Mental Health
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The Negative Effects of Alcohol
While alcohol is widely popular and considered socially acceptable, it can still have dangerous effects on people’s health. From a physical standpoint, alcohol can lead to dehydration, weight gain, and damage to the internal organs; in addition to having a psychological impact. When it comes to physical health consequences, the most common is dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it causes an increase in urination. This can cause dehydration, which can lead to fatigue, headaches, and other physical symptoms. As the body becomes increasingly dehydrated, it becomes more difficult for the cells to function and for the brain to process information. As a result, people can become weak, dizzy,…
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Taking Care of Your Mental Health
Mental health refers to a person’s emotional and psychological well-being. Mental illness is an umbrella term used to describe any type of mental health condition that affects a person’s mental or emotional well-being. Common types of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); while other mental health conditions include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorders and phobias. All of these can affect a person’s overall sense of wellbeing, impacting their ability to work, study, interact with others and handle everyday activities. Mental health is important at all stages of life; from childhood and adolescence all the way through to adulthood. Over the…
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Managing Stress and Anxiety During COVID-19
Stress and anxiety are two things that most people have experienced in their lives at some point or another. While there are certain things that we can do in effort to prevent them from being daily re-occurrences in our lives, there are also times when the stress and anxiety we live through is often brought on by things we don’t have any control over. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic. As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of Canadians that are experiencing a decline in their psychological health – including not just an increase in stress and anxiety, but also an…
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Reducing Back-to-School Anxiety
For some kids and teenagers, returning to school can also come along with a lot of stress and anxiety. In many cases, that back-to-school anxiety is often associated with things such as being away from parents or other family members (especially for younger children who are starting full-time school for the first time), or having to go to a brand new school (for example, transitioning from elementary school to high school, or moving to a new neighbourhood and having to go to a new school as a result.) There are also cases where children may be bullied in school in the past and might have fears about returning. In addition…
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How to Ease Anxiety During a Crisis
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health concerns for both adults and children. For some, anxiety can be temporary experience that is based on different factors like relationship struggles (including family), or stress at work and/or school. For others, the anxiety they face can often be a chronic, recurring issue that causes a disruption in someone’s ability to carry out their daily living and may have a much harder time coping with what is often described as an overwhelming sense of dread or loss of control. As we are now seeing a steady and significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases being diagnosed not just within Canada,…