- We've probably all heard (soft music) of the term wellness at some point in our lives.

It is often confused with terms such as health, wellbeing, and happiness.

While there are similarities, wellness is associated with an active process of being aware and making choices that lead to overall health and wellness.

Hi, I'm Rylee.

And today on "Mind Frame", we are talking about, you guessed it, wellness.

The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as an active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.

Holistic health is an approach to wellness that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual parts of health.

And no, spiritual health doesn't mean religion.

Spiritual health means living a purposeful life and finding a balance between physical, mental, and social aspects of life.

Finding this balance can be hard, so it's important that we take time for ourselves.

To learn more about mental health and wellness, we caught up with a Amanda Deeter who works with young people of all ages, so she can tell us why self-care is so important.

- When we are looking at wellness, and you can think about it from a prevention lens, you're thinking about those practices that you're doing on a regular basis to promote good mental wellness, good physical wellness.

You're thinking about eating right, exercising, getting good sleep, healthy relationships with others, staying regulated, keeping yourself in a good space mentally.

So when you think about wellness and taking care of yourself for mental health reasons, you're thinking about a lot of different aspects of yourself.

You're not just a student in a classroom.

You're not just a friend.

You're not just maybe an athlete in a program.

There's a lot of different sides to yourself.

So when you think about yourself in that realm, you've really taken care of yourself in all of those areas.

One of the biggest predicting factors for somebody's mental wellness is their connectedness to others, to family, to friends, to community, to their culture, to their values.

- Relationships are actually one of the most important parts of staying mentally healthy.

But what does having a positive relationship look like?

And what does it actually mean?

We talked to Dave Paxton, who is the Chief Clinical Officer for the Village Network.

He sees how technology and social media are impacting relationships and how it's negatively influencing our mental health.

- A positive relationship (soft, upbeat music) is one of respect and trust, and it's one in which we can depend upon.

When we're in a relationship with a safe, trusting person, we know that we can depend on them, and they're there for our rough times when we're stressed out or when we're struggling with a certain issue.

So we humans, our brains were meant to be in relationships, and the more relationships we have, the more safe, trusting, healthy relationships we have, the more we're gonna be able to develop good mental health.

We thrive when we're in relationships.

Learning how to be a good friend to somebody is one of the most important things that you can do in your life.

So being a good friend is somebody who is consistent, and they're always there when you turn around to ask for help.

You want your friends to know that they can trust you and that they can rely upon you.

Everybody goes through hard times in their life, but those who have friendships get through those hard times and become stronger and become more resilient.

- Dave is right.

Human connections really can make a difference in our mental health.

I love technology as much as anybody else, but sometimes we have to put our phones down and talk to people in real life.

And Dave has some tips for us to do just that, and they're simple and easy to do.

- What's important to understand is not to use screen time, to use technology to self-regulate.

Our brains can't stay focused 24/7.

Our brains need to take breaks.

So it's important that we don't develop the habit of taking those brain breaks with our phone.

So try to set limits on the screen time.

Try to set a goal of so many minutes a day you'll be on the screen, and try to limit it to that.

Ask an adult who is in your life to monitor your phone use, and maybe they'll help you put limits on the time that you use the phone.

Don't use the phone perhaps at dinner time when you're with the family.

Don't use the phone when you're in the classroom.

Try to set a structure around the use of your technology.

- That's good advice.

Sometimes we just need to unplug and spend time with our family and friends.

Diet, exercise, and sleep affect mental health too.

But how are they connected?

And how do these things impact the brain?

Amanda Deeter can give us more information.

- When it comes to mental health, nutrition and exercise can play a really big role.

There's a lot of studies that show a correlation between mental health and the foods that you eat.

Harvard Health has taught us that there's a lot of correlation between diets that are high in sugar and impaired function in the brain, and we know that that also impacts mental health disorders, mood disorders, anxiety, depression.

And if we are in a place where we're struggling with some of those issues, one thing that we can do is looking at the foods that we're eating and how the things that we're eating are impacting us for better or for worse.

When we choose things to relieve our stress, like exercise, like taking a walk, which we could do with a friend, we are not only releasing those endorphins in our body, but we're also giving our body what it needs with regulation because we're doing an activity that's rhythmic and repetitive, and we are giving our body's stress response system exactly what it needs to calm down, to feel safe, and to get us in a place where we can really open the part of our brain that learns.

Sleep is vital to brain function.

It's vital to our brain kind of doing its little housekeeping schedule of clearing out what we have learned that day and the stress and the toxins from the day and kind of hitting that reset button.

We've always seen sleep deprivation or insomnia as a symptom of mental health disorders, but we're also recognizing that lack of sleep is actually promoting mental health disorders.

So one thing that we can do to help promote healthy mental health is get enough sleep.

- We are told these things (soft music) all the time.

It can be hard when life gets so busy, but it really can make a difference in our mental health.

According to medical news today, a recent study showed that physical activity is one and a half times more effective at reducing mild to moderate symptoms of depression, psychological stress and anxiety than medication or cognitive behavior therapy.

It seems living a healthy lifestyle really is the best way to promote mental wellness.

So it's worth it to take time for ourselves.

Hit the like button and subscribe if a smile from a friend has ever brightened up your mood.

While you're doing that, let's quickly sum up the wellness tactics we've heard.

Eating right, what we put in our bodies matters.

Next, exercising.

It doesn't have to be bodybuilding.

We just have to get up and get moving.

I always enjoy riding bikes with my friends.

Limiting screen time.

Okay, I think we all need to work on this one, but just wait until after the video's over.

Fostering meaningful friendships, so important.

When I'm going through something difficult, I can always count on my friends to be there for me.

And, last but not least, getting enough rest.

All of these things are connected to overall mental health and wellness.

Diet, sleep, exercise, quality, relationships, these all affect how our brains function day to day.

And if we fall behind on one of these, our mental health can suffer too.

So it's important that we do our best to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, and socially.

Until next time, be well, and let's take care of each other.