Mental Health is The Progenitor of a Healthy Marriage

Relationships have plenty of bumps in the road. After all, we are all human, and we all have our own emotions. But when it comes to mixing emotions with others, there can be mental health issues that arise. Especially for married couples. For a healthy marriage, good mental health is necessary.

“Professional counseling offers a safe environment that allows us to explore our thoughts, feelings, and hopes with the advice, guidance and insight of a professional. In individual therapy as well as in family therapy and couples counseling,” Dr. Piper Walsh, an Orange County California marriage counseling professional explained.

Professional couples counseling, or individual counseling, is of course ideal. Benefits of good mental health can be individually rewarding, and great for your partner. They include:

• Your happier in general
• You have less anxiety
• Stress is reduced
• Your ability to think clearer improves
• You are calmer
• Your self-esteem is higher

Between therapist sessions, there are a lot of ways you and your partner can work on finding a good mental health balance. Good mental health is a balance of mind and body. To find a positive mindset and the ability to have a healthy marriage is important.

To help, we compiled a few mental health tips you can draw from between sessions with your therapist. Good mental health is a daily improvement, so get started today with the following tips.

See A Therapist Regularly

This is a pretty easy one to figure out. If you want to have good mental health and a healthy marriage, seeing a therapist regularly is a great first stop. However, the keyword here is “regularly”. No mental health issue is solved in one or two, even three sessions with a therapist.

It takes time, so discussing your mental health with a therapist often is a must do. Not only does it give you a great start at improving your mental health, it also gives your goal for a healthy marriage a jumpstart.

Exercise Is An Important Element

If you believe that you need a bit of help in the mental health department, you could try exercise. One National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) article explained, “Like medicine in the treatment of mental illness, exercise can increase levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. It improves and normalizes neurotransmitter levels, which ultimately helps us feel mentally healthy.”

Of course, discuss any physical fitness routine with a doctor first. You can start by taking a brisk walk every morning with your loved one. Going solo may also be a great time to reflect and think about your mental and physical goals and journey, but doing something physical as a couple could have benefits as well.

Diet Is Critical To Good Mental Health

Everything we consume can affect our mental health. The effects may be micro, but over time, the macro result could be very detrimental to your health. A few diet tips that may help with good mental health are:

• Cutting back on sugar and processed foods
• Drinking non-caffeinated tea
• Increasing vitamin B, D3 and omega-3 intake
• Eating three correctly portioned meals a day
• Skipping fast food and takeout

Diet can also directly impact your relationship, since you and your partner share meals, or potentially not. Eating a meal a day together can have a positive impact on your relationship, according to a study published in Physiology & Behavior (2015).

Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Meditation is certainly a buzzword these days. Many entrepreneurs and successful business people are touting the benefits of meditation, especially mindfulness meditation. Meditation has been found to increase your ability to do many things, including improve mental health.

The best part is that you can practice mindfulness meditation with your partner. It can be a morning ritual, and a moment to sit down, meditate, and connect with your spouse before the day’s routine kicks into high gear. Give it a try, and your therapist may even be able to guide you and your partner is meditation too.

Let Gratitude Wash Over You

Gratitude, and the act of being grateful is very important for good mental health. It’s also excellent for having a healthy marriage, since gratitude for your partner is one of the side effects. Practicing gratitude can be done a variety of ways, like telling your partner every morning and evening how much you are grateful for him or her. You can even do it via text daily. Be grateful and let your partner know it.

Ready For Good Mental Health And A Healthy Marriage?

The above good mental health tips are not the be-all, end-all when it comes to improving you. There are more ways to accomplish your aim of having a fulfilling, healthy marriage that a therapist can help you with. These tips are just a helpful reminder that you can always strive to be happier and healthier whenever you want.