From the Guidelines
Mental well-being is best supported through a combination of mindfulness-based interventions, positive psychological interventions, and a healthy lifestyle, with the most recent and highest quality study suggesting that mindfulness-based interventions can lead to improvements in depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, quality of life, physical functioning, smoking cessation, healthy eating, and physical activity 1.
Key Factors Affecting Mental Well-being
- Mindfulness-based interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, have been shown to improve mental health outcomes, including reduced stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety 1.
- Positive psychological interventions, which aim to promote optimism, gratitude, and positive affect, have also been found to improve indicators of psychological well-being, such as optimism and depression 1.
- A healthy lifestyle, including regular physical activity, adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, and meaningful social connections, is also essential for supporting mental well-being.
Recommended Interventions
- Mindfulness-based interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, can be recommended for individuals with or without existing heart disease, as they have been shown to lead to benefits in physical and mental health-related quality of life, depression, anxiety, physical activity, and blood pressure 1.
- Positive psychological interventions, such as imagining and writing about a better future, recalling positive life events, identifying and using personal strengths, and planning and performing acts of kindness, can also be recommended for individuals with or without existing heart disease, as they have been found to improve indicators of psychological well-being, such as optimism and depression 1.
- A healthy lifestyle, including regular physical activity, adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, and meaningful social connections, should also be recommended to support mental well-being.
Importance of Professional Help
- When facing persistent mental health challenges, seeking professional help is essential, as therapy approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medications such as SSRIs may be needed to address underlying neurochemical imbalances or thought patterns that self-care alone cannot resolve.
From the FDA Drug Label
The FDA drug label does not answer the question.
From the Research
Factors Affecting Mental Well-being
The factors affecting mental well-being are multifaceted and can be influenced by various lifestyle modifications. Some of the key factors include:
- Lifestyle modifications, such as routine, time management, prayer, basic activities, reading newspaper, study/work, exercise, recreation/ relaxation/ talent promotion, education, cognitive activities, social networking, guidelines for behavior, peer group, social group, marriage/family, life skills, physical health, health education, mobile use, and digital media 2
- Physical activity interventions, which have been shown to have promising effects on mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, and perceived stress 3
- Meditation-based lifestyle modification, which combines somatic, psychosocial, and spiritual perspectives from evidence-based conventional and complementary medicine 4
- Lifestyle psychosocial interventions, which can improve physical health and reduce mortality rates in patients with severe mental disorders 5
- Clinical lifestyle interventions, which can improve mental health, physical health, and quality of life in patients with mental illness 6
Lifestyle Modifications
Lifestyle modifications can play a crucial role in promoting mental health and well-being. Some of the key lifestyle modifications that can affect mental well-being include:
- Exercise and physical activity 3, 5
- Meditation and mindfulness 4
- Social networking and social support 2, 5
- Education and cognitive activities 2, 5
- Physical health and health education 2, 5, 6
Interventions for Mental Health
Various interventions can be used to promote mental health and well-being, including:
- Lifestyle physical activity interventions 3
- Meditation-based lifestyle modification 4
- Lifestyle psychosocial interventions 5
- Clinical lifestyle interventions 6 These interventions can be tailored to individual needs and can be delivered in various settings, including outpatient, inpatient, and home-based settings 5.