Mind Determines Health: 6 Concepts for a Healthy Life

Author: Wang Zhaojin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: CCTV's famous program host Cui Yongyuan said in an interview with Zhu Jun that during his time suffering from mental depression, he sometimes truly felt that suicide was a form of relief. Currently, mental illnesses are spreading like wildfire globally, becoming humanity's "cold killer" of future health. According to a 2003 survey by the World Health Organization, after the 21st century, 200 to 400 million people worldwide suffer from mental depression, with women's lifetime depression rate at 20% to 26%, twice that of men. It is estimated that by 2020, apart from heart disease, mental depression will become the second major condition affecting lifespan and increasing economic burdens. Data from the Beijing Psychological Crisis Research and Intervention Center show that approximately 287,000 people in China die by suicide each year, with another 2 million attempting suicide. Suicide has now ranked fifth among causes of death in the nation. These two sets of data are sufficient to prove that mental health cannot be ignored. In today's fierce social competition, people face increasing mental pressure, with various ideologies clashing violently, disrupting their original life trajectories and causing a series of misfortunes to follow, leading some to fall into a prolonged state of low mood. Those in this state have actually contracted mental depression. Common symptoms include poor mood, slowed thinking, reduced behavior, sleep disturbances, physical discomfort, tension, anxiety, frowning, sadness, and crying. They lose interest in life, believe their future is bleak, and feel that living has no meaning. They cannot work normally, even finding household chores too burdensome. Generally, severe depression requires immediate hospitalization for medication and psychological treatment. For moderate cases, supportive psychological therapy cannot be applied universally. Currently, in Western countries, there are 500 psychology researchers per million people, but in China, there are only three or five, most of whom are concentrated in large and medium-sized cities. This means that most depression patients do not have access to psychological therapy. So, how can we prevent and treat the psychological wounds caused by depression? The saying "a mind ailment requires a mind cure" holds true. The best psychological healthcare provider is oneself. Strengthening personal mental cultivation, continuously improving healthy psychological qualities, maintaining a cheerful mood and emotional stability are key to preventing and treating depression. It is essential to fully understand oneself, make appropriate assessments of one's abilities, maintain moderate self-confidence and self-esteem while accepting oneself, stay connected with the external environment to better adapt, preserve the integrity and harmony of one's personality, continuously improve learning abilities to keep pace with the pace of knowledge updates in modern society, and build good interpersonal relationships, living in a friendly and close-knit social atmosphere to regulate psychological balance and achieve mental health. After the weekend, Monday should ideally be a day of and improved work efficiency. However, some people always feel lethargic on this day, experiencing discomfort, exhaustion, dizziness, and limb fatigue, leading to decreased work and study efficiency. This is what is medically known as the "Monday Syndrome." The pathogenesis of the "Monday Syndrome" is believed to be the "dynamic stereotype" of Pavlov's theory—the disruption of old stereotypes and the difficulty in establishing new ones, resulting in "chaos." People