FREE YOUR MIND: Finding your way to strong mental health 04-10-2020 12:00 AM Share

Mental health is indicative of how one thinks, feels, and behaves--highly affecting one's ability to address stress, overcome challenges, maintain relationships, and recover from setbacks and difficulties in life. Having strong mental health is not just the absence of a mental health problem, but rather being free from any form of depression, anxiety or psychological issues. Instead of defining mental health as the absence of a mental illness, it would be best if we instead refer to it as having the presence of positive characteristics.
 
In fact, people who are mentally healthy can have a sense of contentment; a zest for living by knowing when to laugh and when to have fun; the capability to deal with stress; flexibility to learn new skills; maintain key balance in life and work; build relationships and have self-confidence.
 
Wellness tourism is now also fast becoming an innovative product of Dubai's health tourism segment. The emirate is home to many world-class health and wellness facilities--all offering your mind a relaxing and stress-free break. In fact, a fine example of this kind of facility is the 'Retreat Palm Dubai,' the first holistic wellbeing resort in the Middle East region. The facility presents visitors with a personalized journey designed to be enriching and holistic--focusing on specific areas of mental and physical wellbeing.  Another area offering similar features would be Hatta, an enclave near the border of Oman that combines fantastic, breath taking scenery with key wellness facilities.
 
Dubai also plays host to premium wellness brands such as the Talise Spa, an award winning luxury sanctuary from the Jumeirah Group and the DNA Health and Wellness Clinic, which offers 'Functional Vitality,' an approach that treats the cause and not the symptoms by placing the patient on a path to sustained optimum wellbeing.
 
Dubai also plays host to several wellness focused activities organized by Dubai Holdings such as Dubai Marathon, Dubai Holding SkyRun, Recharge Fitness Programme, Dubai Holding Burj Al Arab Swim, Al Salam Cycling Tournament, and the XYoga Dubai Festival, to name a few.
 
To ensure that you give your mind the boost it needs to keep strong and mentally sound, here are a few tips to take in mind:

• Maintain an active lifestyle: Maintaining a regular exercise routine can help bolster your self-esteem and allow you to concentrate, sleep and even feel better.
• Eat well: Following a balanced diet is not only good for your physical health but can also do wonders for your mental health.
• Have a break: Sometimes a change of scenery or a change of pace can be good for your mental health. A few days off on vacation can be enough to de-stress yourself.
• Relax your mind: Performing some relaxation exercises or meditation can help improve your state of mind. Research has shown that meditating can give you a deep sense of calm and enhance the effects of therapy.
• Keep that body fine and fair: Making sure you take care of yourself physically can also help improve your mental health.
• Avoid being monotonous: Break away from a regular routine and inject a little change of pace to your lifestyle and schedule to perk things up a bit.