Self-Care is for Everyone
In Honor of World Mental Health Day | Sunday, October 10, 2021
Written by Brandi McMurry
Self-care is for everyone. In honor of World Mental Health Day, we want to highlight how our services can help in your healing endeavor. We all know someone who is struggling and working endlessly to achieve a healthy mental state. Here at Essential Health, we are proud to offer services that can support you on your journey.
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Colon Hydrotherapy
Did you know that 90 percent of your serotonin is produced in your gut? The happy hormone that controls your mood and emotional well-being travels through the vagus nerve, the superhighway that communicates between your gut and your brain.
Colon hydrotherapy can help maintain a clean and healthy gut. The average person has 3 to 20 pounds of hard solid matter fermenting on the lining of their colon. Colonics can help you rid your body of that matter, and maintain regular digestion.
Research studies show that probiotics, the healthy gut bacteria living in your digestive tract, can have a considerable effect on enhancing mood.
From discovermagazine.com
Fermented foods: Foods like sauerkraut, yogurt, and kefir — a type of fermented milk — naturally contain bacterial strains tied to anti-depressive effects, such as Lactobacillus helveticus or Lactobacillus acidophilus. That might explain the mood lift some people report from eating them.
L. helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum: This bacterial duo — a common combo in products marketed as mood probiotics — has shown some mettle in both human and animal studies. In one human trial, people taking these two bacteria reported a greater drop in depression symptoms than those on a placebo. The bacteria may boost mood by lowering levels of stress hormones like cortisol.
L. acidophilus: This much-touted probiotic strain activated mood-stabilizing gut opioid receptors in one animal study. It also helps strengthen the intestinal lining, which prevents inflammatory compounds from migrating to the brain.
Hippocrates notably said, “All disease begins in the gut.” He theorized that black bile would spill from the spleen, absorb through the small intestine, and create dark moods. Even then known as melancholia, (modern-day depression) was argued to be caused by an imbalance in the microbiome. There are even reports of doctors performing abdominal surgery to treat psychological ailments such as schizophrenia.
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Therapeutic Massage
Therapeutic massage encourages relaxation, relieves pain + tension, and supports stress management.
Human touch is essential to our sense of well-being. Skin-to-skin contact is critical during infancy and the need for human touch stays with us as we mature. The healing power of touch can shape our emotional and physical health throughout a lifetime.
Massage can influence hormone levels in a positive way. Oxytocin is the hormone that allows us to love, bond, socialize, and feel a sense of belonging in a community. The application of touch encourages oxytocin to release during a therapeutic massage.
Massage therapy can also help reduce stress through relaxation and reducing cortisol levels. Increased cortisol levels can present as physical pain, depression and anxiety, inflammation, brain fog, and even weight gain.
Massage can help strengthen the relationship between the mind-body relationship as you become more in tune with what your body is presenting in physical effects.
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Human Design
By understanding your talents, tendencies, and needs in detail, you gain an understanding of where to focus your energy and how to make decisions that work for you — not against you.
Human Design can help you realize your life’s purpose. Gain focus on what works for you, with you, or not so well for you.
You may have qualities about yourself that you consider difficult to manage or even a burden. You may wonder, “Why does this always happen to me?”
If you recognize patterns in your life, they may well be part of your human design. A session can help you focus on why you are the way you are. And with your new insight, you may be able to be a little more forgiving with yourself, and your people.
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By the Numbers
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
More than 50% of people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime.
1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental illness in a given year.
1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness.
1 in 25 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.
Self-care is for everyone.
If you or a loved one are suffering with your mental health, please know that you are not alone. Help is available. Suicide prevention hotline: 800-273–8255.
Please reach out and talk to someone. '
Namaste.
Sources:
“Gut Bacteria's Role in Anxiety and Depression: It's Not Just In Your Head”
This article appeared in the November 2020 issue of Discover magazine as "Gut Feeling." for more stories like these…www.discovermagazine.com
