you are worried that your blood sugar levels are going to rise or fall unpredictably or if you are concerned about your heart health. There are some physical activities that you can do to improve the state of your mental health and help to relieve some of your stress getting outside and going for a walk physically moving your body can help to lower your stress levels stopping and focusing on your breathing for a few minutes can also help you to relax. Yoga and Meditation have also been shown to lower blood pressure and help with stress. 

Making sure you're getting enough sleep is also important for your mental and physical health as a teaser for the next special events check out the website headspace.com or msu extension's mindfulness for better living website for a few guided meditations and breathing exercises that can help you relax and even improve your sleep.

Better improvement of Mental Health:

Today, I challenge you to do something to better your mental health whether it be getting outside and going for a walk. If you are able to communicating with a friend or a relative taking a five-minute break from your day to simply be still and quiet your mind or practice yoga meditation or breathing exercises.

Let's all try to improve our mental health. I hope you learned something new about the relationship between mental health and physical health.

Make sure to tune in next time for an overview of the mental health resources in washington county.

Determinants of health - a practice approach:

Health, it's the state of complete physical mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease or infirmity and good health is something we strive to achieve not just individually but also as a community but if we look around us our family, friends, and others we know that health is very variable for example in 2020 the life expectancy of a child born in Sierra Leone was 53 years while in Australia. It was 83 years but even within Australia the life expectancy of indigenous people is about 10 years lower than that of non-indigenous people and even within a specific group of people health can change based on a person's income level, of education or occupation. So, why is health so variable to answer that question; we must understand the factors that influence health factors that influence a person's health are called Determinants of Health.

These include who they are such as age sex and genetic makeup and what they do as in health behaviors such as smoking physical activity alcohol use and diet health is also largely influenced by the conditions in which people are born grow live work and age collectively called the Social Determinants of Health.

The Social Determinants of Health are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources and also an international, national, and local level. These can lead to health inequities which is the difference in health between different groups of people that is unfair and avoidable.

Let's take a look at the Social Determinants of Health using a framework developed by the World Health Organization, according to this framework there are two broad groups of health determinants structural and intermediary.

Structural Determinants are the socio-economic and political context that people live in it, includes governance economic social and public policies and also the social and culture values placed on health issues these factors can lead to the unequal distribution of material and monetary resources which can shape a person's Socio-Economic position. Socio-Economic position is characterized by education occupation, income, gender race or ethnicity and social class the structural determinants of health operate through a set of intermediary determinants that impact a person's exposure, vulnerability and outcomes to factors affecting their health. These include material circumstances such as the quality of housing the financial means to buy healthy food clothing or other requirements for healthy living and work environments psychosocial factors like stressful living circumstances relationships and social support behavioral and biological factors in addition to these health systems determine the type of health care the quality of it and how easily accessible it is bridging the structural and intermediary determinants our social cohesion and social capital the links between all these determinants are not always linear but can be complex interdependent and interact in many different ways to influence health.

 For example or income can limit opportunities for achieving good health and conversely poor health can limit opportunities for people to participate in the workforce and remember these determinants can act across the course

of a person's life.

So, the next time you think about a health issue consider not only who they are and what they do but also the conditions in which they are born grow live work and age because if we understand and act on them. we can

build a healthier world for everyone.

do comments and suggestions, if you want to share experience to help others for their healthy lives.

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