268: How to Nourish Your Physical Self to Boost Your Mental Health
Last Updated on August 29, 2024 by Alicia Michelle
What if I told you that one of the best ways to boost your mental health has nothing to do with your mind? Our physical well-being is often overlooked when we are focusing on self-care for mental health but it can be the key to making a drastic change in our mental well-being!
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
- [00:39] Your Body Is a Holy Temple That Affects Your Emotional and Spiritual Health
- [04:40] Your Body Was Handmade By God
- [06:58] How Does Your Physical Well-Being Personally Affect Your Emotions?
- [10:40] How Much Food, Water, Exercise, and Sleep Do You Really Need?
- [12:40] What Keeps You From Making Decisions to Support Your Physical and Emotional Health?
- [15:10] You Are Bigger Than The Obstacles in Your Life
[00:39] Your Body Is a Holy Temple That Affects Your Emotional and Spiritual Health
We talk a lot about growing spiritually and working on our thoughts but our physical well-being can also impact our mental health. Taking care of our physical body can lower our stress, help us find more joy, improve our attitude, boost our mental health, and so much more. If you have ever made major changes in this area of your life, you will know the dramatic shifts I am talking about.
We have recently been talking about finding joy and what we are responsible for in terms of it. I feel like we often mystify this concept of joy and we think it is supposed to drop down from heaven. We are constantly pursuing this “holy grail” of joy when in reality it is something that only God can provide.
We are responsible for putting ourselves in a place to be able to receive it and that is why I created a free training that helps us understand this. If we can understand what we are responsible for, then we can do practical things to work towards it. To learn more about this concept, download the training here: 10 Habits and Mindsets to Cultivate Extraordinary Joy.
As you know, we are a physical being with a mind and soul. Each of these parts work together and if one is not doing well, the other parts are not going to be 100% effective. Taking care of your physical health improves your mental health. I want to remind you to care for your body as a holy temple. If we have a holy respect for how we are made, we are going to take care of our bodies differently.
[04:40] Your Body Was Handmade By God
Each of our bodies has been handmade by God. Most of us have similar organs but there are little differences among us that show up and remind us that our bodies are intricately made by Him – even in ways that science cannot fully explain.
When my youngest son was a year and a half he broke his leg. We took him to the children's hospital and they did general bloodwork on him. We ended up being at the hospital for four days because they found some markers in his blood that had the potential to be cancerous. They ran additional tests and I will never forget what the oncologist told us. She said, “All I can say is yes, these markers are present. But there is no indication whatsoever that your son has cancer in this way. Your son is just uniquely made.” Those were her exact words and when I heard that it was a great reminder that we all have the same parts, but they are just slightly different. It is all part of the unique fingerprint that God has given each one of us.
[06:58] How Does Your Physical Well-Being Personally Affect Your Emotions?
Our body is doing things all day long to keep us alive. Even the smartest doctors and scientists in the world do not fully understand how our body works. When certain functions in our bodies are diminished or changed, this can have a great impact on our emotions. Our ability to stay calm and be peaceful is affected by our circumstances but it is also affected by our biorhythms, blood sugar level, changing hormones, the amount of sleep we get, how much water we drink, or the exercise that we have or have not done in the last few days.
If we can start by looking at each of those categories one by one, our lives can dramatically change. Let’s take blood sugar for example – if we look at how we can maintain it throughout the day, we will be surprised by how much more even our emotions can be. This was a game-changer for me because once I started keeping this steady I had a lot less emotional outbursts.
There are so many ways that we can not honor our bodies and not take care of ourselves. None of us are perfect but we need to get a baseline for what it feels like to be normal and strive for that. How would eight hours of sleep a night impact you? What if you drank enough water for the day? If we start getting ourselves into these states and have steady emotions, this will positively impact our quality of life.
[10:40] How Much Food, Water, Exercise, and Sleep Do You Really Need?
I encourage you to begin to notice what is your normal baseline in these areas:
– Food
– Water
– Exercise
– Sleep
Where is the point where you start to feel good and where do you start to feel “off” emotionally? For me, I have an issue with gluten. I do not have celiac disease but there is a threshold in my body and I can feel when I have had too much gluten. I have brain fog, my attitude changes, I feel sluggish, and I start to get more emotional. When this happens, I look at what I have been eating and can start to make connections.
When we figure out our baseline, we can learn to live by making better choices that help our bodies and minds. Having a diet that is 90-95 percent gluten-free is doable and I walk the line to make sure it does not affect my emotions. I encourage you to figure this out in each of those areas to improve your mental well-being.
[12:40] What Keeps You From Making Decisions to Support Your Physical and Emotional Health?
I also want you to notice the joy-stealers that keep you from making a change. What is the thing that is keeping you from being able to live the way you want in these different areas? Oftentimes, one of the biggest things getting in the way is that we do not have boundaries. We allow ourselves to stay up late or drink and eat whatever we want because we are not paying attention. If we begin to pay attention and ask ourselves “If I go to bed earlier, how does that affect my attitude?” then we can see what the joy stealers are.
Noticing how our cravings and temptations chip away at our desires is impactful. I have met so many women (and have been guilty too!) who have given in to all of their temptations. They feel like they need their chocolate or Starbucks but we have to ask ourselves “Who is controlling me?” If it is harmless, that is fine, but if it is a craving that is emotionally derailing you, you need to make a change.
Some of us are super distracted and do not pay attention to what goes on in our bodies or minds. The first step you can take today is learning to pay attention to those things and begin to develop the habits of discipline, self-control, and putting structure around your eating habits, sleeping habits, and time.
[15:10] You Are Bigger Than The Obstacles in Your Life
This conversation is not meant to bring more guilt into your life, it is a reminder to see these things as check engine lights. When you have a check engine light on in your car, it is a signal that something is going on. You can make a change and there is room for a change in your life – it is a conviction, not a condemnation. God is not going to force us into anything but if you are continually frustrated and tired of feeling up and down in your emotions – this is a good place to start. Many of us just need to go back to the basics to greatly improve our lives. We may be able to make a dramatic difference just by drinking more water or getting more sleep. You have to decide that you are bigger and stronger than these things, address them one by one, and walk through them with courage asking for God's help. We are bigger than our cravings and the obstacles that we have in our lives.
Every time we have a small win, we gain confidence and self-assurance about who we want to be and how we want to show up. If you think about people who have lost hundreds of pounds, one of the things you will notice about them is that they have gained confidence. They had the perseverance to make these changes and understand what it is like to make everyday decisions that dramatically affect your life. These lifestyle changes in our physical body can have a big impact on our mental health. I encourage you to start with this training: 10 Habits and Mindsets to Cultivate Extraordinary Joy and DM on Instagram @aliciamichellecoach to let me know your thoughts!
RESOURCES:
Godly joy is a fruit of the spirit, but our physical, mental, and spiritual states (things we’re in charge of) play a huge role in our ability to receive godly joy. Let me show you 10 practical ways to tap into everyday Christ-centered joy in my new free video training: 10 Habits and Mindsets to Cultivate Extraordinary Joy. Download it now!
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