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Writer's pictureMaria Furtado

Holistic Wellbeing for Better Mental Health

Updated: Sep 2





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The psychological effect of the environment that we have to adapt to.


The human mind is exceptional but also a deep intricated network, that can drive an individual true a successful life experience, or true to a painful and total confusion state of mental health disorder.

To be capable of achieving our mental well-being, we have to recognize that is imperial to acknowledge the faculty of our minds to cope during a stressful period of time, and select the correct actions, in order for an individual to be capable to focus on solutions, instead of feeling depleted of courage, and numb in life.


When I was studying People, work, and society at the Open University, I came to study the psychological effect of the environment that we have to adapt to, and I was quite shocked by this experiment.

I want to share it with you, and please comment what you think about it, the name is the Stanford Prison Experiment.


On the morning of August 17, 1971, nine young men in the Palo Alto area received visits from local police officers. While their neighbors looked on, the men were arrested for violating Penal Codes 211 and 459 (armed robbery and burglary), searched, handcuffed, and led into the rear of a waiting police car. The cars took them to a Palo Alto police station, where the men were booked, fingerprinted, moved to a holding cell, and blindfolded. Finally, they were transported to the Stanford County Prison—also known as the Stanford University psychology department.
They were willing participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment, one of the most controversial studies in the history of social psychology. (It’s the subject of a new film of the same name—a drama, not a documentary—starring Billy Crudup, of “Almost Famous,” as the lead investigator, Philip Zimbardo. It opens July 17th.) The study subjects, middle-class college students, had answered a questionnaire about their family backgrounds, physical- and mental-health histories, and social behavior, and had been deemed “normal”; a coin flip divided them into prisoners and guards. According to the lore that’s grown up around the experiment, the guards, with little to no instruction, began humiliating and psychologically abusing the prisoners within twenty-four hours of the study’s start. The prisoners, in turn, became submissive and depersonalized, taking the abuse and saying little in protest. The behavior of all involved was so extreme that the experiment, which was meant to last two weeks, was terminated after six days.

Less than a decade earlier, the Milgram obedience study had shown that ordinary people, if encouraged by an authority figure, were willing to shock their fellow citizens with what they believed to be painful and potentially lethal levels of electricity. To many, the Stanford experiment underscored those findings, revealing the ease with which regular people, if given too much power, could transform into ruthless oppressors. Today, more than forty-five years later, many look to the study to make sense of events like the behavior of the guards at Abu Ghraib and America’s epidemic of police brutality. The Stanford Prison Experiment is cited as evidence of the atavistic impulses that lurk within us all; it’s said to show that, with a little nudge, we could all become tyrants.
And yet the lessons of the Stanford Prison Experiment aren’t so clear-cut. From the beginning, the study has been haunted by ambiguity. Even as it suggests that ordinary people harbor ugly potentialities, it also testifies to the way our circumstances shape our behavior. Was the study about our individual fallibility, or about broken institutions? Were its findings of prisons, specifically, or about life in general? What did the Stanford Prison Experiment really show?

The appeal of the experiment has a lot to do with its apparently simple setup: prisoners, guards, a fake jail, and some ground rules. But, in reality, the Stanford County Prison was a heavily manipulated environment, and the guards and prisoners acted in ways that were largely predetermined by how their roles were presented.


At the end of the reading, I was completely shocked, but at the same time, this open my understanding of how we should always train our minds to know how to differentiate between what we are looking at, and what our emotions are making us perceive.

The only way to be capable of knowing if we are lost in a situation is to put ourselves out of it.

Looking true to the Lents of life with the powers of your mind is first to be capable of clearing your mind of the noise, and let your mind do what he does best, bring solutions to problems.


As know by now that our brain has the capacity of 100 computers together, then the problem is not that our brain is malfunctioning, but what type of use we gave to it.

Worrying laments and regrets will not do the job. But if you start to giveaway real problems for your mind to solve, and just let it work, the mind will work day and night to bring the best solution that is possible.


Now imagine if the mind is connected to a supercomputer?



Lately, the certainty that we are part of a super conscious mind is being explored, with the help of the technology, we are now like never before capable of getting people together moving in the same directions, and ultimately being capable of doing in real-time actions that before could even be possible in our dearest imagination.

If being part of the conscious mind was so simple as you close your eyes and meditating, now we explore the next step in human evolution which is being part of a super conscious mind that is everything and everywhere in a universe or even multiverse probability.



Change the way your mind thinks.


Way think always in the same way, don't bring us any happiness, or sense of clarity?

The linear way of thinking is just to grab pieces of information and accept whatever it is, without even trying to find different versions. This is just putting the mind lazy, and definitely not making the most of the great tool you are born with.

Paralogical thinking is when we are thinking about the world and we acquire the capacity of thinking without a judgment, just being open to all probability and possible outcomes and this gives us a chance of being more curious and maybe accept that the unknown can bring us answers that we never could imagine being possible.


With all this, I invite everyone to think outside the box and explore the world as if we are a child with pure curiosity, and don’t take any information as a definitive and unique way of doing things.

Believe in yourself, and stop believing just in others, but most importantly we have to learn how to train our minds to be unstoppable and work in our favor all the time.

A positive mindset is more important than anything else, and believing that our mind is a great machine, learn to use it and develop your happiness.


I believe that no medicine or science is better in helping us to feel better and healthier than our own capacity to regenerate our own bodies, and when I was studying Mental health disorders, I came to the result that is no certainty about the way. or the true cause that makes that mental health problems can develop in an individual, no matter how serious it is. the causes can be genetic, environmental, or a disorder or imbalance in the brain cells.

What made me realize that it may be not a clear answer to solve our mind puzzle, but can be an alternative training to improve our brain capacity. From what we eat, to what we watch, and how we think, all can play a role in our state of mind. Therefore our mind is trainable, and with the right kind of care, our mind can be a great superpower that will increase our capacity of being healthier, wealthier, and happier in life.



10- Improve Mental Health through Holistic Wellbeing tips.



1- Sleep, and take naps.


Tiredness is the number one cause of feeling disoriented, confused, and not thinking straight. So remember to check your sleeping schedules, and have from 8 to 10 hours of sleep every. Because of our busy daily obligations, is not always possible to have that much time to sleep, so try to take a nap during your day in order to at least give your mind some rest.


2- Drink enough water.


Make a experiment, and drink a glass of water every time you feel confusion or irritability. You will notice that in less than a minute you can feel a relief. Our excess of coffee and energy drinks for certain doesn't help the brain work at its best performance, so drink at least 2 liters of water a day.


3- Eat mind boosters food.


Certain types of food can have properties that will improve our brain health, so make sure you check this list and make these ingredients part of your daily diet.

This is a list made by the Senior Lifestyle in the article "The Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Brain".


Salmon

The Good Stuff: Omega-3 fatty acids Protein Vitamin D

Studies Show: Slows mental degeneration Stabilizes mood changes


Flax Seeds

The Good Stuff: Omega-3 Fatty Acids Lignans Fiber Protein

Studies Show: Reduce inflammation Promote healthy brain cells


Walnuts

The Good Stuff: Carbohydrates Protein Unsaturated fatty acids Fiber Calcium Iron Zinc

Studies Show: Improve reaction to stress Help you think more clearly Benefit memory and other cognitive functions


Sardines

The Good Stuff: B Vitamins Vitamin D Omega-3 fatty acids Niacin Protein Phosphorus Calcium Potassium

Studies Show: Supports a healthy nervous system Reduces the likelihood of Alzheimer’s Helps control blood sugar levels


Green Tea

The Good Stuff: Enzymes Amino Acids Carbohydrates Lipids Sterols Catechins Polyphenols Carotenoids Tocopherols Vitamins

Studies Show: Alleviate mental fatigue Boost brain function


Chocolate

The Good Stuff: Antioxidants, particularly flavonols

Studies Show: Improves circulation Reduces blood pressure Boosts cognitive abilities Lowers cholesterol Stimulates the brain


Eggs

The Good Stuff: Amino Acids Retinol (Vitamin A) B Vitamins Choline Iron Calcium Phosphorus Potassium

Studies Show: Promotes brain development Improves motor function and memory


Blueberries

The Good Stuff: Vitamin C

Manganese Vitamin K Dietary Fiber

Studies Show: Minimizes stroke-related brain damage Improves memory Reduces risk of inflammation and cancer Controls blood pressure Lowers cholesterol


Avocados

The Good Stuff: Monounsaturated fatty acids

Studies Show: Protects nerve cells in the brain called astrocytes Maintains healthy blood pressure (helping prevent stroke) Lowers cholesterol


Spinach

The Good Stuff: Folic Acid Enzymes

Studies Show: Helps prevent dementia, particularly in women Strengthens synapses Boosts neurotransmitters Regulates water retention.





4- Stop consuming bad news, and social media.


The TV was used as a brainwashing method by Hitler during the second war for a reason. When images are consumed by us is difficult to be sure what is true or not. Being selective about what we watch or read can make a big difference in how our minds perform.


5- Keep your mind updated on learning.


We are always in a learning process anyway, but give your mind tools to succeed as we keep ourselves, reading, studying, and always looking to grow our knowledge.


6- Breath deeply to oxygen your brain.


Making a habit to take 3 minutes per day just breathe deeply improves the brain function, as will help irrigate your brain with enough blood to work much better.


7- Play some games.


Certain games such as chess, doing puzzles, or even Crosswords, can help you revive the brain pathways that are more off, so have some fun, and play some games to help your mind.


8- Exercise your body.


Doing exercises helps to improve your overall health but has a special function on the brain, exercise boosts blood flow to the brain. And studies have shown it can increase the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory, which naturally shrinks as you age.


9- Socialise as your brain loves it.


Is nothing so powerful to our minds as socializing and interacting with others, we can exercise our brain capacity to understand, perceive and respond simultaneously to a group of individuals, this is the best way to keep your mind on is the best performance on is hi-level.


10- Making silence meditating.


The amazing effect of meditation on our mind is still today the most amazing discovery to the human being, and as meditation helps you to stop overthinking, it also regenerates and opens brain pathways that increase our mind functions. Yes, meditation will make you more clever, and calm, and is definitely a mind booster.



If you need more support contact us for a free consultation at Believeyou@mail.com, read more about mind-related articles on our page at https://www.believeyou.co.uk/wellbeing-mind, or try our amazing mind and body wellbeing programs at https://www.believeyou.co.uk/wellbeing-program-list.

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