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Emotional well-being is an important part of your health. McFarland Clinic Adult Medicine Physician Shauna Basener, DO has tips about the importance of emotional wellbeing, its effect on your health and how to improve it.
Emotional well-being is the ability to manage one’s feelings of anxiety, depression and stress.
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“It is normal to have negative emotions throughout the day and important to be able to identify and manage our feelings about stressful and negative situations,” Dr. Basener said.
One strategy to measure your well-being is to evaluate how often you feel overwhelmed by negative emotions. You may feel stuck, frustrated or fatigued. You may be more reactive when bad things happen. Becoming angry and overwhelmed by negative thoughts can make you unable to manage healthy relationships.
Emotional well-being causes excess levels of cortisol, the stress hormone in the body. Cortisol can begin to interfere with sleep, which makes it harder for the body to heal after a long day.
Longer-term issues with emotional well-being can also cause your health to deteriorate. “A person might be more forgetful and be inconsistent with their health and well-being needs like taking medications every day, exercising, and eating healthy food,” Dr. Basener said.
“Working with a doctor, a therapist, religious counselor, and online resources are all great ways to get guidance and coaching on improving emotional well-being,” Dr. Basener said. Here are more ways to improve your emotional well-being:
