Supporting Our Mental Health as a Function of Our Overall Health

As we have mentioned before, mental health conditions are spectrum conditions. This means that they are pathologic manifestations of normal human experience. For example it is normal for humans to feel low in certain situations - this is not a mental health condition. However when that lowness starts to impact our functioning and quality of life long term and pathologically this is when it becomes a diagnosable mental health condition.

When we are treating spectrum disorders this means that we can’t take away our normal emotions. We can’t take away the sensation of lowness forever but we do want to make it manageable and appropriate given a situation. In this way we aren’t necessarily “curing” our mental health but we are treating it through different means so that we can support each person in living the life that they want to.

One of the most important things that we can do to support and treat our mental health is to decrease factors that exacerbate obstacles and factors that worsen our mental health. These factors exist in all people and will impact each person’s nervous system. In diagnosed mental health they are often forgotten about or not assessed for. This means that small things that are going on in our body can actually worsen mental health disorders. When we look at our body as a whole we can have huge impacts on making our mental health more manageable on a day to day while we treat other underlying factors.

Factors that impacts mental health and nervous system

Blood sugar

Each time our blood sugar drops or spikes it will impact our nervous system. Blood sugar spikes and falls can cause extreme anxiety or mood changes which can actually feel like a panic attack or depressive episode. In this case the exacerbation of our symptoms is from something physical happening in our body instead of just our perceived experienced mentally. If we can keep our blood sugar stable by giving our body nutrients throughout the day or by treating any blood sugar imbalances, this can actually decrease anxiety and mood changes.

Nutrient Deficiencies

Our body uses nutrients in order to run all of the biochemical reactions in our body. These reactions control how well each of the systems in our body are able to function. This includes our nervous system which impacts our mental health. If we are low in any nutrients this means that these reactions are not going to run properly - this can make it much harder for our brains to regulate our emotions or keep us in a balanced state. In this way different nutrient deficiencies can actually worsen our mental health. It is always important to assess our nutrients such as iron, B12 and vitamin D when we are treating our mental health.

Hormonal Imbalances

In women and people with ovaries, our hormones do so much more than regulate our reproductive system. They also act in all other systems of our body to help us feel good. Both of our hormones estrogen and progesterone interact with our nervous system to try and help us feel good. If there are imbalances in these hormones it can actually decrease calming impacts on our nervous system resulting in increased irritability, sadness and anxiety. Having hormones assessed by someone who is versed in how they impact our nervous system can help to stabilize our emotions especially leading up to our periods or during hormonal transitions.

Circadian Rhythm

Our circadian rhythm is our sleep wake cycle. It tells us when we are supposed to be awake and when we are supposed to be asleep. When our circadian rhythm is working well it helps regulate our mood and energy so that we are sleeping at night and awake and productive during the day. When our circadian rhythm is not in balance it can cause confusion in our body so that our nervous system doesn’t know how it is supposed to be regulating our moods and helping us to feel good.

Stress Hormones

Cortisol is also know as our stress hormone. It has a lot of impacts on the body. One of the most important ones is to help us survive danger. Our cortisol will increase any time our body suspects danger. The problem is we only have one biological pathway that goes up when we feel nervous, scared, etc. This means that whether we are in a fight with a partner, studying for a test, doing a presentation, going out on a date, sleep deprived, starving, running a marathon, and so on, causes our bodies to believe we are in danger. Eventually being in this state long term can have major impacts on the functioning of our nervous system and can lead to symptoms such as increased anxiety, decreased resilience, and lower mood.

A Final Word

These are only a few of the physical processes that can impact our mental health and ability to cope. All of the systems of our body are meant to work together to keep us functioning well and feeling good. When we are not feeling good we need to make sure that we look at all of the reasons why we are not instead of just focusing on our nervous system itself. As Naturopathic Doctors this is something that we look to assess each and every time someone comes into our office.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that these things don’t CAUSE mental health conditions. They are only one part of our experience of our mental health. We cannot feel better mentally unless we address ALL factors that contribute to it whether they are the original cause or not.

If you would like to learn more about how Naturopathic Medicine can help support your mental and overall health, you can book a consultation with me!