EMOTIONAL

HEALTH
HEALTHYBODIES,HEALTHYMINDS

WHATTOKNOWABOUT
EMOTIONALHEALTH
MEDICALLY REVIEWED BY DAN BRENNAN, MD

When picturing health, your mind may go directly to the physical. However, emotions also play a
strong role in well-being. Studies have shown a connection between regulated mental health and the
body's physical health. A more holistic health approach will consider the state of both your mind and
body, often referred to as the mind-body connection.
What Is Emotional Health?
Emotional health is one aspect of mental health. It is your ability to cope with both positive and
negative emotions, which includes your awareness of them. Emotionally healthy people have good
coping mechanisms for negative emotions, and they also know when to reach out to a professional for
help.
Emotional wellness is tied to physical health. People who experience great amounts of stress and
negative emotions will sometimes develop other health problems. These problems are not caused
directly by the negative feelings, but by behaviors that negative emotions can influence due to a lack
of emotional regulation. For example, some people enjoy smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol as a
way to relieve stress. However, those habits put you at a greater risk for cancer, heart disease, and
other illnesses.
Keep in mind that a person can experience mental illness or bad days, and still have good emotional
wellness. Mental illnesses often have deeper causes like a chemical imbalance or trauma. Emotional
health has more to do with emotional regulation, awareness, and coping skills, and these strategies
can be used by people with or without a mental illness.
How to Know if You're Struggling With Emotional Health
Some warning signs of emotional health in need of care include:
Isolating yourself from friends, family, or coworkers
Lower energy than usual
Sleeping too much or too little
Eating too much or too little
Increased use of substances
Racing thoughts
Lower performance at work
More interpersonal conflicts than usual
Feelings of irritability, guilt, hopelessness, or worthlessness
Neglecting hygiene and personal care

How to Work On Your Emotional Health

There are many ways to maintain or even improve your emotional health which include:
Living a balanced lifestyle. Try to have a good balance between work and your personal life, activity
and resting, and moderation in all things.

Stay connected. Community is important. Plan regular shared time with friends and family
members. Virtual connections are good, but seeing someone in person once in a while is helpful
too.
Meditate. Meditation helps you to notice your thoughts and emotions, which is key to emotional
wellness.
Watch how you talk about yourself. Negative self-talk can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,
or just put you in a negative mindset. Work on creating a positive image of yourself with your
words. Your thoughts may soon follow.
Set goals and celebrate your achievements. Give yourself something to strive for, and
celebrate your accomplishments to build self-esteem and positive feelings about yourself.
Use substances in moderation. Sometimes drinking too much alcohol is a way to numb
difficult emotions. Notice when you are using substances more than usual, and think about
whether there’s an emotional cause for this.
Learn strategies for resilience. This is your ability to react to difficult emotions and stressful
situations. Many of the same things that help you with emotional health can also improve your
resilience. Get enough sleep. Studies show that a lack of sleep lessens your ability to sense the
emotions of others and your ability to process emotions in general.
Exercise. Staying physically active for at least 30 minutes a day can help to improve your overall
emotional health. The exercise doesn't need to be overly tough or intense. Just going for a walk or
dancing around your house can help.
Find meaning in your life. Some people have jobs that give them a feeling of purpose, but
that's not the only way to find meaning in your life. Something as simple as caring for a pet or
volunteering for a cause that you're passionate about can also give you that feeling.
Know when to reach out for help. You don't have to handle negative emotions on your
own. Knowing when to reach out to a
mental health professional for help with difficult emotions is a useful skill to have. You should also
reach out to one if you have tried to improve your emotional health, but still aren't feeling your
best.
 EMOTIONAL HEALTH - HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS

DAYONE.SOCIALIZING,MEETINGNEWPEOPL
E
The first tip to boost our emotional health was a really good one for
the first day of a mobility. We spent the first day doing different
activities in order to meet the people we were going to share a week
with.
The day started with the welcome ceremony where the Spanish
team celebrated the presence of all our guests with different treats,
from the principal's speech to some artistic performances from our
students. Through these presentations, our guests could get to
know more about the place welcoming them, Malaga and our
school. After this great moment of welcoming, the students were
split up in six teams so they would work with these new people for
the whole week. That way, they could get to know new partners and
be able to work with them in different situations.
We also had a teacher's meeting on Monday to speak about all the
plans for the week..
Once the students were in their international teams, they
started working with different activities to strength these teams
and let them know each other better. A lot of movement,
conversations, questions and answers, collaborative job... were
involved in these activities as a way of working in our emotional
health and develop our emotional intelligence. To finish with the
morning work, every school showed the rest of us the presentations
on Emotional Health they had prepared before coming to this
mobility, showing their previous work on the topic. There were
some great jobs from the different national teams and we finished
with a lecture from a specialist on the topic as a way of making some
statements about what we were going to work during the full week.
To conclude the first day, we celebrated a welcome lunch with
everybody involved in the program.
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DAYTWO.MINDFULNESSANDMEDITATION.

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 EMOTIONAL HEALTH - HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS

On our second day we focused on Mindfulness and Meditation as a great way of taking care of our emotional health.
With this purpose, we started working with Gerardo Gómez, a coach specialized
in this technique. We spent the first part of the morning working with him in a
workshop that both, teachers and students, enjoyed a lot and used to learn new
ways of improving our emotional intelligence.
The day continued with a visit to the "Museo de Málaga" where we could learn
about the greatness of sharing with different cultures and backgrounds, as we
saw all the history of our city throughout the Centuries with a complete vision
about Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Muslim and Christian traditions. Malaga is a
great example of a mixed society composed by different cultural, religious and
personal backgrounds,

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 EMOTIONAL HEALTH - HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS

DAYTHREE.DISCOVERINGN
EWPLACES.

We travelled to Ronda on our third day, where a great time was ahead of us. It
was a day full of adventures, discovering a new place, working outdoors and
trying to find some activities in order to put together all the pieces we need to
build our emotional health.
Castles, emotions, bridges, feelings, fresh air, friendship, interaction… all these
were the ingredients that created a great day and helped us to discover new
ways of boosting our emotional health with a whole new group.
It was a fantastic day getting to know each other better, developing our
personal, social and emotional skills on a great new environment that made us
grow in a very positive way.

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 EMOTIONAL HEALTH - HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS

DAYFOUR.SOCIALMEDIA,TEE
NAGERSANDSELF-ESTEEM.

The students got really involved during this day, sharing their views,
agreeing and disagreeing

much their lives are affected by all kind of apps and social media
influencers, looking for positive

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 WHAT HAVE WE
LEARNT?

We all experience challenges. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed by everything we are feeling or to feel that our emotions
control us instead of the other way around. Emotional health involves understanding our emotions and handling them. It is
not about eliminating all uncomfortable emotions; everyone experiences sadness, stress and other “negative” feelings.
Instead, emotional health is about knowing how to deal with our emotions. How do we manage our stress? How do we take
care of ourselves? Emotional health involves the development of an inner strength and resilience. It is also about learning and
growing from our experiences. Whether we are experiencing a challenge or something we are excited and happy about, there
are always things that we can take from the experience that can help us grow as a person.

What problems can appear when we are missing emotional health? There are certain symptoms that are key, such as sleep,
irritability, mood changes, tearfulness, poor concentration… It is important to always look for changes, such as if we were once
good sleepers but we become bad sleepers or if we were not irritable and then we start becoming more irritable.

How can we build emotional health? There are many things that we can do. Here are some examples:
Spending time doing the things that we enjoy, picking up a new hobby or restarting an old one.
Setting weekly goals, making sure the goals are realistic and achievable.
Helping others. It feels good when others do kind things for us but it also feels good to do things for others.
Trying new things, like new foods, new activities or experiences to get out of our comfort zone a little.
Giving up bad habits.
Using our creativity. Creating something beautiful or helpful to give as a gift to someone we love, for example.
Being kind to ourselves. We can write a list of our positive attributes to remind ourselves how strong we can be during
difficult times.
Reaching out for support, whether we speak with a psychologist, a counsellor, an elder, or someone else, it can be helpful
to talk to someone.
Practising meditation. Meditation can help us focus on the present moment.
Creating a vision board. Having a visual depiction of what we want and how we want to feel helps us to focus on it, which
in turn can help us to achieve it.

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