Physical health is just as important as mental health. In fact, the two are related. Nutrition and exercise feed the mind, metaphorically like the gas you pump into your car. If you fill your body with diesel and your tank runs on 87, your body and mind are poisoned from the inside out. Your body, like your car, cannot run with the wrong fuel. The ingredients needed to encourage your “car” to move are the healthy choices you make in your diet, and the exercise that fills your mind with endorphins, which stimulate happiness.
Not everyone likes to eat healthy food. Unfortunately, vegetables taste so much worse than chocolate. Why do all the “wrong” foods taste so good, and why is it so difficult to make it to the gym five days a week? A thirty minute workout video at home feels like a chore!
You have to get off the couch and make yourself go for a walk, at least. My husband and I walk about three miles every day and it has become part of our routine. It gives us a chance to talk while we exercise so the time goes by more quickly. Before we know it, we are home again! I will admit, we do not eat as healthily as we should. I would feel like a hypocrite asking you to eat vegetables and fruit, because we eat pizza for dinner a lot. We have cut back on a lot of the sugary food we used to eat and it has had a great impact on our bodies and our minds. Baby steps. Nobody is asking for cold turkey.
Sleep is of utmost importance, especially with cases of mental illness such as bipolar disorder. Trust me, staying up all night being productive and feeling like sleep is a waste of time is exhilarating. It comes back to bite you. I am certain, from personal experience, that we all need sleep in order to have a clear mind and a functioning body. Sleep is your friend. Don’t neglect her.
When you take care of your body, you are taking care of your mind. Remember to give yourself the right fuel.
—SJB