Mental Health and Wellness; positive mental health allows people to realize their full potential, cope with the stresses of life, work productively, and make meaningful contributions to their communities. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. - Excerpted from MentalHealth.gov
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
When you take care of your body, you likely strive to eat right, stay active, and take care to look your best. Your mental health needs similar care. In fact, to be healthy overall, you need to take care of both your body and mind - the two are closely connected. If you neglect caring for one, the other will suffer. Learn more...
The Mind-Body Connection
Many of us frequently experience the connection between our state of mind and our physical health. Often, that comes in the form of mental stress impacting how we feel. Learn more...
Anger Cues and Control Strategies
In addition to becoming aware of anger, individuals need to develop strategies to effectively manage it. These strategies can be used to stop the escalation of anger before loss of control results in negative consequences. An effective set of strategies for controlling anger should include both immediate and preventive strategies. Learn more...
Answers to Common Questions about Counseling
Throughout life, there are times when help is needed to address problems and issues that cause emotional distress or make us feel overwhelmed. When experiencing these types of difficulties, individuals may benefit from the assistance of an experienced, trained professional. Learn more...
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is a manner of behaving that communicates respect for others as well as commands respect for yourself. Learn more...
Assessing Young Children’s Social Competence
Research suggests that a child's long-term social and emotional adaptation, academic and cognitive development, and citizenship are enhanced by frequent opportunities to strengthen social competence during childhood. Learn more...
Bone Health
Both men and women lose bone as they grow older. But women need to give bone health their full attention because they have smaller bones than men and they lose bone faster than men. Over time bone loss can lead to osteoporosis, which makes your bones weak and more likely to break. Learn more...
Fitness Fundamentals
The decision to carry out a physical fitness program cannot be taken lightly. It requires a lifelong commitment of time and effort. Exercise must become one of those things that you do without question, like bathing and brushing your teeth. Unless you are convinced of the benefits of fitness and the risks of unfitness, you will not succeed. Learn more...
Healthier Eating
Most Americans consume too many calories and not enough nutrients, according to the latest revision to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The typical American diet is low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and high in saturated fat, salt, and sugar. As a result, more Americans than ever are overweight, obese, and at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers. Learn more...
Kicking Your Old Habits
A lot of people develop simple but annoying habits that they find very hard to break: nail biting, hair pulling, skin picking, knuckle cracking, and a host of other disturbing behaviors. Regardless of the nature of the habits, the technique of habit reversal usually works very well in breaking them. Learn more...
Optimism and Health
Some studies have revealed that individuals with an optimistic perspective on life generally have a more positive sense of their own well being, are less likely to experience anxiety, are less prone to depression, and live longer and healthier lives. Learn more...
Physical Activity Tips
With all the things that you have to do each day, finding the time and motivation to get moving can be challenging. This article contains some suggestions for ways to get started with a physical activity program. Learn more...
Positive Thinking: Do You Know Your Own Mind
By understanding the nature of your thoughts, especially your negative thoughts, you may understand why you are feeling hopeless and helpless. Learn more...
Stress Matters
Not all stress is bad. Just enough stress keeps you focused and helps you to perform your best, such as the stress you might feel before speaking in front of a group of people. It also can prompt you to change a situation for the better, such as leaving a dead-end job. But any stress can affect your health. Learn more...
Take Five Small Steps To Prevent Diabetes
The key to diabetes prevention is taking small steps toward living a healthier life, according to the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). Everyone can benefit from the rewards of avoiding diabetes and its serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, or amputation of a foot or leg. Learn more...
The Worry Trap: An Interview with Chad LeJeune, PhD
While worrying about someone or something may indicate that we care, worrying and caring are not the same thing. Worriers often confuse the two. Learn more...
Top 10 Sleep Myths
This lack of sleep may not make you noticeably sleepy during the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and it can compromise your cardiovascular health and energy balance as well as the ability to fight infections, particularly if lack of sleep continues. Learn more...
You’re Never Too Old To Live Healthy
Adopting healthy behaviors - even later in life - can help prevent, delay, and control disease. In fact, research has shown that a healthy lifestyle matters more than genes in helping to avoid poor health as individuals age. Learn more...
When the Going Gets Tough, Do You Crave Comfort Foods?
Stress can trigger emotional eating cravings that have nothing to do with hunger. When the going gets tough, you may tend to crave comfort foods that you remember fondly from your youth. Learn more...
Why is There a Compelling Need for Cultural Competence?
The make-up of the American population is changing as a result of immigration patterns and significant increases among racially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse populations already residing in the United States. Health care organizations and programs, and federal, state and local governments must implement systemic change in order to meet the health needs of this diverse population. Learn more...