Mindful Transformations: Why Does Every Aspect of Health Start With The Mind?
Hi, my name is Megan. I work at Buzz Studios in Cambridgeshire and have recently been promoted to Junior Editor for What’s The Buzz Magazine. I am 19 years old and have been working alongside beauty brands for the past two years, marketing them and learning far more than I expected. This week, I’m going to be talking about how a healthy life begins with a healthy mind.
They say that life is simply a sum of an individuals’ actions, and when we think about it, all of our actions have been consciously decided with a view to making these changes as easy, rewarding, and pleasurable as possible. Deep down, we all want a healthy, smooth, and energetic life, filled with amazing memories and great people.
When we do things that fill us with happy hormones and positive energy, you find that life flows much better. This is significantly impacted by your day-to-day-routine, including being with your loved ones, tackling your workload, plus how you feel about yourself physically and mentally. By “things”, there are a variety of factors and elements of life that you can adjust to, to make you feel healthier.
But… this is a different kind of message. I’m looking to encourage you to balance your life’s pleasures with your challenges to encourage these healthy energy levels you need to feel better. This refers to things like the occasional cheat day after a successful diet or spending time meditating and relaxing after a stressful week at work etc. You couldn’t possibly carry out something challenging unless there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s all about motivation.
Well, allow me to be all of the motivation you need (or this article, rather). This article is intended to help readers understand the most important aspects of health, how you can slowly and super easily implement it into your daily routine, and how it all begins with your mind.
A familiar voice’s opinion…
For the last two years in my role at Buzz Studios, I’ve had the great opportunity to work with super renowned, global-branded, Holistic Beauty Therapists, Bharti Vyas and her team. Arguably one of the first to adapt “Beauty on the outside begins within” into the world of western skincare and her holistic treatments, Bharti Vyas has remained a well-known pioneer in the understanding of how inner health and wellbeing has on our outer glow.
Producing this article, I thought I’d take advantage of this connection and ask Bharti and her daughter, Priti Vyas (who also works at the salon on Chiltern Street in Marylebone) for their professional input on the interrelation between health and beauty.
When asking why mental health is important when it comes to appearance and confidence, Bharti Vyas said: “Mental health is very important as the chemical connection from the brain has an effect on the working of organs and systems of the body for wellbeing. To a certain degree, self-discipline in wellbeing habits is fundamental - sleep, food, and exercise abuse the effects of well being.”
Priti Vyas added: “Mental health is just as important (if not more than) physical health. The way you think has an effect on your whole body. If you feel stressed, unable to cope, ill, or tired your thoughts tend to be negative and drain you even more. Confidence is a thought process and if you tell yourself you look and feel good, eventually your behaviour will reflect and you will become that person. Here at Bharti Vyas, we are firm believers in meditation and offer cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy to help clients feel as good as they look. Positive thoughts pass positive vibes…”
1 Skincare
It sounds rather cliche, but maintaining a consistent daily and nightly routine with the right skincare products is super healthy and mind-boosting. Seeing a difference in your skin makes you feel good, boosting your self-esteem and making you feel much more confident to be natural, go out and thrive!
From my own personal experience, when I was in school I used to just pick and choose the first thing that said ‘Cleanser”, ‘Toner’ and ‘Moisturiser’, scrub them on my face and then call it a day. This was until I realised ingredients were a vital attribute to achieving healthy, clear skin, and the ingredients in my routine were only making my skin worst. That’s why, I did my research and a few months later finally had my perfect skincare routine bespoke to me, and my confidence with my skin has thrived since.
A bad skin day can have a serious impact on a woman’s self-esteem, even when it’s totally natural and something we can’t help with. As people, we are programmed to focus on the face and their expressions when in conversation - therefore meaning the skin is something that gets noticed. Other people’s opinions and expressions can be worrying to those suffering from a breakout or blemished skin. But that’s where skincare comes in; it’s a complete matter of self-care which has proven to improve mental health once successful.
2 The Medicine of Energy
Over the decades, treatments that feature complementary medicines have swiftly become well-known and reliable to the public. Holistic therapies such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbalism, reiki, and massages have been accepted as effective methods of healing.
One of my favourite things about energy psychology and these medicinal treatments is they are completely bespoke to solve your personal problem - whether it’s purely emotional with stress, exhaustion, and anxiety, or even a physical condition such as eczema or psoriasis, alternative medicine is trusted and center stage in methods of therapy.
As a result of this, when these therapies are effective to our person, they do much more than merely treat our physical and emotional well-being. Instead, they are thought to stimulate a healing experience that goes far beyond the treating of symptoms. You feel happier, lighter, more relaxed because your emotional and physical levels are balanced and calmer than they have ever felt. The medicine of energy is unique, and there isn’t possibly anything that comes close to its level of rejuvenation.
3 A Nutritional Diet
Another cliche, I know, but the quality and quantity of the food and liquid we consume are unavoidably important when it comes to our healthy mind. The nutrients and energy we ingest will definitely have an impact on our physical and mental health e.g. protein for lean muscle, fruit, and vegetables for vitamin intake.
As well as providing fuel for our bodies, eating the food we love is genuinely one of the most favourite and enjoyable experiences of the day for some. From texture to smell, eating is highly pleasuring, especially when it’s for a special occasion or in the company of people we love.
However, while these pleasures encourage us to eat healthily and regularly, it also makes us comfortable to get into a habit of snacking on those bad food types. Instead, personal events and experiences can sometimes be life-enhancing, so you may find yourself reaching for the chocolate bars or the takeaway menus in search of comfort. Of course, this can make people feel even more guilty, and this is where the cycle of unhealthy eating begins.
As much as we all love eating bad from time to time, forming a habit of consistently eating terribly can have a serious impact on your mental health. Once you gain an understanding of how food can affect your emotional, physical, and mental well-being, it will hopefully encourage you to organise and prioritise your eating habits and food intake. I promise you will feel much better and more comfortable eating things you love, healthily.
Don’t get me wrong, I love tucking into a McDonalds or cheesecake on a Friday night. So this definitely isn’t to say you can’t indulge in a delicious, sugary snack from time-to-time. The occasional unhealthy treat is proven to boost energy levels and happiness too, anyway!
4 Activity
There definitely can’t be many of us left who aren’t regularly active or carry out an athletic hobby a few times a week. Everyone knows how important movement and fitness are for the human body. There are all-around benefits for being physically fit; including reducing your risk of a heart attack and diabetes, managing your weight, lowering your blood cholesterol, plus having stronger bones and muscle.
In addition to this, keeping active and regular exercise can have a profoundly positive impact on your state of mind - especially if you suffer from conditions such as anxiety, depression, or ADHD. It makes an overall difference in our mood and slowly improves our motivation levels because we sleep better, relieve stress, and our memory is improved.
In the last year, I have found that maintaining a consistent schedule and relationship with gym and cardio has improved my confidence and energy levels a lot.
5 Beauty
Everyone has their own bespoke beauty routine. From regular sleep and massage treatments to dolling up for a night in the town, I cannot express enough to essence just how important keeping up with beauty regimes, purchasing beauty products, and seeing the results of a routine can be on your mental health, especially during 2020.
If the worldwide COVID-19 quarantine has taught us anything, it’s highlighted for most of us how getting your hair done or even putting on a little lipgloss can make a difference on a disappointing day. Beyond that, as long as you feel like you look good, your beauty routine can be a huge mental health booster.
For us girls especially, there’s something that feels super important and organised about having a routine throughout the day, especially when it has multiple benefits on confidence and appearance. We get a sense of accomplishment and a surge of endorphins when we take care of ourselves and notice a difference. So go ahead and buy the products, book a massage, and pop on a face mask!