MENTAL HEALTH
I’ve been working on this article for a while, and as I’m wrapping it up, I realize today, October 10, is
WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY.
There is no better time than now to focus on better mental health.
Jump ahead to the 8 Holistic Tips for Improving Mental Health
Mental HEALTH MATTERS
Some days are detrimental to our collective mental health.
The tragedy of September 11th, 2001 occurred three months before I graduated from college with a Marketing degree. In an increasingly uncertain world, I began my career as a sales representative for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
At that time, there was no social media, no Netflix to stream, and no AI to consult with, but it was the height of direct-to-consumer advertising for pharmaceutical companies, and as a result, self-diagnosing and pharmaceutical use was on the rise.
I spent my workdays in and out of psychiatry offices and mental health centers across two states promoting products for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, and ADHD, and later in Neurology offices with another top pharmaceutical company promoting medications for Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease.
I spent nearly a decade studying the brain, the mind, and the nervous system.
While I delivered resources, medication samples, branded office supplies, and many staff meals, I also learned to read medical studies, pick out key selling points, gain access to busy clinics, and change people’s minds.
Thanks to television and magazine advertisements, powerful marketing messages, and budgets from deep pockets, three of the five medications that I sold during my career were “blockbusters,” a title given to medications that generate over $1 billion in sales annually.
For a short time, I helped train new sales associates, and I enjoyed the challenges and rewards of working in sales, twice winning “Sales Specialist of the Year” for exceeding company goals.
For nearly a decade,
I listened and learned.
In sales and marketing meetings.
In waiting rooms.
In medical luncheons and lectures.
In adult and pediatric doctor’s offices.
In patient groups.
In mental health facilities.
In research hospitals.
In acute psychiatric situations.
In pharmacies.
In fund-raising events.
In storage facilities with FDA agents counting my samples.
In conversations with the insane.
In conversations with those who treat the depressed, unstable, and insane.
In patient advocate meetings.
In state-funded clinics where the cheapest drugs are injected into the most severe of patients.
In private-practice psychiatric offices in affluent cities.
In rural trailers turned into psych offices with criminal police escorts for violent criminals.
In parking lots in a company car with a trunkful of samples to give away.
Business was booming!
And I thought it was busy back then.
Sadly, the mental health crisis continues to grow, and in 2025, it’s projected that the pharmaceutical market for mental health could reach exponential growth from anxiety and depression, alone.
Add on other psychiatric and neurological disorders like increasing diagnoses of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Autism, mood disorders, and other neuropsychiatric conditions, and you have to ask:
Why is this happening?
ARE WE neuro-degeneratiNG?
Welcome to The 2020’s
The entirety of “the Covid experience,” including long-covid, has dramatically impacted society, particularly mental health, further complicating an already strained and underfunded system.
Social media, news stories, political divisiveness, and 24-7 social content availability pulls us away from our own real lives and is overwhelming to the nervous system.
We are becoming disconnected from ourselves.
We were not designed to be so influenced, visually assaulted, dopamine-depleted, or bombarded by conflict, confusion, and violence.
The world feels fragile and volatile.
Have we become more fragile?
More volatile?
Or worse, are we becoming less empathetic to our own needs?
I no longer work in pharmaceutical sales.
I launched my own holistic wellness business in 2018, but mental health continues to be a hot topic during private coaching sessions.
Although the current times feel strained, never in history have we had better access to making healthier choices.
We can and should protect and preserve our own mental health.
A person’s mental health sets the foundation for how their life feels and how it unfolds.
GOOD MEDICINE eliminates what is detrimental.
IT’S DETRIMENTAL if It erodes or wears away the mind.
(Detri means “to erode or wear away.” Ment means “of the mind.”)
A HOLISTIC APPROACH
8 TIPS That can naturally IMPROVe MENTAL HEALTH
FROM A FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE CERTIFIED HEALTH COACH
Heal Old Hurts
Hurt people hurt people - even if they don’t intend to.
Seek a professional’s support for healing personal hurts and traumatic experiences.
If you find yourself replaying the same events, scenarios, or emotions, your energy is stuck there.
Therapy can help you break that loop.
Trauma can include physical or emotional hurts. Divorce, deaths, accidents, incidents, childhood events, and even old misunderstandings can be traumatic experiences.
There are many healing modalities available, including talking, acupuncture, behavioral therapy, massage, virtual, etc.
Read more about the Breakthrough Sessions I offer.
Healing old hurts improves mental health.
This is good medicine.
2. RETREAT TO NATURE.
Sunshine, fresh air, and being in nature is a powerful way to support better mental health.
Quality outdoor time daily is medicine and will improve mental health.
Children and the elderly sometimes become dependent on others to help them get outside.
Everyone needs to go outside and play, breathe, and enjoy.
This is good medicine.
3. Tend to your environment.
Is your home and workplace conducive to your mental health?
How does the physical environment at home, work, and your city impact your mental state?
Are mold, pests, unwanted noise, or clutter in your home?
Toxic environments precipitate unhealthy mood states.
“Clean and clear” feels different to the mind than “chaotic and cluttered.”
Even in urban design, for example, the “box and line” features of most large cities supports fast, linear thinking and streamlined function, as opposed to rounded and winding gardens that encourage wandering and a slower pace.
What do you need in your environment in order to thrive?
Is your home your sanctuary?
Here is an introductory look at Feng Shui, including ways to be in harmony at home.
I’ve recommended this book if you need inspiration clearing your clutter:
The Life Changing Magic of Decluttering,
or if you don’t mind foul language, try
Clean up and clear out.
This is good medicine.
4. EAT WELL.
Eat real, whole, colorful foods.
Eat Earth-grown foods touched by soil and sun.
Living foods offer life-sustaining nutrients.
Boxed and factory-made foods carry a lower vibration. They lack the polyphenols and flavonoids that come only from fruits and vegetables. These are powerful medicines for the body.
Investigate what happens when people eliminate processed foods and receive consistent nutrients. They change - physically and mentally.
Check out “A Mind of Your Own - The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives,” by Kelly Brogan, MD to read more about how nutrition impacts mental health.
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Food sensitivities and allergies can also alter behavior. A common example is children who have a severe allergy to casein, a protein found in cow’s milk, can experience behavioral challenges, like anxiety, irritability, and even neuropsychiatric disturbances. This inflammatory response can manifest as ADHD, cause speech delays, and decrease vibrancy in the person affected.
Stop the cause of inflammation, heal from the effects of inflammation, and watch mood and behavioral changes unfold.
Have you been tested for food allergies? There are at-home tests that can provide insight, like Viome and Everlywell.
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If you have intense cravings for certain foods, alcohol, or sugars, explore the possibility of parasites.
Most people do not eat a naturally anti-parasitic diet, therefore becoming hospitable hosts.
Many third world countries routinely use dewormers in their populations.
In America, many kids born in the 1900’s were routinely treated for pinworms and other parasites at the beginning of their school years.
There are products and protocols available for de-worming, and perhaps it’s something to consider as parasites have been linked to many common health problems.
“Based on these studies, we now know that almost all infected children and many adults, particularly pregnant and lactating women, suffer adverse effects from worms, including growth stunting, anemia, decreased cognitive development, and poor birth outcomes as well as poor school and work performance. Worm-infected people also respond less well to vaccinations and are more susceptible to several co-conditions such as HIV and cirrhosis.”
Learn more about anti-parasitic foods from a functional medicine expert, Dr. Will Cole.
Do you eat for true health and longevity?
This is good medicine.
5. Connect with healthy people.
Real connection with healthy people is good mental health management.
Being around other people isn’t ideal unless they are mentally well.
Take an inventory of the people you are close to.
Who feels mentally healthy?
Does anyone feel toxic?
Beyond connection, we all crave love, touch, and care.
Who hugs you?
Who tells you they love you?
Who genuinely cares about you?
We only need a couple of close people to improve our mental health and quality of life.
This is good medicine.
6. Move.
Even light walking increases circulation throughout the entire body and stimulates the brain.
Putting one front in front of the other can help to alleviate stress and anxiety, and it can boost your mood.
I once asked a neurologist,
“Does exercise improve stress and anxiety
or
does lack of exercise cause stress and anxiety?”
Without hesitation, he replied,
“Both.”
The body was born to move.
Stuck energy causes blockages and impediments in the energetic meridians.
In many ways, we are electrical beings.
We need stimulation to get the current moving.
Move.
This is good medicine.
7. Drink up!
Drink up!
Staying well hydrated allows us to be better conducers and producers of energy.
Being chronically dehydrated is linked to brain fog, dementia, and cognitive impairment.
Essentially, it weakens us and creates imbalances affecting physical and mental health.
For example, chronic dehydration can lead to urinary tract infections, which can present as mental health symptoms, like psychosis, hallucinations, confusion, and agitation.
Quality drinking water is well-filtered and contains natural electrolytes for proper absorption.
Stay well-hydrated.
This is good medicine.
8. Limit “the rectangles.”
Limit screens and social media.
We were meant to think for ourselves and have our own ideas.
We were meant to engage with our families and look into other people’s eyes.
We were meant to see the world around us in all of its natural color and beauty.
“The rectangles” (phones, televisions, and computers) can be such a great source of entertainment and connection, but they should not be a replacement for real life.
We don’t find many rectangles in the natural world.
In some ways, these things are unnatural.
Tap into your own source of entertainment.
Write, draw, dance, call a friend, take a walk, go out to eat, and fall asleep daydreaming - without your phone.
This is good medicine.
Perhaps there will always be a portion of the population that requires medical support or pharmaceutical interventions, but there are many things that we can do on a daily basis to improve our physical and mental health, and leave a healthier imprint on those around us.
Integrate these 8 basic and simple habits into your daily routine and let me know how it feels to have
good medicine.
A Scent to stimulate the brain:
ROSEMARY
(ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS)
Rosemary helps stimulate the mind, memory, and breath.
Long deep breaths can clear the mind and keep it working in your favor.
There’s nothing more detrimental than your own mind working against you.
“True Wellness is a side effect of healthy habits and is cultivated over time.”
— Jacquelyn Benjamin
Keeping it real
No Artificial Intelligence or stock content was used in the creation of this article.
The photographs and words used in this article are my own, and should not be used without credit.
Thank you for supporting my work by sharing, commenting, and reposting.