Preventing Against Mental Ill Health With Dr. Ian Drever

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How can we prevent mental ill health and make sure that we are mentally fit? Let’s dive into the concept of mental fitness and all things related to it with the Director of the Academy of Mental Fitness, Dr. Ian Drever.

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Topics Discussed in this Episode:

The concept of mental fitness
Managing our mental fitness on a daily basis
Getting rid of thought distortions and rewiring the brain
What they do at the Academy of Mental Fitness
The warning signs at the early stage of mental ill health
The impact of social connection on mental health, longevity, and health span
What people can do to mitigate poor mental health or to encourage good mental health

Key Takeaways:

We all have levels of mental fitness just as we have physical fitness. And all of us can be doing things to nurture both our physical and our mental fitness on a daily basis.
We don’t need to wait for people to become ill before provide them with tools to stay well. So many of the skills, which we could all benefit from, that could help prevent mental illness, could be taught in schools or away from hospitals and clinics.
There isn’t magic to looking after our mental fitness, but it is a conscious process that all of us should be going through on pretty much a daily basis to manage our wellbeing.
The way that we think can physically determine the structure of our brains. So if we think in healthy ways over and over again, then that can actually reinforce itself, and that can become literally hard-wired into the brain.
When we recognize thought distortions and learn to think in different ways, the old, unhealthy ways of thinking slowly start to fade.
The link between what you think and how you actually physically feel is really profound.
Good social connections can be very supportive of good mental health, and an earlier predictor of longevity and overall health span.

Action Steps:

Just as you should look after your physical fitness, look after your mental fitness.
Think in healthy ways.
Nurture, maintain, and improve your connections with the people around you.
Consider going to The Academy of Mental Fitness and give them a call, 0345-1122-300

Ian said:

“Instead of waiting for the first sign of illness to occur, we can all learn new skills to prevent illness from arising in the first place and allow us to function as our best. This is what the concept of mental fitness is all about.”

“These skills aren’t something that should just be kept in the cupboard and only brought out when someone is really ‘broken’, but they can be deployed by all of us in our daily life and just make a part of natural life.”

Thanks for listening!

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