Mental health is important at every stage of life and refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. For students, improving mental health and preventing suicide is important. Poor mental health can stem from personal life challenges, health issues, trauma, and substance abuse. To improve mental health, one should stay positive, take care of physical health through exercise, sleep, and nutrition, develop coping skills, meditate, spend time with family and friends, and limit substance use.

1. Increasing Mental Health

2. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-
being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how
we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is
important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence
through adulthood however mental health is not just a concept that
refers to an individual’s psychological and emotional well being. Rather
it’s a state of psychological and emotional well being where an individual
is able to use their cognitive and emotional capabilities, meet the
ordinary demand and functions in the society. According to WHO, there
is no single ‘official’ definition of mental health.

3. One way to think about mental health is to look at how effectively
and successfully does a person acts. So, there are factors such as
feeling competent, capable, able to handle the normal stress levels,
maintaining satisfying relationships and also leading an
independent life. Also, this includes recovering from difficult
situations and being able to bounce back.

4. Why is mental health important for students?
Currently in this pandemic a lot of students are taking their own
lives so to lower the increasing suicide rate and prevent young
people from taking their own lives away, we need to raise
awareness about mental health in our schools. Learning about
mental health illnesses will leave a positive impact on the students
struggling: they'll learn about therapy and how to treat their
problem.

5. Cause of poor mental health
It is important to remember that poor mental health is common. This does
not mean someone is mentally ill.
Being aware of how challenges in life can affect our mental health may make
it easier to understand when we, or someone we care about are struggling.
These are challenges that we face throughout our lives include:
Personal life and relationships
Money, work and housing
Life changes (including living through the coronavirus outbreak
Health Issues
Traumatic life events
Smoking, alcohol, gambling and drug misuse

6. Improving mental health
Around 6 million Filipinos are estimated to live with depression and/or anxiety, making the
Philippines the country with the third highest rate of mental health problems in the
Western Pacific Region.
So how can I improve my mental health?
Staying positive. – It's important to try to have a positive outlook; some ways to do that
include
finding balance between positive and negative emotions. Staying positive doesn't mean
that you never feel negative emotions, such as sadness or anger. You need to feel them so
that you can move through difficult situations. They can help you to respond to a problem.
But you don't want those emotions to take over. For example, it's not helpful to keep
thinking about bad things that happened in the past or worry too much about the future.

7. Taking care of your physical health, since your physical and mental health
are connected. Some ways to take care of your physical health include
Being physically active. Exercise can reduce feelings of stress and
depression and improve your mood.
Getting enough sleep. Sleep affects your mood. If you don't get a good
sleep, you may become more easily annoyed and angry. Over the long
term, a lack of quality sleep can make you more likely to become
depressed. So it's important to make sure that you have a regular sleep
schedule and get enough quality sleep every night.

8. Healthy eating. Good nutrition will help you feel better physically but could also
improve your mood and decrease anxiety and stress. Also, not having enough of
certain nutrients may contribute to some mental illnesses. For example, there
may be a link between low levels of vitamin B12 and depression. Eating a well-
balanced diet can help you to get enough of the nutrients you need.
Developing coping skills, which are methods you use to deal with stressful
situations. They may help you face a problem, take action, be flexible, and not
easily give up in solving it.
Meditation, which is a mind and body practice where you learn to focus your
attention and awareness. There are many types, including mindfulness
meditation and transcendental meditation.

9. Making time for yourself, family and friends – talk to them about how
you feel.
Getting to know who you are and what you think about – try to do
things that make you happy and don’t forget to laugh regularly.
Cultivating and encouraging optimism in yourself and others, and trying
to avoid over-thinking and comparisons with others – learn to balance
and accept what you can and cannot change about yourself.
Limiting your intake of alcohol and avoiding cigarettes and other drugs.