Health support can be an exciting, yet fulfilling career that helps others live their best lives. This career requires strong interpersonal skills and an altruistic mindset as well as the willingness to deal with stressful situations and emotional challenges.
Studies show that social support positively influences quality of life, loneliness, burden of care and hope. According to salutogenic theory, it acts as a general resistance resource in health promotion efforts.
Mental health
If someone you know is struggling with mental health, assist them in seeking assistance. Offer to accompany them when visiting their GP or speaking to other family members; find counseling and support groups locally as well as online (such as beyond blue, headspace, ReachOut and Black Dog Institute).
Counseling can help strengthen relationships by helping individuals understand themselves and how to handle stress more effectively. Counseling also teaches people how to cope better with anxiety.
Mental illnesses are one of the leading causes of disability, premature death and long-term conditions globally. They hinder people’s abilities to interact and function normally with others, keep a job, maintain hygiene standards, socialize properly with peers and make contributions to society. Treatment typically includes psychotherapy as well as medication; patients should adhere to their treatment plans even when feeling better unless advised by their physician otherwise.
Physical health
Physical health is one facet of overall well-being that focuses on how the body operates, including how it feels and moves, whether an individual can engage in daily activities without becoming fatigued and maintain a balanced diet.
Good physical health can reduce your risk of illness, injury, and chronic health conditions like asthma. Maintaining good physical health is essential to living an enjoyable life and improving overall quality of life. Some physical conditions, like breaking bones quickly, require immediate medical treatment; others, like asthma, require ongoing monitoring and medication.
Imagine your health as a three-legged stool, with the seat representing mental and emotional well-being and its legs representing physical well-being. Balancing all three can be challenging, but each step towards better health should be seen as a victory! Therefore, keep active, consume nutritious foods, and prioritize restful sleep to achieve overall good health.
Social support
Social support has long been recognized as an essential health-promoting resource, acting as an anchor against life stressors and supporting effective coping strategies to minimize psychological trauma such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Support can come from various sources, including family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers and health professionals. Support may take the form of listening and showing empathy; instrumental assistance such as providing financial or practical help; or informational sharing regarding an specific situation.
Psychological support has long been documented as beneficial across a range of fields – psychology, communications, medicine, nursing, sociology, public health education and rehabilitation among them. Research shows it to have positive results on many health outcomes such as quality of life, loneliness burden care mortality risk as well as psychological distress relief during chronic high stress situations like caring for an ill loved one or job loss. Social support may even play a part in healing wounds caused by trauma such as physical attacks.
Healthy distractions
Distraction can be an invaluable resource in aiding us with managing distressing or painful emotions; however, using distraction techniques as a way of numbing or suppressing emotion is potentially unhealthy.
If you find yourself engaging in distracting behaviors, it can be useful to assess their purpose – are they providing relief, helping cope or acting as an outlet; or are they detaching you from reality and becoming bad habits?
Create a list of healthy activities you can do to provide yourself with positive distractions. Be sure they fit within your means, and can be done regularly in order to maximize their benefits; playing virtual reality while cleaning wounds has been shown to significantly reduce pain levels – in some instances even more effectively than medication! Distraction works best as short-term coping strategy rather than serving as a replacement tool such as mindfulness or self-talk.
