My Favorite Mental Health Website

http://www.psychologytoday.com/
A great website with many things on any possible mental illnesses.  There are also general articles about psychology.  I recommend you go check them out.

Just returned from the gym

Casual post.  Just returned from the gym.  Not very in-shape but I'm getting there.  Working out helps keep you happy, remember that.  Endorphin release equals stress relief.

Meditation and Mental Health

Meditation is one of the best ways to naturally relieve stress.  While stress is important in life, too much of it is very detrimental to ones overall health.  There are many different forms of meditation.  For this post, I will only be covering one.
Breathing meditation is a very easy form of meditation.  The main idea here is to pay attention to your breathing so you can tune out anything else.  Focusing inwards is an important part of meditation.  Note that this can actually cause more anxiety if you are not used to doing it.  With practice, one can utilize breathing meditation very effectively to treat anxiety and excessive stress.

How many people are mentally ill?

Many people think mental illness is strange and uncommon.  "World wide more than one in three people in most countries report sufficient criteria for at least one at some point in their life.^[1] In the United States 46% qualifies for a mental illness at some point"- Wikipedia.  Mental illness is indeed very common.  If you feel like you are alone on this, you are wrong.  You are not alone.

The Vicious Cycle

There is a vicious cycle that usually follows depression.  This cycle manifests itself in many ways, so we shall refer to it in this post as "negative energy".  Let's say for example that you forget to do your homework.  This may cause you stress and leaves you feeling angry or sad (a little bit, not too much hopefully).  These emotions, if dealt with negatively, (which is common in depression because the emotions are so much stronger) will cause you to mess up in other activities such as relationships, work, or more missing homework.  These negative actions lead to more negative energy which leads you to more negative actions.  Unfortunately this is an unavoidable part of life, even for people who are not diagnosed with a mental illness.  The positive side is that there are also positive cycles.  If you finish your homework and your teacher compliments you on your work, you may feel better and more motivated to do it in the future.  The trick is to strengthen the positive cycle which causes the negative one to diminish.

Exercise and Depression

Exercise and depression are total counters to each other.  Depression decreases motivation which causes one to not exercise as much.  On the other hand, physical exercise helps with depression.  It increases blood flow to the brain and releases endorphins.  This is a very effective way of managing your stress.  Stress is a leading cause of depression.  While a balanced amount of stress is healthy, too much can lead to serious health problems including heart disease and mental illness.  Cardio work-outs are among the best types of exercise for reducing stress.  Jogging and yoga are probably the most desired choices for this, although there are many other forms of exercise that do this.

Mental Health on a Personal Level

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I suffer from mental illness myself so I know much about it from a first hand experience.  Treatment for mental illness is entirely possible.  I have gotten out of a deep hole with the right medication and social help.  I hope this blog inspires you in some way to help you or someone else deal with their mental illness.