Four Pillars of Wellness – The Physical

My approach as a health coach combines four critical pillars of wellness – physical, nutritional, rest, and emotional management. In this blog, I will be going deeper into how each of these pillars connects to mental health and will discuss each pillar in different blogs. This one will focus on the physical.

Our bodies are made to move, but in today’s modern world, we often spend much of our time sitting down and being sedentary. We’re not designed to spend so much time sitting down; you probably know some of the health effects of lack of movement. But what about the impact on mental health?

What counts as movement?

Our bodies may be designed to move, but this movement doesn’t have to be intense physical activity. Intentional, gentle exercise can be very effective, both for emotional and physical well-being.

Taking a 5-minute break to stretch or move at least every 90 minutes, especially if you are doing desk work, oxygenates better the entire body. 

How does movement connect to mental health?

The link between our emotions and our mental health can be obvious in one sense. If you feel a negative emotion such as sadness, it can hinder your motivation to move, for example. But the other side of the equation can be more complex. The “two-way street” between the brain and the body means that movement can impact our feelings and emotions too. It can even start to change the way that the brain works.

Movement can positively impact mental health and help manage stress, anxiety and depression. There is some evidence that regular exercise can help to manage stress and depression in much the same way as medication and therapy.

Physical movement also increases the production of feel-good endorphins that boost our mood. Some studies have suggested that regular exercise can improve a brain protein called BDNF, which encourages the production of nerve fibres.

Movement that incorporates meditation can also help to reduce symptoms of depression. This type of movement requires close attention to breathing, posture, position in space and how the body feels – all of which can support our mental well-being. Intentional movement can even help us to understand why we’re feeling a certain way and start to challenge it.

But movement and exercise are only part of the equation. Our physical environment also plays a significant role.

How does the physical environment connect to mental health?

Our physical environment can affect our mental health. It can promote calm or increase stress. It can boost your mood or lower it. And it can encourage a sense of safety or the complete opposite.

Comfort in our physical environment is often overlooked. Still, if we don’t feel safe, calm or happy whilst, in our space, it can influence our thoughts, our behaviour and our actions which, in turn, can affect our mental well-being.

Since we spend so much time in our physical environment, it’s important to ensure that it’s supporting and adding to our mental health rather than making us feel dejected and taking away from our mental well-being.

The physical aspect also connects to other pillars of wellness, such as resting, and I’ll talk more about this in a future blog post.