2. If you want to start feeling better, you have to start living better

Even if we’re not suffering from any kind of depression, most of us want to be happier. After all, who couldn’t use a little more joy and pleasure in their lives? We are all seeking happiness and joy when we go out on a Friday night, buy flowers, eat an expensive meal, and even when we try to get ahead in school or to make money in order to be able to live the life we want. But once we recognize that our emotions depend on the health of our bodies as well, we must accept that living the right lifestyle is a critical part of achieving happiness as well as health.

You can have everything you want in the world, but if your brain and body aren’t able to produce the right chemistry, you won’t be happy.  An unhealthy body cannot support healthy emotional chemistry. On the converse, nourish your body, build robust physical health, and you will have the resources to produce all of the chemistry of emotion, leading to a fuller emotional life. Not to mention the fact that you’ll have more energy and drive, clearer skin, a better body, and a host of other advantages that will actually allow you to achieve what you want more easily.

We’re not saying that getting healthy is a cure-all for bad moods. Our point is that none of us can escape the fact that our emotions are bound up with our bodies. For many people suffering from depression, sadness, chronic stress, etc, the path to emotional health requires improving physical health. In many cases, even people with serious mood disorders start feeling better within a week or two after beginning an exercise program and eating more healthfully (sign up for your free ReEvolution Fitness Action Plan for a personalized nutrition and exercise program). For others, change takes longer. But in the end, whether you’re fighting depression or already a pretty cheerful person, living a healthier lifestyle can improve almost everyone’s mood.

3. A Healthy Mindset is Critical to a Healthy Body

So far we’ve focused on how physical health affects emotional and mental health. But the converse is also true. Emotional/mental health has a profound effect on physical health.  Depression is a major risk factor for developing a number of physical diseases. Part of this owes to the fact that, when we are feeling low, its often harder to make healthy choices with regard to exercise, sleep and nutrition – which is a bit of a catch 22, since its when we’re feeling down that we need to be most careful about these things. But most of the effects of emotions on physical health are a result of all of the ways that mind and body are directly tied together.

Again, lots of medical evidence testifies to the fact that stress and depression increase your risk for any number of diseases. But the real science of how the mind affects the body is only beginning to be fleshed out. What we do know is that our thoughts influence the function of our organs (visualizing a favorite food activates your salivary glands, and can even create changes in your stomach and intestines), our body chemistry (focusing on the stressors in your life will elevate levels of stress hormones in your body) and even our muscles (everyone knows how stress creates tight shoulders). But regardless of how the mind influences the body, we can all accept that our attitude – the way we choose to interpret the world around us - has powerful effects on every sphere of our being.

Staying positive in the face of challenges, focusing on solutions, rather than problems, and generally making a commitment to a positive worldview are all critical parts of physical as well as emotional health. And all of these things take work. In many cases, it’s easier to give in to negativity. But when we do, the consequences ripple through both body and mind, eroding our health and vitality, and making it that much harder to achieve positive things in our lives. We’re not talking about denying negative feelings. Quite the opposite. Dealing with emotions honestly is incredibly important (See Maximizing Emotional Health). But the key is to feel sadness, disappointment, and even frustration when appropriate, but to then let these feelings go, and recommit yourself to a positive mindset.