How does mental health affect health?

Answer 1

mental health is when your mind is stable. for example if you get Arthritis, the cartilage between your joints wears away, you get painful sensations when you try to write and stuff. that is called being physically unhealthy, same with your brain, if you get a disabling mental disease, like alzhiemer's, then that's called being mentally unhealthy.

Mental health implies the absence of mental illness. Mental illness usually refers to evidence of severe emotional distress (e.g., chronic anxiety disorders or affective disorders like major depressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder), significant cognitive dysfunction (e.g., in psychoses or dementias), and socially disruptive behaviors (e.g., personality disorders or conduct disorders).

The stress of anxiety and anger takes a physical toll on the body and promotes threats to physical health (e.g., high blood pressure accompanying physiological arousal increases the risk of cardiovascular disease). The apathy and inactivity that are hallmarks of depression can lead to neglect of health promoting habits (e.g., seeking immediate gratification through tasty foods leads to obesity, which in turn incurs many known risks to physical health). Cognitive dysfunction may lead to physically dangerous behaviors (e.g., wandering in the cold to die of hypothermia). Some mental illnesses can themselves be fatal (e.g., anorexia or suicidal depression).

Many attempts to self-medicate mental illness (as with alcohol, street drugs, and tobacco) lead to significant deterioration of physical health.

Conservative estimates from replicated studies in medical school settings suggest that greater than 50% of all visits to health professionals for somatic complaints are directly related to psychological factors.

In these and many other ways, mental health has a direct bearing on physical health.