What is emotional health?.. and how to improve and maintain it

What is emotional health

Emotional health is a person’s ability to accept and manage feelings through challenge and change, an emotionally healthy person can allow their emotions to be balancing, the daily hassles of everyday life provide opportunities to practice responses, rather than reactions to allow emotional health to flourish, and Overall health includes the physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual aspects, and when they are in balance and alignment, humans thrive, and each of these areas of life will impact others.

Emotional health includes both emotional intelligence and emotional regulation. When the subjective experience of emotions has been appropriate for a prolonged period, emotional health is thought to be present. The positive impact will be evident in normal daily activities. The building of emotional well-being lies in the broader understanding of mental health. A lack of feelings does not mean emotional health. Also, the lack of mental illness does not mean mental health, and a person who suppresses feelings, especially from childhood, may not be as healthy emotionally as someone who is weak enough to express his feelings.

Daily life presents a continuous series of fluctuations, like the waves of the sea, our days come with highs and lows, and an emotionally healthy individual can ride the waves of feelings without being affected by a big emotionally turbulent wave, and it is important to take into account the differences in material wealth and individual life circumstances, and having the financial means to manage Emotions more efficiently makes emotional well-being more accessible, and environmental factors influence the ability to express feelings.

Emotional distress leaves people vulnerable to physical illness Some studies have shown that diseases such as cardiovascular disease and immune system suppression can be linked to emotional distress Studies of emotional distress and underlying neural circuits suggest a relationship with drug use and other dysfunctional behaviors There is potential emotional distress It's around every corner, and someone who practices a healthy emotional lifestyle will be better able to handle the big waves. When they pile up, like a physically healthy lifestyle, the benefits are long-term and plentiful.

How to improve and maintain emotional health 

• Mindfulness : The practice of mindfulness is a way to improve emotional health, and is offered in a variety of activities. The benefits of mindfulness are multiple, providing mindful improvements in mindfulness practices, and fuel for resilience.
• Social Connections : Nurturing social connections is another area used to improve and maintain emotional health, with a landmark study finding that lack of social connection has a greater impact on your health than smoking or obesity.
• Social Connection : Social contact is a positive feedback loop for well-being, manifested in social, emotional and psychological impact. You do not need a huge number of friends, but you do need a few reliable and supportive friends to reap the most benefit.
• Expressing feelings : Expressing your feelings appropriately is another way to improve emotional health. Some people enjoy journaling, and others enjoy chatting with friends or loved ones.
• Putting words to feelings : The practice of putting words to feelings that flow in and out of our lives helps us release those feelings, and there are many ways to express feelings creatively.
• Improved self-awareness : It will also improve emotional health. Reflecting on existing negative expression patterns is a great place to start. This introspection can lead to an improvement in emotional regulation and emotional intelligence.
• Adding stress management measures is another way to improve emotional health, and through effective time management, physical exercise, and acceptance that there are things we cannot control, we can effectively reduce our stress levels.

Activities to improve emotional health 

To move toward a prosperous life, Barbara Fredrickson encourages people to raise their positivity ratios through the "expand and build" theory. The ratio of three positive feelings to every negative emotion takes effort, and among the enjoyable and beneficial activities suggested in her book “Positivity” are:

•  Positivity Portfolio : A positivity profile is a collection of the following positive emotions: Joy, Gratitude, Serenity, Caring, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration, Awe, and Love. Through a series of questions, you can walk through these positive emotions and then collect “artifacts” to develop those feelings, which increases resilience. Emotions vary in intensity and duration, and increasing self-awareness of emotions helps improve emotional health.
• Emotion Meter : It can help increase vocabulary and raise emotional levels and emotional intelligence. Self-mastery requires us to overcome the brain's natural tendency to justify our reactions to emotional stimuli. This tool helps us interact with feelings and improve the ability to communicate.
• Meditation Activity for Building Emotional Awareness :  Allowing space to explore feelings is a powerfully transformative activity, and any form of meditation is likely to be beneficial.

There are many ways to reduce stress. The following activities are simple changes that can be made in your daily life to reduce stress and the harmful reactions to that stress:

• Prioritize physical exercises
• Eat a well-balanced diet
• Improve sleep quality
• Practice deep breathing
• Increased chances for flow situations
• Find social contact to improve your emotional health Connect with people who have made a difference in your life Send them a note or call them if it is impossible to meet them in person Cultivate your friendships and social connections with kindness and love.

Methods for measuring emotional health 

Emotional health can be measured through the use of useful questionnaires, tests and measures, and these include:

• The DERS test is a test used to measure how someone regulates emotions. It has several versions and has been used in experimental studies. It is used to measure a person's self-reported measures of subjective emotional ability.
• Although the Life Satisfaction Scale was developed to give a global view of life satisfaction, it can also help to understand a client's perceptual judgment of life satisfaction, and can help develop awareness.
• Continuum of Mental Health The short form was developed to measure emotional well-being. This scale measures three different forms of well-being: emotional well-being, social well-being, and psychological well-being. The scale has been empirically validated across cultures and translated into a variety of languages. Permission to use this scale can be requested via email.