Healthy lifestyle and behavior
36
Emphasize and maintain mental health, actively seek help when faced with mental problems.
Interpretation
Everyone will encounter various mental health issues in their lifetime, including psychological crises that occur during stress or setbacks (crisis events). It is important to emphasize and maintain mental health.
Mental health issues can be resolved through self-regulation of emotions and behaviors, seeking emotional communication and psychological assistance. Adopting an optimistic, cheerful, and open-minded attitude towards life, setting goals within one’s reach, adjusting expectations from society and others, building good interpersonal relationships, cultivating healthy living habits and hobbies, actively participating in social activities, etc., all contribute to maintaining and promoting mental health.
Active participation in sports is an important way to maintain mental health. Exercise can enhance the ability to face setbacks and difficulties correctly. Through exercise, negative emotions can be reasonably vented and released, especially moderate-intensity aerobic exercise plays a significant role in cultivating good mental qualities and strengthening mental resilience.
Emphasize and pay attention to the mental health of children and adolescents, carry out life education, strengthen psychological counseling guidance, cultivate children and adolescents’ awareness of cherishing life and their abilities in emotional management and psychological adjustment. When in need of psychological counseling, seek help by calling local hotlines such as 12345, 12355, 12320, etc.
If there is a suspicion of obvious psychological behavioral problems or mental disorders, seek early consultation and treatment at a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric department of a general hospital.
Mental disorders are preventable and treatable, do not feel embarrassed or ashamed. The presence and care of family members are crucial for the recovery of mental health patients. Once diagnosed with a mental disorder, patients should promptly receive regular treatment, supervise the patient to follow the doctor’s instructions throughout, take medication on time and as prescribed. Strictly adhere to the treatment plan, actively provide feedback to the doctor on the treatment progress. The treatment effect of mental disorders is related to the type of disease and the severity of the illness. Through standardized treatment, most patients’ conditions can be effectively controlled, leading to clinical recovery.
37
Everyone may experience feelings of anxiety and depression, understand anxiety disorders and depression correctly.
Interpretation
Emotions are an inner feeling or attitude towards various cognitive objects of human beings, representing an emotional experience of individuals towards work, study, living environment, and the behavior of others. Emotions can be divided into positive emotions and negative emotions. Positive emotions, also known as positive emotions, mainly manifest as love, pleasure, satisfaction, and pride, making people feel confident, hopeful, and energetic. Negative emotions, also known as negative emotions, mainly manifest as sorrow, sadness, pain, fear, tension, anxiety, etc., excessive negative emotions can have adverse effects on the physical and mental health of individuals and may develop into anxiety disorders and depression, among other conditions.
Anxiety is a normal emotional response of the body in uncertain situations, it is a natural survival instinct, and has adaptability and effectiveness. Moderate anxiety can improve efficiency. Depression is a transient, unpleasant, and miserable experience that occurs after encountering specific events, including sadness, distress, and frustration.
Anxiety and depression are normal emotional responses that everyone will encounter in their lifetime. Transient or short-term feelings of anxiety and depression can be relieved and eliminated through self-regulation or psychological counseling, without excessive worry.
Anxiety disorders and depression are two common mental disorders. Feeling nervous, scared, and fearful for no reason, often accompanied by obvious physical symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, dizziness, dry mouth, and rapid breathing, with feelings of impending doom or loss of control, may indicate an anxiety disorder if frequent. Feeling down, lack of joy, loss of interest, accompanied by decreased energy, decreased appetite, sleep disturbances, decreased self-esteem, feeling pessimistic and disappointed about the future, and even having thoughts or behaviors of self-harm or suicide, for more than 2 weeks may indicate depression. If you suspect that you have anxiety disorders or depression, do not feel embarrassed, seek medical attention proactively, visit the psychiatric department or psychiatric specialist at a general hospital for standardized treatment.
38
Promote early childhood development through parent-child communication and play. Timely seek medical help for psychological and behavioral developmental issues.
Interpretation
The 0-3 years old period is the infant and toddler period. In the entire life cycle, 0-3 years old is the period when brain cells and neuronal connections form most vigorously. The brain, nervous system, and motor system of children are highly sensitive to external influences, and have strong plasticity. During this period, scientific child-rearing can help children maximize their potential and promote comprehensive development in physiology, psychology, social adaptability, etc.
In 2018, UNICEF and WHO released the “Nurturing Care Framework – Promoting Early Childhood Development”, which outlines five key elements to promote early development in infants and toddlers aged 0-3, including good health, adequate nutrition, responsive care, early learning opportunities, and safety and protection. Among them, responsive care includes observing and responding to infants’ actions, sounds, gestures, and verbal requests, playing and communicating with children. These social interactions can stimulate the formation of neural connections in the brain, help infants better understand the surrounding world, form cognition of people, relationships, language, promote gross motor and fine motor development.
Caregivers should pay attention to and master the knowledge and skills of parent-child communication and play activities, utilize family and social resources fully to provide children with various opportunities for communication and play, promoting the coordinated development of various abilities in infants and toddlers.
Free health management services for children aged 0-6 are provided under the national basic public health service project, parents should take children for relevant services on time, and seek medical attention promptly if they notice developmental issues in children’s behavior.
39
Combine work and rest, maintain regular daily routines, and ensure adequate sleep.
Interpretation
All life activities have inherent rhythmicity. Regular daily routines are crucial for health, work, study, entertainment, rest, sleep should follow a regular schedule. Pay attention to work-rest balance, cultivate hobbies and interests beneficial for health. Adapt to the seasons and maintain regular daily routines. The duration of sleep varies among individuals, adults generally need 7-8 hours of sleep per day, high school students need 8 hours, junior high school students need 9 hours, and elementary school students should aim for 10 hours.
Ensure adequate sleep by establishing regular sleep habits, creating a comfortable sleep environment, avoiding stimulating activities before sleep, and refraining from vigorous exercise before bedtime. It is recommended to go to bed and rest before 11 p.m., avoid staying up late and sleeping in on weekends, and maintain healthy sleep habits.
Long-term sleep deprivation is harmful to health, leading to decreased cognitive functions such as delayed reaction, attention, and memory; causing emotional instability, irritability, anxiety, and may even trigger mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders; weakening the body’s immune system, accelerating aging, increasing the risk of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases. If experiencing persistent sleep disorders, seek medical attention promptly.
40
Pay attention to personal hygiene, develop good hygiene habits, use disinfectant products properly, and actively prevent infectious diseases.
Interpretation
Poor hygiene habits can lead to the transmission of various diseases such as respiratory and digestive tract infections. Respiratory infections can spread through close contact with patients or asymptomatic carriers through respiratory droplets, or by touching surfaces contaminated with pathogens and then touching the mouth, eyes, nose. Developing good hygiene habits in daily life, practicing self-protection, not only effectively prevents infectious diseases but also reflects personal cultivation and social progress.
Practice good hand hygiene. Especially wash hands before handling food, after using the toilet, and after returning home from outside. When washing hands, use flowing water and soap or hand sanitizers, rub hands for more than 20 seconds each time, ensure that all parts of the hands are thoroughly cleaned including palms, fingers, backs of hands, finger crevices, nail crevices, and wrists. If washing hands is not convenient, hand sanitizers can be used for hand cleaning.
“Regular” bathing and “frequent” changing of clothes. According to the season, weather, daily activities, etc., arrange baths and clothing changes reasonably to maintain body hygiene. Towels for washing hair, bathing, wiping hands, and faces should be kept clean, one person, one basin, one towel should be maintained. Do not share towels, bath towels, and toiletries with others.
Open windows for ventilation. Opening windows for ventilation can effectively improve indoor air quality, reduce the concentration of pathogenic microbes and other pollutants indoors, lower the levels of carbon dioxide and harmful gases. In addition, UV light from sunlight can kill various pathogenic microbes. If conditions permit, windows should be opened for ventilation in the morning, afternoon, and evening, with each ventilation period lasting no less than 15 minutes.
Do not spit everywhere, cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing with a tissue or elbow. Phlegm and droplets may contain various pathogenic microbes, spitting anywhere or coughing/sneezing without covering not only harms environmental hygiene but also facilitates disease transmission. When spitting, wrap the phlegm in a tissue and dispose of it in a trash bin.
Maintain social distancing. In crowded public places such as stations, airports, or when queuing at supermarkets, banks, maintain social distance from others, reducing the risk of disease transmission and demonstrating civilized etiquette.
Wear masks scientifically. Wear masks scientifically according to the environment, season, personal health conditions. When respiratory infections are high, when visiting nursing homes, childcare facilities, wear masks; respiratory infection patients should stay at home, avoid going to public places unnecessarily; individuals with respiratory infection symptoms should wear masks when going to public places or accompanying someone to a medical institution for treatment.
Disinfection is one of the important methods to cut off the transmission route of infectious diseases. Choose disinfectant products scientifically, strictly follow the product instructions for use, and avoid excessive disinfection. Antimicrobial products do not have therapeutic, nursing, or health care effects, they only have antimicrobial functions, and they should not be used on damaged skin and mucous membranes to prevent misuse.
Source: Health Dandong
