Lifestyle Suggestions

Your mental health involves far more than what goes on strictly inside of your brain. Everything you do ultimately affects your mind and body. Your lifestyle directly impacts your mental health. If you have an underlying condition already, an unhealthy lifestyle can either trigger or exacerbate that. If you don’t have any current health problems, undue stress, poor diet, high blood pressure, etc., can all wreak havoc on your mental health. Lifestyle is a foundational component of basic health care. Therefore, before even considering incorporating medications into your daily routine, during our initial interview with you we will always first discuss lifestyle activities that promote your mental health.

Part of a healthy lifestyle means making appropriate diet and exercise decisions. Nutritional supplements may also be appropriate—it all depends on the individual, which is why Arcara emphasizes personalized psychiatry. We’ll work with you to ensure your care plan fits your particular lifestyle. We can teach you stress management techniques and coping mechanisms, along with offering dietary suggestions and tips on relaxation techniques. Once you’ve begun to implement any appropriate lifestyle suggestions, we’ll work in partnership with you to support you, offering advice as needed along the way, noting areas that might still be revised, and helping you monitor your overall positive progress toward your particular wellness goal. While we can and do sometimes provide psychiatric referrals, the first step toward good health starts with examining your day-to-day life and activities. It seems easy enough, but changing long-ingrained patterns of behavior can be difficult. Our job is to help you make that critical transition.